If motorsport is to survive, it must start on the journey to being sustainable. By definition, sustainable means’ able to be maintained at a certain rate or level’ or ‘conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources.’
As such, the motorsport community and the FIA are currently in talks about what the future of power for motorsport will be. At this year’s Energy Efficient Motorsport Conference hosted by the MIA, some of motorsport’s great engineering minds came together to discuss what the future of motorsport power may include. Here’s just some of what they had to say…
Andy Cowell, Former Mercedes-Benz High Performance Powertrains Managing Director. Photo: XPB Images Andy Cowell, former Managing Director of Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, said, ‘In the short-term, the internal combustion engine will continue to be used. The need for young carbon petrol is significant. 
‘I think moving to an E fuel is a good step. Still, I think also there’s the opportunity to increase the lap time contribution from there from the electric drive system – increase battery energy density increase the MGU-K power level so that the electric drive bit comes up, the internal combustion engine down, all purely fuelled by young carbon petrol.
‘I fear though the energy costs to produce such fuels could be large, which is perhaps where hydrogen fuel cells play their part. Motorsport, es...