Political Correctness

There are stories surfacing that there may be problems with the Italian GP at Monza. Usually it relates to needing to cut trees down in order to make changes to the circuit. But this time it's the local residents. Apparently they don't like the noise that F1 cars make. Apart from the fact that they're wrong (it's a fantastic sound) they might like to think about the fact that the circuit has been there a while.

Monza was built in the 1920s, so it's safe to say that all the residents knew about it when they moved in. And the circuit is only used about 15 days a year (and only one Saturday and Sunday) so it's not as though it's every day. The argument usually follows the line that F1 is environmentally unfriendly because of the fuel used. Yes, it's people going round in circles, but so is going on holiday and coming back home again.

An F1 car uses about 200 litres of fuel per race. So thats around 5000 litres for the entire grid. A modern 747 has a fuel capacity of around 250,000 litres. So all the GPs added together use less than half the fuel of a single long range flight. Call it about the same if you include the Fridays and Saturdays. But statistically, a 747 loaded to 75% capacity is more fuel eficient per passenger mile than a family saloon car with a driver and passenger, whether they're driving to watch a football match, motor race or just going to the beach.

So what should we be stopping? Well clearly, people driving to work on their own. But such an argument is ludicrous. We're humans with different preferences. I don't want to stop people driving to watch football matches because that uses fuel. So please don't try to argue that F1 cars using fuel is bad. Just come out in the open and say "I bought my house cheaply because it's next to a racetrack. If we stop the racing it'll be worth much more". I think that would be much more honest. Mind you, I do own a house next to a motorway, that'd be worth much more if I could stop people using it to get to work.