Motor Racing, the Universe and everything..

As I sit here in my humble abode on this cold winters day, I’m wondering what this city, allegedly one of the ‘best’ in the world to live in, and others like it, will be like in 20 years.
I’m a motor racing fan, a latent petrol head, and I’m watching the V8 Fords clean up at Sandown, burning petrol at something like 30L/100km. This sport is not subject to the same day-to-day commercial pressures of the mainstream auto industry, and so a several-hundred percent increase in the price of said fuel (likely) is not about to wipe out this popular spectacle.
What will confront it, although, is commercial relevance. The motor manufacturers (in this case, GM & Ford) are the main backers & beneficiaries – what’s on the track must have some resemblance to what’s being sold in the showroom, and its highly unlikely, make that not likely at all that we’ll be motoring around in petrol powered large sedans in the year 2020.
‘Hybrid’ powered vehicles will certainly be on the road, as will Hydrogen ‘Fuel Cell’ vehicles. Both essentially are driven by high-tech electric motors, which promise great performance in road & race form with their flat torque curves & good power peak. I can see a series of Ford Foci & Holden Whatevers weaving around Winton & blitzing down Conrod straight, with Craig Lowndes managing a couple of 17yr old ‘born to race’ hotshots. The days of the professional racing driver strutting his stuff well past his fortieth birthday will also be well & truly over. There wont be any ‘Russell Ingalls’ in 2020!
Pitstops for refuelling could be interesting.. either a ‘fast charger’, replaceable battery packs or Hydrogen feed from a fuel rig. Whichever way, it will seem strange compared to the ‘dry break’ systems we now.
I’ll still enjoy a good Ford win. And then I’ll eat, go to bed & rise for work the next day, start(?) my own road-going version of the Focus and head off onto the shitty roads (in unpredictable weather) fully equipped with radar crash avoidance, GPS controlled speed limiter & a host of other electronic fun reducing devices.. in almost complete mechanical silence.
And this last ‘feature’ will be the big issue for the motor racing- no engine noise, no screaming V8’s to get the adrenalin rushing for the punter..