On Tuesday, the Japanese Super GT championship held the classic Golden Week Fuji 500km round for the first time in two years. A couple of hours before the dramatic race that’s already a candidate for the most dramatic and exciting race of the year, GTA chairman Masaaki Bandoh talked about the series‘ plans for the future. The keyword: Carbon neutrality.
On the way to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, Super GT is considering the introduction of e-fuel with the new GT500 regulations in 2024
Toyota, Honda and Nissan are working on achieving carbon neutrality in the future. Starting with 2024 and the introduction of the new GT500 regulations, the GTA wants to make a first step towards that goal, chairman Masaaki Bandoh explained. The options include electric vehicles (EV), fuel cells and electrofuels (e-fuel). The latter is a synthetic fuel that mixes biomass alcohol and gasoline. Just like Europe, Japan has its own national policies regarding carbon neutrality, so Bandoh thinks that the three GT500 manufacturers will work together in accordance to those policies. For example, when developing electric vehicles, the costs would be quite high if each manufacture were to produce them, which is why Bandoh thinks that it would be more desirable to handle EVs with common parts. As for fuel cell development, Toyota president Akio “Morizo” Toyoda already announced that hell’ll be personally testing a hydrogen-powered Toyota Corolla in Super Taikyu’s Fuji Super Tec 24 Hours race later this month. Masaaki Bandoh likes that motorsport is a place where such options and technological advancements can be explored. In fact, Super GT has been working with a high awareness of environmental friendliness since many years now. For example, about 10 years ago, the GTA gave the fans at the track the opportunity to come in close contact with various fuel cell cars, from regular passenger vehicles to busses. Such a bus was equipped with a hydrogen tank and carried the fans around the track, Masaaki Bandoh recalled.
However, in order to make a decision, it’s important to see which direction the Japanese infrastructure will take first. After that, they can act accordingly. As Masaaki Bandoh pointed out, GT500 isn’t the sole class in Super GT. They have to think about GT300 as well, where the majority of the cars are based on the FIA-GT3 regulations, meaning they can’t just decide to introduce electric vehicles until the manufacturers in Europe make such developments themselves.
That’s the reason why Masaaki Bandoh shared his personal opinion to first start with the introduction of e-fuel in 2024. Afterwards, they could further improve the technology in 2027 before trying to achieve a power unit with 100% carbon neutral energy in 2030. (Editor’s note: The GT500 regulations get revised approximately every three years) As Masaaki Bandoh explained, they’re considering either E10 or E20 e-fuel. The decision in the octane rating depends on the carbon neutrality goals set by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).
Longer races, less tyres and better fuel economy – the GTA’s goals to achieve environmental friendliness starting in 2022
A media representative asked about the rule that tyre manufacturers, who haven’t won yet this season, are getting one extra set of tyres for the next race weekend. Masaaki Bandoh explained that this is a rule that has been long in the sporting regulations, as it gives the other tyre manufacturers a chance to achieve victory, for example by bringing a different compound with them that they could use in the other half of the race. In short: Each manufacturer is allowed to supply six sets of dry tyres. The manufacturers that haven’t won yet, get a seventh set. The GTA is currently not planning to change this rule even with the ongoing plans to increase the race distance starting next year.
While no decision on the exact numbers have been made yet, the GTA is thinking about increasing the distance of the 300km rounds by 50km to 350km and the distance of the 500km round by 60km to 560km. Despite the longer distance, the fuel tank size wouldn’t be changed, meaning the manufacturers and teams would have to come up with ways to not only save fuel but also save tyres as well, since an extra pit stop seems undesirable. Due to this, the tyre manufacturers are required to produce rubber that fit the distance, especially since the GTA is planning to reduce the regular amount of available dry sets from six to five next year. These steps are one way to promote carbon neutrality, chairman Bandoh explained.
Masaaki Bandoh denied the argument by a media representative that a longer race distance could increase the costs for the teams. While it’s true that it requires more fuel (right now, a 300km race weekend requires a total of about 25,000 liters of fuel) as well as a slight increase in consumables like brakes, Bandoh thinks that the costs should stay roughly the same, especially with the number of available tyres going down. Wouldn’t longer races also mean higher ticket prices? Chairman Bandoh explained that the GTA has no control over this, but they would ask the race organizers (editor’s note: usually the respective circuit management company) to keep the ticket prices the same. Masaaki Bandoh thinks that the respective organizers should invest more in making each weekend as enjoyable as possible for the fans, who have to sit in their chairs for a long time and sometimes even have to endure the rain. Therefore, the GTA wants to work closely with the circuits to make the overall experience even more enjoyable.
No plans to turn Super GT into a one-make tyre series
Lately, there have been talks by some teams in the paddock about the fairness of the current tyre competition. Masaaki Bandoh described Super GT as a different form of mixed martial arts. It’s true that Yokohama and Dunlop may not score many wins in GT500, but especially Dunlop has gotten much stronger in recent years, even taking multiple pole positions. Chairman Bandoh added that there are winners and losers in racing, but as long as there are manufacturers in the Japanese industry supporting this competition, they have no intentions to turn Super GT into a one-make tyre series. The same is true for the GT300 class, as it wouldn’t be fair to Bridgestone or Dunlop to turn it into a one-make tyre class supplied by Yokohama, just because they were supporting the majority of the teams. In this competitive environment, Masaaki Bandh said, everyone is making a corporate effort. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the GTA is ignoring any pleads. However, as long as no manufacturer is saying that it’s impossible for them to keep up, they don’t plan to make any changes.
A unique FCY system for a unique environment
After years of preparation and multiple tests in 2020, the GTA finally introduced full course yellow (FCY) at Tuesday’s Fuji 500km round. Before the race, which saw FCY a total of three times, Masaaki Bandoh got asked about it. The GTA chairman commented that the FCY system used by Formula 1 is the common standard worldwide, but due to Japan’s radio law, Super GT is using a unique combination of MYLAPS antennas, SBG software and Lumirank instead. In the past, the GTA has spent a significant amount of money to prepare for this system and successfully tested it at Fuji, Suzuka and Motegi. However, Sportsland SUGO, Autopolis and Okayama require additional tests before the system can get fully implemented. When the GTA did one final FCY test during free practice on Monday, they noticed an unevenness in the signal, with some sectors having a stronger or weaker signal. Some drivers also thought that the system was a bit too slow, which is something they want to work on in the future. The most important thing is that FCY allows the race to return to normal conditions as quickly as possible, Masaaki Bandoh explained.
Copyright Photos: GT Association (GTA)