Motorsport Venues
It is not solely the events on circuit that can begin going down the green route, it is also the venues themselves. With large numbers of spectators regularly in attendance on multiple weekends of the year issues are raised with items such as ground disturbance, energy use and litter.
Ground disturbance is caused by spectators spectating the events over the weekend at the venue. This is rated between very high impact and low impact to absent. Very high impact is where the ground is broken and bare. Low impact is where virtually no sign of disturbance is visible on the ground. This could be avoided by removing the grass and tar-macing or concreting the spectator areas but this brings with it the pollution caused by carrying out these works. With regards to motorsport venue litter recycling facilities could be provided for various food packaging and bottles. An example of this in action is at Infineon Raceway with the results from the 2010 season shown below; A different form of recycling is shown at motorsport venues within America. This is the use of seats from various nationwide sporting venues, such as NBA arenas, to use at race tracks. Track officials at Lowes Motor Speedway bought all 22,000 of the old Charlotte Coliseum seats at auction for $1 each, and installed them along part of the frontstretch that had been concrete bleachers (nascar.com).  image from timeattack.co.uk |  Once electric race series start becoming more and more mainstream it will be necessary for the venue to determine whether or not they will be able to cope with the increased demand for power from teams charging electric vehicles at the circuit. A consideration for the venues could be producing their own renewable energy. Dependant on location and space items such as wind turbines or water wheels could be installed. Anglesey circuit already has a wind turbine installed that feeds electricity back into the grid. Anglesey circuit has a major interest in being a green circuit. 'The company’s investment in the environment saw it look local when it constructed its 12 metre wide track in 2006/07 by quarrying from the island’s west coast stone, saving thousands of lorry trips. Two sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) were also granted on neighbouring land, after the establishment of the circuit. Heather was transplanted and even the asphalt track surface was laid cold to save energy.' (theonlinemail.co.uk). |
