Racing Green: How motorsport science can save the world

Motor racing is one of the world’s most watched sports. It’s also the most scientifically demanding sport on Earth, requiring a combination of peak physical and mental skill, world-class engineers and a constant drive for technological innovation. Science in motorsport extends its reach far beyond the track. The efforts of engineers to go a hundredth of a second faster ripple into our daily lives: we use the aerodynamics of a Formula 1 car to keep our food cool in the supermarket and stop skyscrapers wreaking havoc, and we can thank crash helmets and rear view mirrors to keep us safe. The cutting edge of our future - from electric cars to virtual reality - began on the track. Motorsport is a testbed, the world’s fastest Research & Development lab. With an emphasis on green technology - from electric batteries and graphene to hydrogen power, autonomous vehicles and 3D printing - Kit Chapman, author of Racing Green, explains how the sport of today could save the world of tomorrow