Word: f1
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...aficionados of auto-racing and high-performance sports cars, Gordon Murray is a legend. He's designed championship-winning Formula One cars, as well as two iconic, drop-dead-beautiful sports cars: the McLaren F1, one of the fastest road cars ever made, and the Mercedes SLR McLaren. These cars were, of course, built for speed and power; fuel economy wasn't even an afterthought. So it's somewhat surprising that the 63-year-old South African engineer is now more interested in cleaning up the planet by reducing carbon emissions than cleaning up at a Grand Prix finish line...
...distribution network is difficult and expensive. But Murray expects there will be fewer big automakers in the future, opening the door to niche players. He also says that distribution will become less of an issue if manufacturing centers are eventually moved closer to sales points. (Read "Michael Schumacher: F1 Star to Return...
...Murray's F1-honed competitiveness clearly remains intact. But in this race - to be the first to manufacture and market eco-friendly cars on a mass scale - he's betting that the upstart lightweights, not the big-name players, will have the winning edge...
...want to be beaten by the old guy," Chris Aylett, head of Britain's Motorsport Industry Association, tells TIME. "The most competitive guys will relish the opportunity of embarrassing the old champion," he adds. "But overall, they [the drivers] earn their income from the popularity of F1 and if this doesn't guarantee headlines, I don't know what will." (See the best sports moments...
...This may be an early Christmas present for F1 (and the media, of course), but some tough questions must be asked. First, will the 41-year-old be fit enough to compete against drivers half his age? And will Schumacher be able to adjust to the changes that have been made to the sport's rules since he last raced at the end of 2006? (For example, there are now limits to how many engines can be used, pit-lane speeds, starting weights and track testing.) Aylett believes Schumacher will do fine, saying he'll "come back in with fresh...