The season-opening Qatar night race might produce enough light to illuminate a hypothetical street running from Doha to Moscow - and require 5.4 million watts of power, enough to provide electricity simultaneously to some 3,000 houses - but the FIM says this weekend's Catalan Grand Prix 'will be the most ecologically sound
MotoGP event to date.'
"The FIM is one of the first international sporting federations to have signed an agreement with the United Nations Environmental Programme, at the end of 2006," read an FIM statement released on Friday. "This year, the FIM increased the number of celebrations of the World Environment Day around the world over the past week during FIM World Championship events – Superbike in the USA, Motocross in Great Britain, Sidecar Motocross in Italy, Trial in Japan and Long Track in Germany – in order to underline the importance of protecting the environment.
"This week-end, the Grand Prix of Catalunya, seventh round of the FIM MotoGP World Championship, will be the most ecologically sound MotoGP event to date.
"Organised by the promoter Dorna and the FIM, a visit of a plastic material recycling factory took place today with 125cc and 250cc riders. Another celebration will take place tomorrow at the circuit of Catalunya with MotoGP riders taking part in the recycling of various items, a process available to all members of the public who attend the race weekend.
"The Circuit de Catalunya was recently awarded the ISO14001:2004 for Environmental Management Standards. This entails having on site over 300 yellow recycling recipients (for plastic, cans and other packaging), and 9 further blue containers for card and paper in the relevant areas such as the press room. Furthermore the racetrack is completely accessible by local public transport systems during the weekend (train and bus). It is expected that during this first year of implementation, the circuit will generate up to 100 tons worth of recyclable material."
