Dodgy Business

London's Natural History museum and, appropriately, its 'Earth Galleries' hosted Monday's launch of Honda's 'Earth Car.'

Apart from a discreet Honda decal on the nose and some recognition for F1's sole tyre supplier, there was not a sticker or sponsor logo in sight. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello will race throughout 2007 in a car covered in decals representing a huge image of our planet.

Honda, said team chief Nick Fry, had been looking at what was concerning people and found that there were three things: poverty, peace and environmental issues. They couldn't do a lot about the first two, but the environment stood out because it concerns everyone, whether you live in America, Europe, Asia, Australia, the Middle East or Africa.

And so Honda's car, using the huge global reach of Formula One, is a call to action, an attempt to make everyone more globally aware and to encourage them to start doing something about it.

Fry is one of the best front men you could have. He looks the part, is professional, personable, accessible and makes an effort. He's plausible in a non-salesman type of way and if he told you the world was going to end in the next five minutes and it was really all rather a good thing, you'd almost believe him.

Nick Fry at the livery unveiling of the Honda RA107 © LAT

But even Nick conceded that F1 and the environment were hardly natural bedfellows. After all, 19,000rpm, 2mpg, 1,000 degree brake temperatures and what looks like a fortnightly pissing up the wall contest in terms of conspicuous consumption, hardly sits well with restraint and conservation. It's a bit like slapping an anti-gun lobby sticker on your Kalashnikov. Emissions? Don't even ask.

A decade or so ago, environmentalists were sandal-wearing beardy weirdys that nobody took seriously. I might be a bit more of a heathen than some, but for my generation, where I come from, levels of sophistication were a bit Fred Flintstone. The right colour bin? Do me a favour. Any bin was a result. As for bottles, they normally went into someone's face on a Friday night. I'm just about getting around to the concept of chucking newspapers out separately.

More socially responsible people might take issue but, generally, environmental issues such as global warming, have generally been regarded as tomorrow's problem and no cause of great immediate concern. Blinkered, I would now concede. And I have to admit that I viewed with great scepticism the early proclamations that F1 would have to go green or die.

Of course, whenever there's a bandwagon that is leaving town there's a bunch of politicians desperately jumping on and riding it for all it's worth. Only the other day I was talking to someone at BMW about London mayor Ken Livingstone's plans to up the central London congestion charges from £8 to £25 (GBP) a time for Chelsea tractors and the like. He told me that every one of BMW's six-cylinder engines would be affected, despite them being about four times cleaner than London cabs, which chug around all day in their thousands. Just another unashamed rip-off of the motorist, aimed at those who are perceived to be able to afford it.

There are some nice people around, undoubtedly, but for the majority the first time that something grabs them is the first time it impacts on them directly. Good old self-interest.

Say, for example, you've just invested in a ski apartment in a supposedly emerging Eastern European market with a view to making a nice little earner a few years down the line. Then you go there and discover they've had the mildest winter in 50 years and there's bugger all snow. You read an article that says that if it carries on at this rate, in 20 years' time there'll be no skiing. Luxury spa treatments will be the way forward for winter resorts in nice mountain air. Suddenly pole position won't be proximity to the ski gondola but closeness to the cleanest streams. Bloody hell!

Suddenly you're flying around the house switching off all the lights - and when my wife's been upstairs, that's not the work of a moment. She can make Blackpool illuminations look like a nightlight.

A student inspects the Honda RA107 with a magnifying glass © LAT

We live on the north-west coast of England, about half a mile from the water, which is one reason the kids were put into swimming classes at the age of three. I'm glad they have been, though, because when you read some of the alarmist predictions based on rising sea levels you could be forgiven for thinking that only Ian Thorpe and a geriatric Mark Spitz will survive, to have their own global pursuit race around the planet. 'The Thorpedo' has obviously retired early to enjoy life for a few years before he finds himself on his lonesome.

But enough frivolity. Formula One needs to be paid for, and for the last few years Honda's cars have been painted like fag packets. But now, Fry explained, you will be able to log on to a new website - myearthdream.com - and make your pledge to do something environmentally friendly or make a donation to a green charity. Or both. Those doing so will have their name, pixel-sized, on the race car (you would be able to read it under a microscope).

Don't misunderstand. You don't have to make a donation and, if you do, none of the money will go towards the racing in any shape or form. That isn't how it works. You see, Honda has apparently persuaded something like 30 backers who all had legal contracts, plus eight new ones for 2007, to come off the car and have other means of communication for their buck. They will still have identification on the drivers' overalls, on the trucks, perhaps more paddock club guests, etcetera. The companies will also be licensed to use the car's image in their internal and external advertising.

Obviously there's a fairly obvious contradiction between F1 and 'green' and always a potential for anyone associated to be laughed out of court. So Honda did some research and found out that 94 percent of people thought it was a good idea.

"There will always be the remaining few who will be cynical about anything," Fry grinned as he addressed a room full of cynics - sorry, journalists.

The most obvious reaction was that Honda had not been able to find a title sponsor to replace BAT. Word is that they had been close with Vodafone, Emirates and Intel but lost out to McLaren Mercedes and BMW. The perception was not helped by the large black space on the engine cover which, when empty at launch time, tends to scream 'We've got no dosh! Space for rent!'

Not so, said Fry. You want to know what the black space is? Well, it's precisely that - space. Graphically, it's the curvature of the earth and so from the engine cover back it's the blackness of space, not a big hole for new sponsor logos. And from a practical point of view, the area gets so hot that the elaborate decals probably wouldn't survive.

A journalist's cynicism is not the natural persona, rather it's driven by the fear of being exposed as a gullible fool. Immediately, then, there were a few of us waiting for Pinocchio but he was nowhere to be seen and Nick's nose was still the same size.

Does it follow, then, that Honda will no longer be competing in the usual sponsor market place?

Jenson Button speaks to the media © LAT

"While we've been out talking to people about it we've had access to a lot of companies not historically interested in F1, companies who don't need brand awareness," Fry explained. "Those who've joined us already or those who we're talking to are more interested in the ability to portray their environmental pledges with something very visible on a global basis. I think in reality we'll be competing with a slightly different audience on a somewhat different basis."

The reality, though, is that those backers who have come off the car were not big payers anyway and so the task of persuading them into alternative forms of return may not have been so tough. Inevitably we wanted to know what Jenson and Rubens had pledged.

"I'm the father of two lovely kids and I want a better future for them," Rubens said, like an aged, wrongly-sexed Miss World contestant. Down, cynic! "Honestly two months ago I didn't know much about it (the environment). You know it's on TV but you don't learn as much as you should do, even if you do turn off your lights you are doing a lot of good for the future. So we have been changing some habits and although it will take some time I really like the cause. I'm a changed man!"

Okay, and Jenson? "A few months back I was aware of environmental issues but not how serious they were," added Button. "When you become aware of that and how soon they will impact, you realise we have to start changing the way we live. The lights went off, the stand-by goes off on the TV, the rubbish goes in the right bin. We've got hybrid cars now down in Monaco. You might say these aren't big changes but they are if we are all able to do the same thing. That will make a big difference to the future and I think this is a fantastic idea.

"There's so many fans out there and they are probably the most difficult people to change, but two F1 drivers have changed their ways so, if we can do it, the 600 million viewers we had last year can make a big difference."

On a practical level again, the earth design on the car looks highly elaborate and you couldn't help wonder what happens at a race meeting when Rubens or Jenson gets biffed in the Balearics by Taku.

Not a problem apparently. The carbon under the decals is painted to make sure it is smooth and Honda have been testing for the last month with a translucent layer of the decal material over the carbon. It does get peppered with stones and the like, but not to any greatly different extent to the paintwork. The team would normally touch up an F1 car after most races and totally repaint them after three anyway.

The idea emerged around Imola time last year, Fry explained, and came to life when they looked at Honda's environmental record. The company was responsible for introducing the first hybrid car in both Europe and North America, next year the FCX fuel cell vehicle will be available and Honda has its own solar cell manufacturing company as well as being the first car company to declare C02 targets.

Africa and the Middle East on the Honda © LAT

There was also a good fit with the F1 moves towards brake energy recovery systems in 2009, exhaust gas recovery systems in 2010 and further developments in terms of energy efficient engines from then on. And huge support from the FIA and Max Mosley personally.

Fry finished up well. "It's not going to be me or anyone individually, or Honda, or one nation, who solves environmental issues," he said. "It's going to be every single individual doing a little bit and this is about reminding people that they should play their role. We are not standing here pretending we know all the answers. That's not the case at all. We're not saying we are better than anyone else. What we are saying is that we want to make our contribution and please make your contribution too."

No matter that they may not have been able to land a big title sponsor, no matter how negative you might be, you can't really argue with that.

And remember Honda is a car manufacturer first and foremost. Formula One budgets are huge, yes, but a drop in the ocean compared with a car manufacturer's overall marketing budget. I left the Earth Galleries thinking that even if Honda had not one cent of sponsor income from elsewhere, it could be a hugely astute marketing move.

I have to accept that younger people, car buyers, are more environmentally aware than I. And what are TV commentators the world over going to talk about? The Honda 'Earth Car'. Will people care enough to go out and buy a Honda when they've switched off their lights? I don't know. But in a sport full of manufacturers, Honda might just have stolen a march. I'm not sure whether to jump in the green bin marked 'cynic' or the brown one labelled 'gullible'...