AUSSIE Porsche young gun Bayley Hall has earned a rare motorsport distinction, being verified as a 100 percent carbon neutral racer.
The 20-year-old will accordingly compete under the CleanSpeed Racing banner in Carrera Cup this year, as the season starts today at Albert Park.
Hall’s verification comes following investment into carbon offset credits, including vegetation regeneration projects in Queensland as well as solar and wind farms.
“I have always raced a green racing car, so why not be a ‘green’ driver as well,” explained Hall, a winner on the streets of the Gold Coast last year.
“The new generation are always looking for new and exciting ways to be different and to innovate, and I feel like I have taken a step towards making a change.
“Across all my studies as a student, I took a massive interest into the world and how we interact with it and it’s obvious there are many things we could be doing better – and it can only ever starts from one voice speaking up.
“I’m not here to reinvent the wheel but I want to use my careers platform to speak up and show that change isn’t that hard to start.
“I wanted to start up CleanSpeed Racing to show my initiative and take one small step towards a sustainable future.
“I won’t lie, there is nothing that compares to the sound of a flat-six revving at eight-and-a-half grand, but if I begin encouraging my competitors, teams and overall categories to continue this movement we might find we are certainly making a difference.”
Hall set the wheels in motion last year by reaching out to Brisbane-based business CarbonHalo.
“I wanted to understand the process and identify my carbon footprint from racing,” he said.
“I took an interest into how a carbon footprint is calculated and how the Carbon Offset Credits Programs work.
“It is cool to know that I am helping out sustainable energy programs such as solar and wind farms within Australia, as well as even more local programs like the Queensland Vegetation Regeneration project.
“The way it works is that I invest in these projects that subsequently absorb an equivalent amount of carbon as to what I emit into the atmosphere. It’s quite genius.
“I hope that by starting this program I can invite followers, fans, fellow competitors and the corporate world to join in.
“Corporate businesses have a major focus on ESG commitments, and by meeting them in the middle it will be an exciting new era to potentially gain more investment into the sport.”
The 27-car Carrera Cup field will hit the track today for practice starting at 10:30am AEDT.
