The outstanding motorsport teams, technologies, personalities and facilities of 2008 have today been rewarded in the Professional MotorSport World Expo annual awards. Amongst the category winners are the new Singapore Circuit, host to Formula One’s first ever night race; giant-killing sports and racing car manufacturer, KTM; Bruno Famin, design engineer for Peugeot Sport and Franz Tost, team principal of Formula One’s rising star, Scuderia Toro Rosso.Presented at Professional MotorSport World Expo, taking place in Cologne on the 11, 12, 13 November, the awards are the highlight of a Gala dinner that hosts many of the sport’s most influential figures. Graham Heeps, editor of Professional MotorSport World magazine and chairman of the judging panel, says: “We are proud that these awards acknowledge high-profile success, but that they also reward some of the less visible, but equally worthy achievements within the sport.”On winning his award for ‘Team Principal of the Year’ , Franz Tost of Scuderio Torro Rosso, said: “Although I don’t feel that I personally deserve any special recognition, I am happy to receive this prestigious award on behalf of everyone who works for Scuderia Toro Rosso, as an encouragement to do even better in the future.” Alan Wilson, who collected an award in 2006 on behalf of Miller Motorsports Park, which he designed, returned to the event this year to present the award for the ‘Motorsport Facility of the Year’ to Nick Syn, of Singapore Circuit, who made the long journey specially to collect it. Additionally, the awards honoured the FIA Institute which won ‘Safety Innovation of the Year’ for its WRC safety programme; Windshear won ‘Testing Technology of the Year’ for its new 180mph rolling-road wind tunnel and Heat2power won ‘Powertrain Innovation of the Year’ for its waste heat regeneration technology: Full awards categories and winners include:Safety Innovation of the YearWinner: WRC safety program – FIA InstituteThe latest fruits of an ongoing research program into the safety of World Rally Cars were implemented in the 2008 WRC. Under the leadership of WRC project manager Andy Mellor, the FIA Institute has worked with teams to deliver a number of safety improvements.Testing Technology of the YearWinner: WindshearBuilt by Jacobs Technology and opened in summer 2008, Windshear’s 180-mph rolling-road wind tunnel is the first of its kind in North America, and only the third rolling road wind tunnel of its scale in existence. More importantly, it is the world’s first commercially available, full-scale, rolling-road wind tunnel of its type.Powertrain Innovation of the YearWinner: Waste heat regeneration – Heat2powerHeat2power, a powertrain innovation company based in Paris, is convinced it has waste heat regeneration (WHR) technologies that can really save fuel and reduce the CO2 emissions of tomorrow’s cars, trucks, and ships. It is now starting to use that same technology in racing applications to increase power output while still complying with regulations.Vehicle Development of the YearWinner: X-Bow Race – KTMThe distinctive X-Bow Race is the first racing car from Austrian motorbike specialist KTM, which has a long heritage in two-wheeled competition. Closely related to the standard X-Bow, itself the company’s first road-legal car, the Race version has been developed for GT racing in the hands of private customers.In 2008 the X-Bow Race had a development season in the GT4 European Cup. Run by Reiter Engineering, the orange and black cars, which are built around an FIA-certified carbon-fiber monocoque, cleaned up in the Sports Light category (to be renamed Super Sport in 2009), finishing 1-2-3. An X-Bow even qualified on overall pole for one race, ahead of the more powerful GT4 sports cars, and scored an overall podium when the rain came down at Monza.Motorsport Facility of the YearWinner: Singapore CircuitMany people’s highlight of the 2008 Formula 1 season was the floodlit Singapore Grand Prix, F1’s first ever night race.Lighting consultant Valerio Maioli S.p.A, rigged up some 1,600 light projectors and 108km of power cables around the 23-turn track to create a memorable spectacle. The circuit itself passed city landmarks and crossed the Singapore River on the Anderson Bridge, while the cars hit speeds in excess of 300km/h on Raffles Boulevard.Design Engineer of the YearWinner: Bruno Famin, Peugeot SportAlready a Le Mans Series race winner – and a PMW Expo Award winner – in its debut season of 2007, by 2008 the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP had been developed into the world’s fastest LMP car. Both a championship victory and the top step of the podium at Le Mans eluded the team, but back at base in Vélizy, France, the engineering team led by technical director, Bruno Famin already had one eye on 2009 and beyond.Unveiled at Silverstone in September, the 908HY will be the world’s first diesel-electric hybrid LMP racing car when it hits the track in 2009. Team Principal of the YearWinner: Franz Tost, Scuderia Toro RossoAt the start of the 2008 Formula 1 season, most observers predicted a title battle between McLaren and Ferrari. Some thought that BMW-Sauber and Renault might challenge for victories. But nobody expected Scuderia Toro Rosso, formerly known as Minardi, to not only win a Grand Prix, but to be a consistent front runner by the season’s end.