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ALMS, IRL Go Green With Alternative Fuels

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By TONY FABRIZIO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 3, 2008

Updated: 04/03/2008 12:11 am

ST. PETERSBURG - When Johnny O'Connell fires up his 650-horsepower American Le Mans Series GT1-class Corvette at this weekend's Acura Sports Car Challenge, he'll be burning pine needles and tree bark.

Corvette Racing's two cars will run for the first time on cellulosic E85R racing fuel, made with an ethanol produced from forest waste. It's one of four alternative fuels or fuel blends that will power the cars in this weekend's sports car race and Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Indy car event.

With the Corvettes running on E85R, the Audi prototypes on ultra-low sulfur diesel, the other ALMS cars on an E10 mixture and the IRL's IndyCar Series cars on full ethanol, St. Petersburg's race is a showcase for fuels that are friendlier to the environment and decrease dependence on foreign oil.

"For us, the very cool aspect is that we all want to be as green as we can and recognize that we do need to change things in order to keep racing in our culture," said O'Connell, a class winner at Sebring last month.

The ALMS could be even more green by next year's Grand Prix.

Doug Robinson, executive director of series sanctioning body IMSA, said Wednesday he has three manufacturers interested in bringing advanced hybrid cars into the prototype class next year.

"We're talking to manufacturers who are making cars that will be gas-electric and diesel-electric, where you collect energy under braking and return that energy to the wheels under acceleration," Robinson said. "We're looking at hybrids that are going to be in production in five years, but they're going to be on the racetrack next year."

E85R is made from waste collected in Wyoming's Black Hills National Forest for wildfire prevention. Undergrowth, dead trees, pine needles and bark that would otherwise be burned are converted at a plant in Upton, Wyo. Even the plant is self-sustaining, taking its power from the burning of co-products.

The Corvette race cars were converted to run on it because parent company General Motors is the world's leading seller of E85 "flex fuel" vehicles. By racing E85 in a high-performance car, GM hopes to erase the stigma of the fuel being somehow inferior.

"Lack of knowledge breeds fear and apprehension," said Doug Fehan, Corvette Racing's program manager. "There are no performance issues; you can put it in your car and it will run just as well as what you are currently using."

A common misconception about consumer E85 is that it is always 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Mixtures vary. A winter blend has 70 percent ethanol and 30 percent gasoline for cold-weather starting.

The E85R racing blend is two-thirds ethanol and one-third gasoline, and because ethanol has a lower energy value than gasoline, the Corvettes will need more of it. IMSA adjusted its rules to compensate, allowing the Corvettes to carry more fuel.

"Normally a race car goes fastest when it's light at the end of its fuel run, so being a little heavier at the start of the stint we might be a little slower than we'd like, but we'll make that up on the other side," O'Connell said.

Ethanol is the alternative fuel of choice for GM, but for Germany's Audi, it's an ultra low-sulfur diesel. The two highly sophisticated Audi turbo-diesel R10s that will race in the prototype class this weekend run on advanced fuel called Shell V-Power.

In a patented proprietary process, Shell adds liquefied natural gas to the diesel. The natural gas is extracted from the world's only sulfurless natural gas deposit in Qatar. Although a street version of the fuel is available in Europe, it is not yet sold in America.

With more than 70 percent of new cars sold in Europe using diesel, more diesel race cars are certain to come.

The IRL is in its second season of using nearly 100 percent corn-based ethanol to power its Honda engines in the IndyCar Series. Through a relationship with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, the league receives all of its ethanol at no charge in return for promoting the fuel.

Race teams are charged for the transportation and storage of the fuel as part of a $100,000 season entry feel.

IRL president Brian Barnhart says the relationship with the ethanol industry is more than a business relationship, and team owner Bobby Rahal, who has an ethanol sponsorship for his car, agrees.

"The genie is out of the bottle," Rahal said. "Any racing series worth its salt understands it has to be responsive to society. It's not just entertainment."

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