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Some Race Cars Running On 'Green' Fuel

Highlands Today photo by JASMINA MEYER

Corvette Racing fuel and transmission mechanic Brian Hoye fills the No. 4 GT1 Corvette with Flexfuel E85 Ethanol.

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: March 21, 2009

SEBRING - That Corvette roaring around the track Saturday was using green fuel.

"It's E85," said Doug Fehan, program manager for the Corvette racing team.

That's 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent alcohol, distilled from limbs and leaves scraped off forest floors.

In addition to racing in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, Corvette was competing in the Michelin Green X Challenge. The American LeMans Series went all-green in 2007 by mandating all cars use alternative fuels. Audi competed with sulfur-free diesel.

"It's a challenge to all competitors," said Fehan,

The message, Fehan said, is clear: if Corvette, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, Mazda, Panoz and Porsche can win LeMans races with ethanol in the tank, it's fine for Mom's SUV and Dad's pickup truck.

"There's no reason to be afraid of it," Fehan said. "It's a powerful, viable alternative to fossil fuel."

Corvette won the first-ever Green Challenge last year at the 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans. The winning racer had a score of 20.391, the best overall score in the competition based on based on performance, fuel efficiency and environmental impact.

Working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and the Society of Automotive Engineers, the series organizers and the Argonne National Laboratory created a formula that calculated the winning entries in the Prototype and GT classes based on energy used, greenhouse gases emitted, and petroleum fuels displaced. The Green Challenge, then, is won by the fastest car with the smallest environmental impact.

Corvette displayed one of the largest footprints at Twelve Hours, housing its technology in one semi-trailer, spare engines and parts in a second, and hospitality facilities in a third. In between were more than 3,000 square feet of tents with a rubber floor underfoot.

"It's a technology showcase," Fehan said. The Green Challenge takes science, technology and engineering to an entirely new level in motorsports.

As Fehan spoke, his voice took on a convincing tenor. Why is he advocating the Green Challenge?

"It's the right thing to do," he said.

Highlands Today senior reporter Gary Pinnell can be reached at 863-386-5828 or gpinnell@highlandstoday.com

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