Green Racing at Petit Le Mans: Ethanol Never Tasted So Good: BP Biobutanol and Patron Tequila
The Audi TDI, Peugeot and BP Mazda competing for green racing points on three kinds of fuel and (at least) two kinds of coolant.
by Joanne Ivancic (Advanced Biofuels USA) BP and Shell had a bit of a rivalry going on at Petit LeMans. Shell is the official diesel fuel provider for Audi and Peugeot. British Petroleum is a partner/sponsor of the Dyson Racing Team. It’s not just cars getting a workout at Petit Le Mans, but there’s a fuel competition going on, too. Porsche was secretly experimenting with a cellulosic E85 ethanol/gasoline blend garnering it Green X Challenge honors.
The #20 Car sponsored by BP won the prototype 2 class at Petit Le Mans, beating Acura and Porsche.
But more exciting, as far as advanced biofuels development is concerned, was the performance of the #16 car driven by Chris Cyson and Guy Smith. In the spirit of innovation, the #16 car used a new BP blend of gasoline, ethanol and biobutanol. The fuel was so new that it had not received certification from the race authorities, but it raced nevertheless and bragged that it won its class, too, although it consisted of only one car. On the other hand, it had something to brag about. It finished nine laps ahead of the winning #20 car, its sister car.
BP fueled two P2 Mazdas for the Dyson Racing team--one with a new biobutanol blend.
Talk about testing! Other than the difference in fuel, the two BP cars are pretty much the same. So the extra laps covered by the #16 car were due not so much to increased speed as to the greater energy content of the fuel. Butanol is a 4-carbon alcohol compared to the 2-carbon alcohol, ethanol; so it carries considerably more energy per gallon. How it looked in the race: The difference was that the #16 car made fewer pit stops-went further on the same volume of fuel.
So now what? Is this a fuel that consumers can anticipate using? Will it meet the ALMS requirements and qualify as a race fuel the next go round? How will Shell react? The fuel generally requires no modifications to a car’s engine, and can use existing infrastructure to store and distribute it. Dyson Racing made no changes to the Mazda MZR-R-powered Lola engine to accommodate the biobutanol use. For now, Rob Dyson’s words will do, “It is an honor for the team to have won this race. I have raced a lot of cars that were good and a lot of cars that were bad, but never raced any cars that were unclassified! So this is a one – one finish for Dyson Racing: we were first in the biobutanol class and first in P2!” See Photos
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