Prodrive Develops Sustainable Motorsport Fuel

October 14, 2021

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Prodrive) Prodrive, will be one of the first major teams in the world to compete with a new generation of advanced sustainable fuels in an FIA championship, when it competes in the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies later this year. The Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) team will then use this fuel at the Dakar rally in January to demonstrate that such sustainable fuels can be used as a direct replacement for fossil fuels in standard production vehicles.

Prodrive has developed the sustainable fuel over the past eight months in conjunction with UK-based, Coryton Advanced Fuels. Called Prodrive ECOpower, it has been specifically developed to demonstrate the environmental benefits of the latest sustainable fuel technology. The main components are generation 2 biofuel, manufactured from agricultural waste, and efuels created by capturing carbon from the atmosphere. As a result, the fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to equivalent petrol.

Prodrive, chairman, David Richards, said: “I am a great advocate of motorsport taking the lead in developing, proving and promoting new technologies that can help address climate change. Covering thousands of miles across the toughest terrains, the Dakar and the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies are the perfect environment to showcase the benefits of the next generation of sustainable fuels and demonstrate that they can be used in road vehicles to reduce the use of fossil fuels, while still offering the same performance and range.”

The fuel has been developed at Prodrive’s powertrain facility at its headquarters at Banbury in the UK and has been run in the BRX team’s Prodrive Hunter T1+ car in the same unmodified engines which previously ran on petrol.

While Prodrive ECOpower has been developed for motorsport use, this sustainable fuel can be used as a direct replacement for unleaded petrol in almost any vehicle and the company is planning to run a near identical fuel in a number of its road vehicles to further prove out the technology.

Coryton CEO, Andrew Willson, said: “Coryton has a long history in blending bespoke fuels for the motorsport industry, and to further support our customers evolving needs, we’ve recently launched Sustain, our new sustainable fuels offering. We knew that partnering with Prodrive would be an ideal way to test our capability in some of the world’s most challenging racing environments, alongside some of the finest engineering expertise in the industry.”

The Prodrive Hunter T1+ has been specifically designed to compete at the Dakar in Saudi Arabia and in cross-country rallies across the world. The four-wheel drive car can cross almost any terrain, from sand dunes to rocky mountain tracks, at high speed and over the two weeks of the Dakar will cover more than 7,500km.

The BRX team has carried out extensive testing in the UK and is now heading to the Middle East for more extensive endurance work in the same conditions it will experience at the Dakar. The team will then compete at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and Hail Rally before heading to the Dakar which starts on January 1. READ MORE

Prodrive Announces Sustainable Fuel with ‘80%’ Fewer Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Auto Futures)

Prodrive to run jointly developed sustainable fuel (Engine and Powertrain Technology International)

Prodrive already Ready to Race with Synthetic Fuel (Motor Authority)

Prodrive to Race Prove Biofuels Reducing Eco Emissions by 80% (Automotive)

Prodrive readies new sustainable fuel: Prodrive ECOpower will power the Hunter T1+ rally car in motorsport - but can also be used as direct replacement for unleaded (PistonHeads)

Prodrive Hunter first to run on sustainable fuel (Coryton)

Loeb wins Stage 2 at Dakar, closes in on overall lead (Racer)

Excerpt from Coryton: The main components are generation 2 biofuel manufactured from agricultural waste and efuels created from carbon capture. As a result, the fuel offers an 80% reduction in green house gas emissions compared to equivalent petrol.

The fuel has been developed using the Hunter’s 3.5l V6 turbo engine on Prodrive’s advanced transient dyno at its headquarters in the UK and the new Prodrive Hunter T1+ has begun an extensive test programme running on the new fuel.

BRX team director, David Richards, said: “I am a great advocate of motorsport taking the lead in developing, proving and promoting new technologies that can help address climate change. The Dakar and the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies are the perfect environment to showcase the benefits of the next generation of sustainable fuels and demonstrate that they can be used in road vehicles to reduce the use of fossil fuels, while still offering the same performance and range.”

While Prodrive ECOpower has been developed for motorsport use, such sustainable fuel can be used as a direct replacement for unleaded petrol and the company is planning to run a near identical fuel in a number of its road vehicles to further prove out the technology.

Excerpt from PistonHeads: The main components of Prodrive ECOpower are generation 2 biofuel, which is manufactured from agricultural waste, along with efuel. While interest in synthetic petrol is increasing, the issue with efuels is they are expensive to produce sustainably. The process begins with electrolysis to extract hydrogen atoms from water. This needs renewable energy to maximise the efuel's low-carbon benefits, but energy from wind and solar, for example, make hydrogen production more expensive than traditional methods of production, such as steam methane reforming using natural gas.

That's why reductions in the cost of sustainable energy as well as more efficient electrolysers are seen as keys to making efuels cheaper in the longer term. Once the hydrogen has been separated, it is then synthesised with carbon dioxide captured from regular energy production or industrial processes, such as the steel industry, to produce the petrol substitute.

The Coryton fuel results in an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse gases compared with an equivalent petrol. While Prodrive ECOpower has been developed primarily for motorsport use, the firm is confident it can be used as a direct replacement for unleaded petrol in almost any vehicle and is planning to run a near identical fuel in a number of its road vehicles to further prove out the technology.

Meanwhile it will power the company's Hunter T1+ rally car run by the BRX team, a four-wheel-drive special that's designed to tackle all terrains, and able to run the new fuel without any modification to the engine that previously ran on petrol. Much like Porsche and Bentley's recent interest in the technology, this is obviously encouraging news for car enthusiasts as it increases the prospect of ICE cars remaining relevant in a predominately electrified future. READ MORE

Excerpt from Racer: Additionally, the Prodrive Hunter driven by Loeb made history by becoming the first car to win a stage of the Dakar rally powered by a sustainable fuel. The vehicle runs on Prodrive EcoPower, which which is made from agricultural waste and reduces CO2 emissions by 80 percent compared to petrol. READ MORE