Case Studies		Team Inzane Laverda
CCM Motorcycles		Jenkins Motorsport Developments
Barwell Motorsport		Ratt Racing
Oaktec

Company

CCM Motorcycles

Additional Participants

ACU - The Auto-Cycle Union is the Governing Body for motorcycle sport throughout Britain

Short Track UK - Home of British Flat Track Racing

Anglo American Fuels - Specialists in the supply of high quality and high performance racing fuels and oils

Summary

CCM Motorcycles is one of Britain's most famous two-wheel manufacturers and in 2007 became the first manufacturer to offer racing with environmentally responsible bioethanol fuel.

In 2006 at the International Motorcycle Show, CCM received an enquiry from a youngster who wanted to race, but wanted to do so using environmentally responsible fuel. CCM took the decision to launch a single-make Junior Short Track Championship - the first two-wheeled UK Championship to run exclusively on bioethanol.

CCM worked with the ACU in their role as the governing body of motorcycle sport in Britain and Short Track UK to put regulations in place to allow for the use of bioethanol in the Championship.

The conversion proved highly successful, offering improved performance and reliability throughout the season. Going forward, CCM has ambitious plans to offer a wide range of machines running on bioethanol.

Key Facts

• First UK two-wheeled Championship to run exclusively on bioethanol
• Bioethanol delivered 10-15% power improvement
• Conversion of four stroke CXR 230 FT motorcycles presented no technical challenges
• 100% reliability achieved by all teams and competitors throughout the season
• Increased media interest in environmentally responsible approach contributing to an increase in competitors involved in the championship

The Challenge

The aim of this project was to be the first motorcycle championship to use bioethanol fuel and to showcase how motorcycling is environmentally aware and able to provide youngsters wishing to start motorcycle racing with an affordable, exciting Championship that addresses their environmental concerns.

For CCM the challenge included:

• Identification of an appropriate fuel and importantly, its supply.
• Conversion of the motorcycle to achieve the same power output as a petrol-fuelled engine. As between 35-50% more bioethanol fuel by volume is required the four stroke CCM CXR 230 FT motorcycles used in the Championship required modifications to the engine to allow for the use of bio-fuel. CCM worked with the ACU to allow for this in the series regulations.
• Ensuring the reliability and continued performance of the bikes throughout the Championship.

The Solution

The project started in March 2007 with CCM working closely with the ACU. Anglo American Fuels provided technical assistance and as they were able to supply bioethanol from sustainable sources for the championship, CCM decided to convert the CXR 230 FT engine to run on an E85 bioethanol fuel.

The conversion proved to be straightforward. Initially CCM tested the use of bioethanol by simply adding the fuel and monitoring the impact. With an engine as simple as the CXR 230 FT, CCM found it was well able to cope with the alternative fuel and applied straightforward engineering logic, developing the fuel supply and engine management system to optimise the performance.

To ensure reliability, CCM changed all the O-ring seals and rubbers to an appropriate material that was more resistant to bioethanol. In addition, fuel lines and anything in the carburettor that would be susceptible to corrosion were changed. Once the engines had been modified and set up, the machines returned a 100% reliability rate running faultlessly on bioethanol for the entire season with no reported problems from any team or competitor.

Lessons Learnt

As the engine used in the CXR 230 FT is not sophisticated technically and has a cast iron cylinder bore, a problem that came to light was that of cold-starting when using bioethanol. CCM solved this by increasing the size of the main jet, the needle jet and the pilot jet to accommodate the increased amount of fuel required.

Benefits

For competitors, running on bioethanol satisfied their requirement for the sport to become more environmentally responsible. Another benefit of using bioethanol was that the bikes returned approximately 10-15% more power than they had when running on normal petrol - another plus point for excitement hungry youngsters.

Responding to customer needs and converting the engines to run on bioethanol has proved CCM to be an innovative manufacturer of racing bikes and one that listens and responds to the needs of its customers - customers who are, in turn, demanding more solutions to their environmental concerns.

The Future

CCM has fully recognised the importance of energy efficiency and are seeking to further improve the engine performance in terms of power with bioethanol through an R&D exercise focusing on compression ratios. The company is also actively investigating transferring the knowledge gained to their road going machines. Any CCM road machine owners interested in converting to E85 bioethanol can contact CCM for advice and guidance.

Further information

Gary Harthern
CCM Motorcycles
www.ccm-motorcycles.net

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