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8^th April 2006 (Source: EEMS )

The Energy Efficient Motorsport (EEMS) initiative of Motorsport Development UK, which has renewed its support for a bio-ethanol powered car in the 2006 British Touring Car Championship, totay announced a new step towards energy-efficient racing. All teams are to be offered fuel metering technology free of charge, to prove its reliability and effectiveness.

The 250 BHP, 138mph Thurlby Motors Boston Bowl Racing Techspeed Astra Coupé, driven by 25 year old Fiona Leggate, has been running the fuel metering system throughout 2005. It was developed by Ricardo, the leading UK engineering and motorsport consultants, for EEMS. The system incorporates a metering device, which precisely monitors the engine’s fuel consumption by volume, a temperature sensor to allow compensation for fuel density and cabling to feed the information back to the car's data logger or 'black box'. The data logger, which is mandated by championship organisers TOCA, is made by Pi Research of Cambridge and stores the information for later downloading to a computer.

“This is part of our ongoing studies to find a sustainable approach to regulations and to encourage greater fuel efficiency in motorsport,” explained Dr Steve Bunkhall, EEMS Project Leader. “Limiting the maximum fuel flow means that teams would have to find the most energy efficient approach to be competitive. The concept of ‘energy equivalent flow’ will clearly define equivalency issues and open the way for alternative fuels to compete fairly alongside petrol in mainstream UK motorsport.”

The EEMS team's ambition is for the fuel flow limit to be adopted in the future to make energy efficiency key to competitiveness. The system can be used equally for all liquid fuels - diesel, petrol or renewables - and would allow cars running on these different energy sources to be regulated fairly. “Now we have to convince the teams and organisers that this is the way forward,” said Steve. “Environmental pressures are already changing the automotive world. There is an opportunity for UK Motorsport, with its world class expertise and experience, to lead the way to a greener automotive future by showcasing more energy efficient racing that is still exciting to watch and participate in. You don’t have to be slow to be green."

The EEMS-sponsored Astra is powered by E85, the same 85% ethanol, 15% petrol mix that is widely available in Sweden and the USA and is now being introduced to forecourts in the UK.

The bio-ethanol in E85 blend is an alcohol fuel made from starch crops such as sugar-beet or wheat and can be made from crop waste, so increasing use of this fuel will help Britain’s farmers as well as the environment – both of which are important for Fiona, who is from a farming family. Factories to produce bio-ethanol from crops are now being built in the UK and should offer farmers an important new market.

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Janice Minton, EEMS Press Office
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