By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Who says E85 has to be slow? E85 ethanol gasoline blend is actually better for forced induction performance because it lowers the risk of detonation. Alternative fuel does not indicate the end of the performance world! Read more about the Titan Motorsports 800 whp Toyota Supra running E85 at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

Corvette Racing shows that you don’t have to give up creature comforts to go racing—each of its racecars has a near-stock air-conditioning setup to help keep its drivers cool. The deal with the sanctioning body is that if the teams run a/c, they get to use bigger-bore restrictor plates—and that more than makes up for the horsepower that’s lost through the climate control. The 427 big-blocks are able to run cellulosic E85 with only minor tweaks to timing and fuel metering—and the ethanol even boosts power output somewhat (the engines make around 600 hp) though the fuel mileage suffers a bit. See more pics below the jump!

Continue reading "E85-Powered 'Vette Rocks the A/C" »

You may remember Kevin and Michelle from One Lap of America, where they placed third overall. And as promised, they made it out to Buttonwillow to compete in the Ultimate Track Car Challenge. Their little E85-powered WCM Ultralite was well suited to the course, and impressed everyone on Saturday during their trial runs. They broke part of the rear suspension in the afternoon, and were up all night welding. Then Kevin cracked an oil pan during the first session on Sunday, but he managed to get that fixed quickly and got right back out there for the second session. His times steadily improved throughout the day, and he ended up placing third in Independent JV, which also earned him the trophy for our fastest green track car. Congrats guys! More pics after the jump.

Continue reading "The Fastest Green Track Car" »

It took a bit of poking and prodding, but we managed to round up four "green" track cars for the Grassroots Motorsports Ultimate Track Car Challenge on Sunday. We have two Jetta TDIs–the Chili Pepper Racing TDI and the Kerma TDI. We’ll also have the AC Propulsion eBox, which currently holds the 1/8th mile record with the National Electric Drag Racing Association for a street conversion. And finally, we have the Organic Racing Lotus 7 replica (an E85-powered WCM Ultralite S2K). These four will compete to see who’s the fastest, and who’s the greenest. Stay tuned for full coverage of Sunday’s event at Buttonwillow.

Grassroots Motorsports and CarDomain recently announced the Green Car category at the Utimate Track Car Challenge. Well, today the American Le Mans Series announced their own Green Racing Challenge, and Chevy rolled out an E85 Vette at NAIAS as part of the fanfare. More at the American Le Mans Series website.

When I think of Ferrari, a lot of things come to mind—and green isn’t one of them. But the times, they are a’ changing. At a press conference this morning, the Italian supercar maker debuted a new 430 that will run on E85. And while some purists may sniffle—or make an obscene Italian hand gesture—at the idea, I love the prospect of green Ferraris. The new V8 even makes ten more horses than its gas-powered brethren! How cool is that? This just shows that all the bellyaching the Big Three have been doing about new CAFE standards is a load of crap. Seriously, if Ferrari cares about MPGs and emissions, you guys probably should. Just stop whining and get to work!   

There will be two Vettes pacing the Indy 500 next year–a green E85-powered Z06 driven by Emerson Fittipaldi, and a black and silver vert (Chevy will build 500 in this 30th anniversary paint scheme). More photos at Left Lane News.

By Jen

Editor

This chopped and channeled 1934 Chevy might look like a fire-breathing beast, but it is in fact relatively easy on the atmosphere. Running a powerful but efficient turbocharged 2.0L Ecotec, the mean-looking hot rod pushes out 500 horsepower–and it does it all on E85 ethanol. While the green credentials of ethanol are a little iffy at this point, GM is to be commended for its gesture toward leaving more gas for the real hot rods. Even better, GM stated it a press release that it is thinking about producing an E85 conversion kit for existing engines. Those corn farmers better get busy.