Energy...

Saturday afternoon, April 5, 2008, Corvette Racing sent two bright yellow cars through the streets of St. Petersberg, Florida. The twin Vettes used the American Le Mans Series Acura Sports Car Challenge as the proving ground for a high-octane version of the 85% cellulosic ethanol fuel.

The source of the E85R fuel is waste wood, such as undergrowth and dead trees, collected from the Black Hills National Forest as part of a wildfire prevention program. The Corvette team is the first in its GT1 class to use the fuel. St. Pete is a short race, clocking in at just under two hours, which makes it a good place to test the new, greener go-juice.

Other ALMS teams filling up with E85R include the GT2-class Aston Martin from Drayson Barwell Motorsport and Intersport Racing's Lola B06/10. Catch all the E85R teams, along with everybody else running on E10 and diesel fuels, live on ABC at 1:30 EDT. Granted, you already have to like watching cars go fast to get in on this green action, but if you do, this is the series to watch this year.

In other racing news, the rumor mill has it that Toyota is working on a hybrid racer and Peugeot is possibly building a hybrid diesel. Both cars may or may not debut at the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans in France next year.

Photo by Richard Prince.