racing

NASCAR Pays a Whopping $6.25 a Gallon for Gas

khallgeisler — Mon, 12 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

While most of us are coordinating ride shares and hopping on our bikes to save money on gasoline, what are people who drive -- and drive fast -- for a living doing? Drafting, sure, but at 200 miles an hour, it's hardly because they're looking to save on fuel economy.

NASCAR does have a deal with Sunoco, the supplier of the series' special race fuel, to provide free fuel at sanctioned events; the teams have to foot the bill for everything else. Many teams perform extra, all-day tests at non-sanctioned tracks, where they'll burn through a 55-gallon drum of race fuel at $6.25 a gallon.You've got the math right: almost $350 to test a car for a day.

That doesn't count the cost of diesel to fuel the truck that hauls the car to the test track, or from race to race. Diesel is at or above $4 a gallon already, and the truck tanks hold about 300 gallons. Right again: $1200 a fill-up.

The drivers have to get to the track, too, and if it's a race in California or New Hampshire, that means flying, either commercially or in a private plane (many drivers own small jets). There's another couple thou in jet fuel or plane tickets.

NASCAR owners and drivers aren't hurting for cash by any means, and the series has no plans to shorten races as it did in the 1970s during the gas crisis. The guys in the pits with the flame-retardant suits won't be out of a job yet. But next time you wince as the dollars fly by on the gas pump, pity the poor NASCAR teams shelling out thousands of dollars for one Sunday of fast driving.

Original AP story at NASCAR.com

Photo by sidehike

800-Hp Hybrid to Race at Nurburgring

khallgeisler — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

According to a recent post on Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur's web site, its Apollo hybrid supercar will take on the 24-hour race at the legendary Nurburgring track in Germany May 22-25.

The car that will take its turn around "the Green Hell," as Formula One racers dubbed the track years ago, is based on the production Apollo. It uses a 100-kw electric motor and a 3.3-liter V8 gasoline engine that alone can churn out 630 horsepower. According to the gearheads over at Popular Science, the motor and engine can deliver 800 horsepower combined. That should be enough, even for the world's longest race track.

If a supercar hybrid isn't green enough for you, check out this weekend's fourth annual Green Grand Prix, which begins and ends in Watkins Glen, New York. Entrants run the gamut from hybrids to Flex Fuel to a converted Isuzu Trooper that runs on wood chips. It's the only SCCA-sanctioned rally for hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles -- and you don't get much more alternative than wood chips.

Fast Green

khallgeisler — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:00:00 -0400

Formula 1 president Max Mosely announced last week that the prestigious international racing series was going hybrid. Don’t worry, he didn’t really mean it.

It turns out that in 2009, Formula 1 will allow racers to use something called KERS, or Kinetic Energy Recovery System. This is like the regenerative braking system used in a Prius, where the energy generated by slowing down the car will be electronically captured and stored in an on-board battery for later use. In both Formula 1 and street cars, it allows the car to go farther on a tank of gas, which would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from the tailpipe squeeze in a few extra laps between pit stops.

Regenerative braking works best when slowing cars that are running at high speeds, so Formula 1 seems like a good place to use the technology. The system is not the same as friction braking, where pads or shoes or the like stop the car by coming into contact with the rotors, which is what most cars on the road and the track have used for decades.

Formula 1 has also begun a Make Cars Green campaign, which is about as straightforward a name as you can get. The goal of the campaign is a little harder to pin down, though, as so far it seems to entail taking pictures of F1 drivers behind a banner that says “Make Cars Green.” Organizers say F1 is working with companies like Bridgestone tires to make the sport “more road-relevant and environmentally sustainable,” but it seems we’ll have to wait and see exactly how they plan to do that. Besides, of course, group photos.

American Le Mans, meanwhile, continues its commitment to alternative fuels, including clean diesel and ethanol blends. An Aston-Martin became the first GT-class car to run a race on E85R at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the Motorsports Industry Association held a seminar at the Florida series opener on energy efficiency.

Are these efforts really green, though? Not so much. Most of the cars using ethanol blends in ALMS are using E10, which is only 10% ethanol. The other 90% is still gasoline. And depending on who you ask, ethanol may not be doing us any environmental or economic favors. As far as Formula 1’s foray into regenerative braking systems, anything is an improvement over what they’ve been doing. But it remains to be seen how much of a difference KERS will make, and what further initiatives will be part of the promised season-long roll-out of Make Cars Green.

In the meantime, check out some guilt-free fast cars at NEDRA’s web site.

Photo by ajimixx.

Spring Green at Sebring

khallgeisler — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 14:16:39 -0500

If you're looking for a sign of spring but the weather won't cooperate and the crocuses aren't yet in bloom, look no further than the start of another race season in sunny Florida. Next week, the American Le Mans Series will run the Twelve Hours of Sebring with a green twist for 2008.

The series had earlier announced that it will allow E85R fuel on the track, and GM took them on up it by entering a flex-fuel Corvette in this year's series. In late February, Intersport Racing became on of the first teams in the series to run a car using the fuel on the track, in their Lola racer.

The organizers of ALMS have gone a step further: every one of the cars on the track in Sebring will be using one of three "green" fuels: clean diesel, E10, or E85. Ethanol has been getting a bit of a bad rap lately, but at least this is a step in the right direction.

Photo of Intersport Racing's Lola by John Thawley.

E85 Gets Green Flag

khallgeisler — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:42:42 -0500

With the 12 Hours of Sebring kicking off the season in March, the American Le Mans Series has announced that it will allow E85 to be used for the first time. EPIC, the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, has spearheaded the move, and GM will race two E85-powered Corvettes in the 2008 season.

(For non-race fans, these cars are low-slung race cars closer in shape to Formula One cars than street cars. Based on the classic French 24-hour Le Mans race, the American series caps its longest race at 12 hours and 3,100 miles, which should be long enough for anyone.)

In 2007, EPIC was able to make an in-road with ALMS by getting E10 on the track. This fuel, commonly known as "gasohol," is 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline and can be used in unmodified engines. Not surprisingly then, E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline and can only be used in so-called "flex-fuel" vehicles. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, E85 reduces ozone-forming emissions and carbon dioxide while being renewable and biodegradable. They should know.

E85 also has an octane rating of about 100 to 105; for comparison, regular unleaded gas has a rating of 87, most premium gasoline at the pump is rated 93, and NASCAR's leaded fuel is rated 110.

Speaking of America's favorite race series, NASCAR has just this year caught up with 1971 and switched over to unleaded fuel. Sunoco, NASCAR's official fuel supplier, has finally developed an unleaded race fuel called Sunoco 260 GTX that won't damage stock car engines. Look for NASCAR to switch to E85--or any other enviro-friendly fuel--in 2045.

Photo courtesy fiatguy85.