Lead in alternative fuels scene grasped by Banbury-based Prodrive Ltd
Granted, it is a ‘small’ win in a narrow field of expertise but, highlights Iain Robertson, in world fumbling headlong into a battery-electric future, Prodrive’s development with Coryton Advanced Fuels fulfils a number of eco-parameters.
If, like me, you are concerned, even slightly, about a potential growing mountain of discarded internal combustion engines that are capable of running on fossil fuels alone, perhaps the development of a new form of petrol (or diesel, for that matter) might reduce the potential waste? Already aware that Porsche, the German sportscar manufacturer, is working closely with a group of other Teutonic carmakers and a major oil producer, in order to formulate a ‘clean and green’ alternative fuel, it is perhaps the Prodrive approach that takes early precedence.
Naturally, the aim is to slash ozone depleting emissions by vehicular power units emitting zero emissions, en-route to saving the planet. Yet, it needs to be stated that, while fossil fuels are a fast diminishing and unsustainable resource, little has been said about a world driven by electricity, in which the potential waste of the past 150 years of engine developments, recyclable, or not, will also have a major environmental impact.
The narrow niche to which I refer above is in the motorsports arena. Formula One, already renowned for its mostly toxic, hi-test ‘fuel cocktails’ over the years, although its sights have been somewhat more ecologically focused in recent times, has stated that it is still around four to five years away from formulating its petrol alternative. Of course, the operational parameters of F1 racing cars are somewhat screamingly different to those of your family SUV, or even next door’s hot hatchback, even though the solution is broadly similar.
Prodrive Ltd is a motorsport proponent that has been at the frontline of its world championship winning successes since its formation by Dave Richards (former rally co-driver to the ‘Flying Finn’ Ari Vatenen) and Ian Parry in 1984. The company grew rapidly, with a reputation for winning ways across a series of specialities and different formulae in both circuit (road) and off-road competition. It is renowned for developing its own unique programmes that are capable of drawing remarkable attention worldwide.
However, it will now be one of the first major teams in the world to compete with a new generation of advanced sustainable fuels in an FIA championship, when it competes in the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies later this year and next season. The Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) team will fuel its entry in the Dakar Rally (January 2022) to demonstrate that sustainable fuels can be used as a direct replacement for fossil fuels in ‘standard’ production vehicles. It is a fascinating and immensely exciting development.
Prodrive has developed the sustainable fuel over just the past eight months in conjunction with UK-based, Coryton Advanced Fuels, at a presently undisclosed level of financial investment (motorsport tends to hold its credit cards very close to its chest). Called Prodrive ECOpower, it has been developed specifically to demonstrate the environmental benefits of the latest sustainable fuel technology. The main components are generation 2 biofuel, manufactured from agricultural waste, combined with efuels created by capturing carbon from the atmosphere, supplemented by around 20% pump fuel. As a result, the fuel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80%, when compared with the equivalent petrol.
Prodrive chairman, David Richards, said: “I am a great advocate of motorsport taking the lead in developing, proving and promoting new technologies that can help address climate change. Covering thousands of miles across the toughest terrains, the Dakar and the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies are the perfect environment to showcase the benefits of the next generation of sustainable fuels and demonstrate that they can be used in road vehicles to reduce the use of fossil fuels, while still offering the same performance and range.”
The fuel has been developed at Prodrive’s powertrain facility, at its headquarters located just off the M40, at Banbury in the UK and it has been running in the BRX team’s Prodrive Hunter T1+ car in the same unmodified engines that previously ran on petrol. While Prodrive ECOpower has been developed for motorsport use, this sustainable fuel can be used as a direct replacement for unleaded petrol in almost any vehicle and the company is planning to run a near identical fuel in a number of its road vehicles to further prove the technology. It is entirely miscible with regular petrol and already shows no performance drop-off, with the much-reduced emissions.
Coryton CEO, Andrew Willson, told us: “Coryton has a long history in blending bespoke fuels for the motorsport industry and, to further support our customers’ evolving needs, we’ve launched ‘Sustain’ recently, our new sustainable fuels offering. We recognised that partnering with Prodrive would be an ideal way to test our capabilities in some of the world’s most challenging racing environments, alongside some of the finest engineering expertise in the industry.”
The Prodrive Hunter T1+ has been designed specifically to compete at the Dakar event in Saudi Arabia and in cross-country rallies across the world. The four-wheel drive car can cross almost any terrain, from sand dunes to rocky mountain tracks, at high speed and over the two weeks of the Dakar will cover more than 7,500km.
The BRX team has carried out extensive testing in the UK and is now heading to the Middle East for more extensive endurance work in the same conditions it is anticipated it will experience at the Dakar. The team will then compete at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and Hail Rally before heading to the Dakar, which starts on January 1st 2022.
Far from clutching at straws, while the prospect of a rally team using a sustainable fuel is really small news, the implications of Prodrive engineers being the first to do so and Coryton scientists being the first to produce it is a genuine landmark worth recording. What this wee story holds for the future of the internal combustion engine is yet to play out but it will be a much greater story ultimately, especially for the agricultural and other specific scenes.
