Green Flag: IndyCars run on 100% Ethanol at Daytona
by Noah Joseph on Sep 27th 2006 at 3:47PM 
Yesterday marked a historical milestone for open-wheel racing and for the movement towards alternative energy motorsports as former IndyCar champions Tonny Kanaan and Sam Hornish Jr. ran tests on 100% ethanol fuel. The champs ran the new 3.5-liter Honda V8s around the road course at Daytona all day without incident, marking the first time open-wheel racing has been run on a completely renewable fuel source, in advance of the series' shift to ethanol for the 2007 season.
The drivers' performance was competitive against Scott Dixon and Vitor Meira who ran on the 2006 mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% methanol; all drivers clocking comparable lap times.
The historical significance of the day of testing was even further enhanced by the venue, as this was the first time since 1959 that Indy cars ran at Daytona.
[Source: The Auto Channel]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
rwdmtparkingonly 4:19PM (9/27/2006)
This isn't too impressive, NASCAR started out with people running ethanol.
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Poleaxe 4:38PM (9/27/2006)
Wow. Moving from methanol to ethanol. One 'alternative-energy' source to another: please tell me why I should care.
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rwdmtparkingonly 4:50PM (9/27/2006)
Ethanol is an excellent fuel to use in racing, except perhaps for storage issues because it has lower energy density than gasoline (I'm not sure how it compares with Methanol). It has over 100 octane to support high compression ratios, and it naturally cools the engine.
The problem with ethanol is production and distribution, and that is something that racing using it will not solve (although, unlike the government, old NASCAR racers do know that it is more efficient to make it out of sugar than corn).
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Bill Maher is an Idiot 2:34AM (9/28/2006)
A good thing to know.
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thesawzall 9:14AM (9/28/2006)
Does Ethanol burn w/o flames like Methanol does? Just want to know in advance of any dancing crewmen on pit lane.
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MikeW 12:54AM (9/29/2006)
I guess they don't have to drive when the temps drop below 50 F.
Can't drive, engine won't start. Going back to brazil.
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