Detroit 2008: Corvette Racing to run all E85 in ALMS
In the absence of any substantive competition in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class, the team of Corvette Racing has decided to create its own challenges for the C6R Corvette. At the ALMS press conference today in Detroit, Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper announced that Corvette Racing would be running cellulosic E85 (made from wood chips in this case, not corn) in the 2008 ALMS GT1 class. The team is targeting a race debut in March for its E85 C6R race cars at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The ALMS press conference as a whole focused on the series' intent to be the global leader in green racing. ALMS CEO Scott Atherton discussed how other racing series have migrated to focusing on personalities with the cars becoming just appliances (gee, wonder who he could be talking about?). ALMS wants its cars to be the stars of the show and also relevant to a changing automotive and environmental landscape. To that end, they are evolving rules to encourage technological innovation and adding a new Green Challenge that we'll have more details on soon. There's more information on the ALMS initiative at AutoblogGreen.
[Source: American Le Mans Series, AutoblogGreen]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mike 9:51AM (1/15/2008)
seriously, this whole 'green' thing is getting seriously out of control. Looks like the worlds newest religion is taking hold though.
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psarhjinian 10:42AM (1/15/2008)
To further your analogy:
Corn E85 is to Green what Militant Fundamentalism is to Christianity: they get the basic message, but distort it to fit their own ideology.
This is greenwashing, plain and simple
Mike 10:45AM (1/15/2008)
Militant Fundamentalism is to Christianity? Not sure I follow the argument there.... although, if you substituted 'christianity' for 'islam' because you know christians will laugh it off while the muslims will riot and behead nuns till you apologize, then that is ok....
why not the LS2/LS7? 11:36AM (1/15/2008)
psarhjinian:
You read the first sentence, but you missed the 2nd one.
"At the ALMS press conference today in Detroit, Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper announced that Corvette Racing would be running cellulosic E85 (made from wood chips in this case, not corn) in the 2008 ALMS GT1 class."
It isn't corn E85.
psarhjinian 11:49AM (1/15/2008)
And militant Christians don't bomb abortion clinics, lynch people they don't agree, support the dealth penalty with or generally use religion to justify hate? Usually in _direct contradition_ to Christ's teachings?
I used Christianity because, truthfully, I don't know much about Islam. The point is a religion--any religion--that preaches tolerance has adherents that cherry-pick and distort the message to suit their own greed or insecurity. Then they whitewash their actions with religion.
E85 is like that: it's an attempt to greenwash farm subsidies and corporate welfare for the automakers and agribusiness. It takes the core green message, but warps it.
psarhjinian 11:50AM (1/15/2008)
@why not the LS2/LS7?
I stand corrected. My mistake
sydbot 12:02PM (1/15/2008)
It's far easier to get funds for E-85 development than for domestic oil development, so I can't fully disagree with the greenwashing of corn ethanol. And I keep in mind that this is the first step towards what seems like a promising fuel/additive. I'd rather they spend the money here in the States to try and stretch out our oil supply than save it so we can send our money to Canada and Europe for more oil. The US desparately needs domestic production of anything.
And remember, this is an "automobile forum"...so if you think what you are typing might be stupid, read this:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19
Theres a good chance it is stupid.
geo.stewart 9:54AM (1/15/2008)
gotta give props for this. with all the talk about the waste of fuel in racing, using this as a platform for promoting is nice.
on the other hand, cars only use something like ?20%? of the fossil fuels used.
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housegsx 10:01AM (1/15/2008)
It is out of control, but I wonder how this is going to work out. They are going to be going through E85 faster than their typical racing fuel so they will have to either get larger fuel cells with the burden of carrying more fuel weight or make pits stop much more frequently. Are all the other teams in the class switching as well to even this out?
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Will 10:17AM (1/15/2008)
That's a good point. Considering the performance benefit of E85 isn't really a factor when compared to the race gas they were already running, the added weight seems to make the overall effect of the ethanol switch a negative one.
Duck 10:51AM (1/15/2008)
There is no competition in GT1, so it doesn't matter if the car isn't as fast on E85 as it was on race gas. The team is now creating it's own challenges because winning all the time is kinda boring.
why not the LS2/LS7? 11:38AM (1/15/2008)
I expect they'll get larger fuel cells. The weight will hurt them, but the HP boost will cover it. And as mentioned, there isn't any real competition in GT1 anyway.
meshies 10:01AM (1/15/2008)
I like this move.
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David(Postal) 10:35AM (1/15/2008)
well I hope it works out for them. Deisel, E85, I don't care let's just see some awesome racing!
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Rocketboy 10:36AM (1/15/2008)
Good to hear. Wood Chips > Corn. If E85=Corn Then Dumb_Idea.
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rndmnme 10:56AM (1/15/2008)
Cause cutting down more trees is some how a more green strategy than using corn?
Any way you slice it, ethanol is a bad idea.
psarhjinian 11:52AM (1/15/2008)
The best (in terms of green-ness) biofuel is usually waste; that's where wood chips come in. Cellulosic ethanol can come from lots of sources, most of which use cast-offs from primary industries (food production, lumber, etc).
Rocketboy 1:48PM (1/15/2008)
Thank you psarhjinian for explaining it for me. Ethanol from corn for daily drivers is a bad idea. Ethanol from waste products for race cars is a great idea.
Rocketboy 2:18PM (1/15/2008)
Ok, let me go slower this time. Ethanol in race cars made from a byproduct is a good idea. A darn good idea. Ethanol in daily drivers made from corn is a bad idea. A darn bad idea.
Enough with the knee-jerk reaction already. Try actually thinking before you freak out next time. That way you won't look like an idiot to the adults.
rndmnme 11:53PM (1/15/2008)
Nobody's freaking out.
Let's think about the reality of this though. Do you think big corporations are going to wait around for waste to be produced to make their product? Not a chance.
Not because their inherently evil, or even plain greedy, it's just not logistically a good idea to be dependent on other things when you can go straight to the source.
Oh, and by the way. Since psarhjinian had to explain something to you before you put any thought or research into it, perhaps you should take your own medicine and try thinking before making a blind statement.
The fact of the matter, that concentrating on development time on any ethanol source is research that is spent taking high fuel prices and extending them. If you substitute product A, with product B, then product B will become just as expensive. Ethanol as a fuel source now is already much more expensive, and less efficient than gasoline. That's not even taking into consideration what is paid in taxes for corn and ethanol subsidies.
Where as you take a fuel source that can be produced with electricity from, say a solar panel, and rain water. With the by product being more fuel that doesn't cause food shortages or deforestation AND leaves a lot less variables to be used to jack up fuel prices on the consumer and you have an actual solution for the fuel crisis, not another band-aid.
But by your 3 lines of smarmy retort I see you've already thought of that.