Prodrive to Race Prove Biofuels Reducing Eco Emissions by 80%

Paul Myles

TU-Editor

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13th October 2021

UK motorsport specialist, Prodrive, claims to have jointly developed sustainable fuel for ICE powered racing cars that reduces greenhouse emissions by 80% compared to regular gasoline.

The fuel, created in unison with Coryton Advanced Fuels, will be used to power Prodrive’s entries into the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies later this year.  Its Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) team will compete at the Dakar rally in January using the fuel to demonstrate that sustainable fuels can be used as a direct replacement for fossil fuels in standard unmodified production vehicles.

The fuel, now dubbed Prodrive ECOpower, was developed over the past eight months and is a second-generation biofuel, manufactured from agricultural waste and efuels created by capturing carbon from the atmosphere. It has been developed at Prodrive’s powertrain facility at its headquarters at Banbury in the UK and has been run in the BRX team’s Prodrive Hunter T1+ car in the same unmodified engines which previously ran on gasoline.

While this high octane fuel has been developed for motorsport use, it can also be used as a direct replacement for unleaded gasoline 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 out the technology.

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.”

— Paul Myles is a seasoned automotive journalist based in Europe. Follow him on Twitter @Paulmyles_