Driving flat out for 400 miles on sustainable fuel
Sustainable fuels promise one way to secure the future of driving - and Detourism.
Offering a significant reduction in carbon emissions these innovative substitutes for fossil fuels could keep internal combustion cars on the roads for decades to come, but what, if any, impact do they have on driving?
That’s what Detour wanted to find out with a unique challenge that would test the performance and efficiency of a sustainable fuel over almost 400 miles.
Rather than a road trip the special blend of Coryton Sustain Classic 80 would fuel a 500-minute endurance race, which meant it would be required to deliver maximum power power pretty much the whole time.
Over the course of the race - the EnduroKA IndyKA 500 at Brands Hatch - the net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would be a claimed 65 per cent. With anything up to 400 laps of the 1.2-mile circuit possible and Ford’s quoted 147 grams per kilometre of CO2 emitted we could do the whole race while producing around 40 kg of CO2 compared to the rest of the 38-car grid, each of which would emit 120 kg.
Countdown to qualifying for the @ka_enduro IndyKa500 at @Brands_Hatch - first run using @CorytonFuelsLtd #racinggreen pic.twitter.com/cyy2P1fu2d
— AFK_Racing (@afk_racing) October 28, 2023
How is this possible?
“Crude oil is an embedded carbon, it's safely locked away in the ground, not causing any sort of damage to the environment,” explains David Richardson from our fuel supplier Coryton. “And ideally, that's where we would keep it so that we're not then releasing that carbon through to the environment, and adding to greenhouse gases, and the warming effects that you get. When you take the crude out, you turn it into a fuel and you burn it, you're releasing that carbon energy into the environment as a new carbon source.
“Where we are with the sustainable fuels, you're effectively recycling the carbon that has already been released into the environment either through burning fossil fuels or through other industry processes or just natural CO2. So, what you're really doing is you're looking for a way that is efficient at capturing that carbon into something that you can then process to turn it back into a liquid fuel. Using biomass works really nicely because we have Mother Nature doing all the heavy lifting for us. She’s very efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide,” says Richardson.
Coryton’s Sustain fuels uses raw materials from agricultural and food waste and puts them through an initial fermentation stage that turns them into ethanol. However, a further two-stage catalytic process changes the chemically structure into a hydrocarbon fuel with barely a trace of ethanol.
This fuel is then blended with a fossil-based gasoline to produce its Super 33, Super 80, and Racing 50. The numbers refer to each fuel’s minimum sustainable content and Coryton claims that, factoring in the manufacturing process, the Super 80 which we would be running can save 65 percent greenhouse gas emissions compared to a conventional high-octane unleaded fuel.
It is a direct swap for pump petrol and Coryton claims there are no negative effects to using it. Over the course of eight hours and 20 minutes we would find out.
We qualified 26th in a rain-soaked and accident-riddled session that would set the tone for the race itself. On lap one our car was hit at the Druids hairpin and pinballed between two others causing damage the would plague the rest of the race.
An intermittent electrical issue meant the car would randomly cut out, but when it was running well, it was as fast as the leaders and I traded places - and some paintwork - with Le Mans winner Nick Tandy for a short spell, suggesting that the Sustain 80 was definitely providing full power.
What’s more we were using significantly less fuel than in previous races. Even accounting for numerous safety cars and the wet weather the efficiency seemed to be considerably better than when running on regular pump petrol. Unfortunately the electrical gremlins meant the car died with just three minutes to the checkered flag, although we were classified 26th - exactly where we started.
It wasn’t the result we hoped for but it was nothing to do with the fuel, which if anything, probably gave us an advantage overall. If there are downsides to Sustain Classic 80 they’re the cost and availability. Right now it’s £4.65 per litre at Motor Spirit at Bicester Heritage or £259.95 for a 54 litre drum. That’s more than double the price you’d pay for premium fuel at the pumps, but as production increases and it becomes more widely available the costs should come down.
If that happens then the outlook for emissions-reduced motoring - and racing - is pretty rosy.
