Indy Racing League tech director said cars can get better mileage on E100 than gasoline; engine optimization is the issue

In Indiana, Indy Racing League Senior Technical Director Les McTaggert told Hoosier Ag Today that with modifications to compression, and the elimination of unneeded horsepower, cars would achieve the same or better mileage on E100, saying that loss in mileage experienced by customers of E85 stems from the fact that  “the engine is principally designed to run on hydro carbon fuels. You change certain dynamics of the engine to optimize it to run on an alcohol fuel and get better gas mileage.”

Free Subscription to the Daily Biofuels Digest e-newsletter

Related Stories

Indy Racing League to buy E100 fuel from Brazil

In Brazil, the president of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency announced a deal with the US-based Indy Racing League to partially convert the IRL from US-based ethanol to Brazilian et...

Indy 500 to feature ethanol-powered pace car in 2008 race

An ethanol-powered Chevrolet Corvette will serve as the pace car for the 2008 Indianapolis 500. The pace car will be driven by two-time Formula One champion, Emerson "Emmo" Fittipaldi, who is a par...

Formula One ruling body bans investment in F1 engines; mandates focus on more enviro-friendly engine technologies

The ruling body of Formula One racing has banned further investment in F1 engines, and required teams to invest in developing hybrid engines or other more environmentally-friendly engine technologies....

Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand converts to E85

In New Zealand, the Toyota Racing Series has adopted E85 ethanol as its racing fuel. The series will be the first to feature production cars running biofuels under extreme conditions. Other auto racin...

Corvette Racing Team converts to E85 for American LeMans series

The Corvette Racing team will convert to E85 ethanol for the 2008 American Le Mans season, using cellulosic ethanol produced by KL Process Design Group from wood waste. The fuel will debut at the Mobi...

GM pushes ethanol for NASCAR racing

Nascar is in talks with General Motors about introducing ethanol into the stock-car racing league's fuel mix. The concept was broached by GM and reportedly a sticking point is NASCAR's marketing partn...