As part of this year’s “Bosch Hockenheim Historic – The Jim Clark Revival”, the PROJECT TECH OPEN will is sending a clear signal for openness to technology and the greater use of future fuels. At the initiative of the RBAC -Royal Bobsleigh Automobile Club of founder Leopold Prince of Bavaria, a classic BMW 3.0 CSL from 1973, fueled with reduced-emission fuel, will participate in the training of the “GLP Pro” category. At the wheel: Leopold Prince of Bavaria. The head of the Albertine line of the House of Wittelsbach enjoys a high reputation not only in motorsport circles, as a former DTM driver and fourth-placed finisher in the legendary 24-hour race in Le Mans.
“Together with our partners, we want to set a first exclamation mark in the direction of clean combustion engines,” says the idea generator and managing director of the RBAC, Axel Watter. The BMW 3.0 CSL of owner Leopold Fischer, prepared by s-Berg Racing and Siegfried Spiess Motorenbau, is to make a clear statement for a stronger perception of clean and sustainable combustion engines as a viable alternative to individual e-mobility. Experts have long since agreed that the internal combustion engine per se is not bad; it is only what is burned that matters. In the medium term, e-fuels and synthetic fuels will be available that will also make the internal combustion engines already on the roads CO2-neutral and virtually pollutant-free.
The novel gasoline designed for test purposes by CropEnergies AG and Mabanaft GmbH & Co. KG, which contains around 20 percent ethanol from sustainable production, proves that the balancing act between emission reduction and high performance in the fuel sector is already feasible today. Well-known automakers such as BMW, Bentley and Opel have already approved gasoline with an ethanol content of up to 25 percent for some models, and other manufacturers will follow shortly.
Gasoline with a higher ethanol content is already being used successfully in many countries to reduce CO2 emissions in the mobility sector. According to an independent study conducted by the prestigious Vienna University of Technology, in tank-to-wheel terms CO2 emissions are reduced by almost 22 percent, while particulate matter is cut by more than 50 percent. Depending on how the engine is tuned, the values can be even better. This is because the high anti-knock properties of the new type of climate fuel of 100 octane allow engine developers to design the units for even more residue-free combustion and thus make them even more environmentally friendly. By adding newly developed gasoline additives designed for the exceptional performance of this environmentally compatible fuel, existing vehicles are also able to implement the positive properties of the climate-friendly fuel, as tests with the closed fleets of some environmentally sensitive companies have shown.
So if you want to reduce emissions from the transport sector as quickly as possible, there is no getting around an increased blending rate of sustainable fuels such as ethanol or synthetic blends in gasoline. Only an increased blending rate of conventional gasoline with sustainable fuel solutions will enable the desired immediate inclusion of the existing vehicle fleet, while the mobility shift toward e-mobility will require the time-consuming replacement of the fleet as well as the conversion of the energy infrastructure.
This is because only fuels with a high bio-ethanol content enable the immediate inclusion of the existing vehicle fleet, while the mobility shift per e-mobility requires the time-consuming replacement of the fleet.
Owners of older vehicles and historic racing and sports cars can continue to use their automotive treasures in the future with a clear conscience using bio-fuels. The threat of decommissioning or a ban on use is thus off the table and exposed as a purely ideological measure by political decision-makers. Politicians, industry and institutions must continue to accept that the high-tech race between drive philosophies has not yet been decided and must not be distorted or hindered by regulations in favor of certain approaches. Ultimately, the aim is to find the best drive technology for environmentally friendly and climate-neutral mobility.
Text: AvD
