Today is Children's Day in Japan and that means it's also the day of the annual electric vehicle (EV) races at Tsukuba circuit. Sponsered by the Japan EV club with coordination from Daihatsu Motor Co. (maker of really cool little cars we can't buy in America), the event will feature 30-minute endurance races and 20-lap sprint races with EVs of all stripes including slick open-wheeled racers (like the one pictured above from last year's event). The ever popular electric racing kart (ERK) gymkhana will also be featured.

The day begins with at 7 AM with a vehicle inspection and will end after the "commendation ceremony" at three in the afternoon and admission is free. Happy Children's Day!

[Source: Japan Electric Vehicle Club]

Last year, Barwell Motorsport's bio-ethanol powered Aston Martin DBRS9 proved green fuels can be competitive in racing. That success did not go unnoticed, and Cadena Motorsport will follow in Barwell's footsteps, converting its yellow DBRS9 to run on the greener juice as well. The British GT Championship's website caught up with Cadena drivers Barrie Whight and Gavan Kershaw. Whight says Aston Martin's racing partners see the use of green fuels as very attractive because it improves their corporate environmental responsibility. It's likely to only get better, too, as other major series like the ALMS help encourage further innovation by embracing green racing initiatives. The bio-ethanol conversion for the Cadena DBRS9 is underway and should be finished by the end of this month.

You may also recall that in January, Aston Martin Racing announced that its new Vantage GT2 racer would also be E85-capable. And lest you think the Aston Martin biofuel migration is exclusive to modern racers, one of the entrants in the 2008 New York-to-Paris "Great Race" is a vintage '67 Aston Martin DB6 converted to run on E85. It's no secret that automotive technology is often tested on the racetrack before making its way into passenger cars. Maybe the well-heeled (and James Bond) will be cruising in bio-fueled roadgoing Astons in the not-too-distant future.



[Sources: British GT via Crash.net]

The first video below the fold is Mazda's Director of Design, Franz von Holzhausen talking about the Furai concept at the Detroit Auto Show. The Furai is a racing concept that runs on E100 (100 percent ethanol) and the car's design is inspired by the wind. The video includes a look at a really cool pop-up wing in the middle of the Furai.

The second video below the fold is the Furai on the race track with sounds you really have to hear. You will never believe that's corn ethanol making that noise. Also below the fold is a video that takes a look at the inside of the Furai and its very cool steering wheel.

Related:

• Detroit 2008 Preview: Mazda Furai concept
• Detroit 2008 Preview: Mazda Furai completely exposed

[Source: YouTube]

According to AFP, the Japanese newspaper, Yomiuri Shimbun is reporting Toyota plans to bring a hybrid to the Le Mans 24 hour race in France. An unnamed Toyota official told Yomiuri Shimbun, "Audi proved the superiority of the next generation diesel engine at Le Mans. Toyota wants to do the same with the hybrid." Yomiuri Shimbun also says that to make a hybrid race car, "Toyota has to significantly reduce the vehicle's weight and increase its efficiency." Toyota last raced in Le Mans in 1999 and placed second but now hopes a hybrid race car will take them to victory.

Update: The original article which also mentions Toyota will use a "special capacitor."

Related:

• UK's defense minister quits job to race ethanol car
• Video: Toyota racing series the first to use cars powered by E85
• The Toyota Prius in Gran Turismo? Awesome!
• American Le Mans Series moving further into biofuels
• American Le Mans Series to introduce cellulosic E85 in 2008

[Source: Yomiuri Shimbun via Agence France-Presse (AFP) article]

Michigan Live caught up with popular custom bike maker and host of Monster Garage, Jesse James, at the Detroit Auto Show Wednesday. Jesse was at AutoWeek's annual design forum awards dinner promoting recycling and talked about his plans to break the land speed record this Spring with his hydrogen gas-fueled "Green Scream." Has Jesse gone green? Not quite.

Jesse says "we all want to go faster and have cooler, neater stuff, so we all have to pay our dues. ... That's just me trying to find some balance. ... I want my kid to be able to drive my 'cuda. So that's my preachy speech." Jesse also says Al Gore is still "a dork" and "I don't want to go to an electric Formula One race."

How about a hybrid Formula One race, Jesse?

Related:

• Formula One hybrid racing coming in 2010
• New hybrid transmission for Formula One cars revealed
• Ricardo appointed as "Green" consultant to Formula One
• Jesse James & West Coast Choppers fined $271,250 for smog violations
• More on Jesse James, his CARB settlement and his hydrogen-powered land-speed car
• Cisco Burger eco-restaurant opened by Sandra Bullock and that Monster Garage guy

[Source: Michigan Live]

The Record Bee caught up with the Mythbusters (Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman) and crew at the Lake County's fairgrounds and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma Wednesday. What are the Mythbusters busting? According to the show's producer, they are filming an episode, to air next season, on busting the myth that electric cars are slow. The episode will include races between electric and gas; ATVs, go-carts and cars. Here is MythBusters Associate Producer Eric Haven talking about the episode:

A lot of people have a pre-conception that electric vehicles are slower than gas-powered vehicles. We're going to bust that myth. ... Today we're testing ATV's. We have a gas-powered one and an electric one. Tomorrow it's go-carts, and then cars.

The Record Bee also writes the Mythbusters tried to get a gas- and electric-powered Polaris ATV but did not mention the type of car or go-cart. Full disclosure, Jamie Hyneman help develop an electric ATV and I have not been too positive on the show in several articles.

Editor's note: we can bust this myth right now by talking to Michael Kadie or Dennis "Kilowatt" Berube or Gale Banks or ...
.

Related:

• Mythbuster Jamie Hyneman helps develop electric Model One ATV
• Mistakes in the Mythbusters' episode on fuel economy devices
• Mythbusters: drafting 10 feet behind a big rig will improve mileage 39 percent
• Mythbusters' mistakes in AC vs windows down episode
• Would a superhero drive a Prius? We're not sure, but the Mythbusters do!
• NY Times writes about the history of electric drag racing

[Source: Record Bee]

Update: Indy cars used a mix of 90 percent methanol and 10 percent ethanol. Indy switched over to 100 percent ethanol in 2007 and the improved mileage comes from the higher energy content of ethanol over methanol.

In the video above from the Sundance Channel show, Big Ideas for a Small Planet, an Indy race car driver says he gets better mileage on ethanol. First he says racing can be green, that the car gets more power on ethanol and then he says he gets a lot better mileage. So much better mileage, in fact, they had to shrink the size of the fuel tank. Here is the exact quote:

First thing that we've noticed with the transition, from the ten percent to hundred percent ethanol this year, is that we have a broader power band and more torque. So the car is pulling better and accelerating better out of the corner. We also have gotten a lot better mileage, so we are reducing the size of the fuel cell from 30 gallons down to 22 gallons. We are out there testing this under the toughest conditions that we can and that's going to make better-performing cars that can run ethanol more efficiently out on the road.

FYI, "fuel cell" in Indy race cars are just fuel tanks and have nothing to do with hydrogen fuel cells. Anyway, this is the tipping point for me. I think it's high time we get some serious money behind researching and getting to market technology that makes ethanol more efficient than gas. If half of what this Indy racer (and this study) says are true, ethanol engine technology should be the first and central focus ahead of hybrids or hydrogen.

Related:

• Study: non-flex fuel cars get better fuel economy on ethanol
• Video: Toyota racing series the first to use cars powered by E85
• Can any car use E85?
• Is Biowillie misleading customers?

[Source: Sundance Channel via Hulu on AOL]

The video above from Sky News is of a truck that runs on chocolate and is going around the world. The truck actually runs on biodiesel made from chocolate and they are going to Timbuktu to promote biodiesel. Below the fold is a video of a race car made from potatoes called Eco One. Eco One is made by students at Warwick University and can go up to 160 MPH. Along with potatoes, Eco One is also made from hemp and the students hope to encourage racing to go green. I can't wait for the day when I can eat my car or the gas that fuels it.

[Source: YouTube]

We told you February that Toyota's racing series would use ethanol in 2007 and now we have a video of the first race from TV3, where they describe it as a world's first in motor sport. Toyota currently does not sell a flex fuel vehicle in the US market but they may sell flex fuel vehicles in the next several years. It may cost car makers as little as $100 to make a car flex fuel, and most cars are already built to tolerate ten percent ethanol blends in gasoline and Toyota does sell flex fuel vehicles in Brazil, so it's probably not a technology or cost issue. Why the wait, Toyota?

Related:

• LA 2007: Toyota Sequioa to get Flex-fuel option in fall 2008
  
• Toyota looking at a plug-in hybrid, flex-fuel vehicles?
• Toyota To Unveil Flex-Fuel Tundra In North America In 2008
• Toyota to intro flex-fuel Tundra, hopes it will help sales in the Mid-West
• World Touring Car Championship to run ethanol exclusively from 2009
• American Le Mans Series moving further into biofuels
• First-ever all-ethanol Indy 500 has a winner...

[Source: YouTube]

The German car magazine Auto, Motor and Sports reports Formula One racing will use hybrid cars by 2010. It seems FIA boss Max Mosley finally got a deal for the greener races. A lot of technology that we see in cars today was developed on the race track, and we can only imagine what this new F1 style might bring. The addition of hybrid technology to Formula One racing is further validation of the technology. We know that some of the fastest cars in the world are electric cars, so maybe it's just time for F1 to catch up.

Related:

• Could hybrid technology move into Formula 1?
• Information on the hybrid Formula 1 drivetrain from Torotrak and Xtrac
• Formula 1 will add green measures by 2009
• New hybrid transmission for Formula One cars revealed
• Formula One could have biofuel turbo V-6s in 2011

[Source: I4U]

It looks like Audi won't be running away from the American LeMans series just yet. Although, the Ingolstadt automaker has dominated the LMP1 class for several years now, the diesel powered R10 will run at least the rest of the 2007 series. Audi is still not happy about the current rules in ALMS which they say favors the LMP2 cars too much.

Audi Motorsport boss Wolfgang Ullrich sees the ALMS as a medium for promoting the company's commitment to diesel engines. However, those rules don't seem to have hindered Audi at Sebring. Starting this weekend, the series moves to a run of shorter races, where the diesel won't have as much of an advantage. Hopefully Audi's success will prompt other companies like Peugeot to bring in their diesel engines.

[Source: Speed TV]

The Australian Supertruck teams will give biodiesel a go in their racing rigs this weekend as they compete as part of the V8 Supercars event being held in Adelaide. The five tonne trucks race each other at speeds up to 160 km/h / 100 mph which creates a significant amount of emissions. Biodiesel will be used in an effort to be more environmentally friendly and to reduce the black diesel smoke.

Ironically, National Supertruck champion Bob Middleton was quoted by the ABC Rural as saying that the clouds of black smoke can be an attraction for the public when you can't see what's happening, "You've got five or six of them spinning around in a black cloud and then all of a sudden five of them will emerge in all different angles."

Analysis: I love motorsport, and there's something quite special about the momentum a five tonne truck has when its hurtling around a track at 160 km/h, but the diesel smoke generated really is appalling. Using biodiesel to cut the clouds and embrace a renewable alternative is the right way forward and I'd like to see the Australian Supertruck competition move to B100 permanently.

Related:

• Nation's largest ports attend "Faster Freight - Cleaner Air" conference
• LA and Long Beach ports look to convert truck fleets to LNG
• Honda F1 confirms plan to promote environmental awareness with 2007 livery

[Source: ABC Rural]

In 2006, the American LeMans Series saw a dominating performance in their top LMP1 class from the diesel powered Audi R10s. For 2007 they have announced a partnership with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), to use ethanol blended fuels in their gasoline powered racers. Unlike the IndyCars that started using an ethanol blend last year, and straight E100 for 2007, ALMS cars will be running on E10 (ten percent ethanol/ninety percent gasoline) for 2007. The 2007 ALMS season kicks off on March 17 at Sebring for the Twelve Hour race and includes twelve races. Click the Read link for the full press release.

[Source: American LeMans Series with a tip from Alex]

The all-conquering Audi R10 TDI has been awarded the Pioneering and Innovation Award from the British racing magazine Autosport at their annual awards ceremony. The R10 was the first diesel-powered racer to win the 24 hours of Le Mans as well as going undefeated in the seven races it ran in the American Le Mans Series. The vastly reduced fuel consumption of the diesel allowed the R10 to run three laps farther between each fuel stop at Le Mans compared to the previous R8. In 2007 Audi will be joined on the track by the new diesel powered Peugeot 908 RC which should give them some real competition for the first time in several years.

[Source: Audi]

BMW cars have always had a reputation for performance. They are renowned for their exceptional steering feel, precise handling and exceptional engines, particularly the in-line 6 cylinders. The six bangers had turbine-like smoothness and excellent power for their displacement. The company did sell some diesels in the US market in the 1980s but hasn't offered them here in recent years. BMW diesels have remained available and popular in the European market and are now finally coming back to the US with a vengeance. BMW and Car and Driver magazine are going to be running a pair of twin-turbo 3.0L in-line six diesel 335d sedans in the upcoming Thunderhill 25 hour enduro.

The race takes place December 2-3 at Thunderhill Raceway Park in California. The driving team will include Csaba Csere, Tony Swan and others from Car and Driver along with professional racers Bill Auberlen and others. Auberlen has been racing BMWs in classes from SCCA regionals to LeMans since the early 1990s. This is not the first time diesel powered 3 series have gone racing. In 1998 a 320d won the 24 of Nurburgring endurance race which is run on the legendary Nordschleife. The new 335d uses a pair of turbochargers (one small and one large) to give maximum responsiveness and flexibility. The road version is rated at 286 hp and 427 ft-lbs of torque, even more than the new Mercedes E320 BlueTec. Given the performance of the Audi R10 this year, as long as the new BMWs are reliable, they should do pretty well in this enduro. The full BMW press release is after the jump.

[Source: BMW]