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9th May 2008

The UK’s Santa Pod Raceway near Northampton hosted a brand new event on 25th April, showcasing alternative energy in a drag race challenge at the venue's quarter mile strip.

The event was well attended and two titles were hotly contested. The Fastest Alternative Fuel Vehicle, which was won by Bike Magazine’s Triumph Daytona 675, in a time of 10.87 seconds and Fastest Electric Vehicle, which was won by Hungerford VW Club with their Electric VW Beetle in a time of 14.41 seconds.

EEMS Project and Campaign Partner, Jenkins Motorsport Development was also there with both its biodiesel fuelled racing trucks which competed alongside each other. JMD’s Dave Jenkins said, "Despite fairly stiff headwinds I set a time of 14.2 seconds (99.38mph) in the new MAN truck which equals the best truck time here at Santa Pod - further proof that running on biodiesel doesn't mean compromising on speed and performance".

EEMS Campaign Partner Team Inzane Laverda was also in attendance with its E85 bioethanol fuelled 1995 Laverda 650cc Formula motorcycle which set a best time of 11.96 seconds.

Other teams and vehicles attending included Vectrix UK, an electric scooter utilising a 125v nickel metal hydride battery; Hungerford Volkswagen Club with its electric 1972 VW beetle with 240v, 2000 amp battery; Bio Performance with its Nissan Silvia S15 fitted with a bio performance full flex dual fuel conversion that runs on bioethanol; Bike Magazine with its Triumph Daytona 675 triple running on bioethanol (and has aspirations to run on apple-ethanol.); TV's Fifth Gear running a Lotus tri-fuel powered Exige; Green Fuels UK running a VW Touareg which runs on 100% biodiesel and a biodiesel VW Golf; RX Motors running a virtually standard Mazda RX7 twin turbo running on E85 bioethanol; Advanced Fuel Technologies running an Alfa Romeo 156 Sportwagon running a chlorine filtered biofuel called BIESEL; Graham Lamming running a Rover 75 production vehicle which runs on 100% biodiesel made from recycled restaurant waste; Chip Shop Customs fielding three cars, namely a Land Rover Discovery 2.5tdi a VW Type 25 and a Toyota Granvia Campervan - all running on biodiesel; Voil Racing running a Skoda Fabia VRS running on 100% vegetable oil; and Wayne Dearden running a BMW 525 TDS on 100% vegetable oil in a home-made conversion costing less than £110.

Rick Cuthbert, the Alternative Energy Racing Project Manager at Santa Pod Raceway, said, “This event was the first of its kind and will, we hope, inspire others to take up the challenge to create a more sustainable future for our sport."