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 Just
two weeks after the successful launch of the
Green Challenge at Petit Le Mans, a
revolutionary new "green" project has hit the
ground running in the American Le Mans Series.
The much-anticipated debut of the bio
diesel-powered ECO Racing Radical SR10 comes in
this weekend's season-ending race at Laguna Seca,
but the team's focus is indeed turned towards
the future.
The British-based outfit, led by longtime
engineer and team manager Ian Dawson, began work
on this new project last December and was poised
to hit the track in the season-opening Twelve
Hours of Sebring in March. However, homologation
issues with the LMP2-turned P1 machine put them
on the sidelines, with the focus then shifting
to testing and development.
Now, Dawson and his crew have come back
stateside to kick-start this unique program,
which goes beyond the green initiatives the
series already promotes. In addition to the
planned usage of bio diesel fuel, ECO Racing has
also implemented environmentally friendly
procedures like recycling used race tires and
using Hemp fiber for non-critical bodywork
panels.
The roots of the production diesel engine began
some four years ago, when Dawson's Taurus Sports
Racing outfit ran the VW Touareg power plant in
a Lola B2K/10 in the 2004 Le Mans 24 Hours. It
was revolutionary at its time, and two and three
years ahead of the entries from Audi and
Peugeot, respectively.
"We're not here to say we can go beat Audi or
Peugeot or any of the top fuel teams," Dawson
said. "What we're here to do is say you can run
a production engine. You can run a
cost-effective program. If there's some
maneuvering in the regulations, there's no
reason why we can't be in a similar position [to
the competition] at the end of an endurance
race."
Dawson has called upon veteran sports car and
open-wheel driver Hideki Noda and Indy Lights
ace Andrew Prendeville to pilot the P1 machine
this weekend. Both, though, only got their first
taste of the car in Thursday's test session and
have been on an uphill learning curve.
"It's been pretty challenging so far, but I'm
excited to be here," Prendeville said. "It's
definitely a totally new thing for me in a lot
of ways. It's exciting for me as well. The ECO
Racing team has been very supportive so far.
We've had a couple of challenges so far to work
through. But we're here and running."
While it's Prendeville's first start in a sports
car, Noda has already been behind the wheel of a
prototype this year. The Japanese driver drove
Kruse-Schiller Motorsport's Lola B05/40 Mazda in
the European-based Le Mans Series as well as the
24 Hours of Le Mans, where he was the victim of
a nasty end-over-end crash in qualifying at
Circuit de La Sarthe.
Both drivers have praised the team's unique
approach to racing with a conscious eye on the
environment. "The concept of this project is the
way we're all heading," Noda said. "If you look
at the environment, it's the way to go. If you
want to be competitive right away, you can go
faster because the technology is there. This
project is all new to us, and we have to develop
so many things. But this is the way we need to
go."
"It's one of the things that's driven me to jump
in here and do this," Prendeville added. "These
guys are doing a lot of real things that could
be applicable to everyday streetcars. I think
that the American Le Mans Series has done a
great job of opening up that book for people.
There have been a lot of guys, whether it's
scientists or engineers, which have been sitting
back for a while with these ideas. The fact that
there's an outlet now for these things to be
tried is a great thing."
One of the setbacks this weekend has been
adapting to the series' regulated fuel. Dawson
said he had hoped to run on it's own bio-diesel
blend, derived from the curcas tree plant,
Jatropha. However, the fuel has not yet been
approved by IMSA, forcing them to use the Shell
clean diesel option, which the factory Audi R10
TDIs also use.
"I think it's disappointing for us because we
did all of our running on it," Dawson said. "The
Shell fuel has no performance advantage. It's
just a different type of diesel. The engine guys
at AER worked really hard Thursday to catch up
where we should have been. But they've got it.
We now have seen performance similar to our
tests."
Dawson, though, is hopeful IMSA will allow
Jatropha to be used as a fuel option in 2009,
when they plan to contest the entire ALMS
season. ECO Racing is also aiming to be on the
grid at next year' 24 Hours of Le Mans, entry
permitting.
The team's plan for the ALMS finale is just to
finish, especially considering the challenges
they've faced so far this weekend. Noda and
Prendeville have only gotten a handful of laps
in the car due to various mechanical gremlins.
Saturday's four-hour race serves more or less as
a test bed for what lies ahead in 2009 and
beyond.
"A diesel takes quite a lot of work, just talk
to Audi or Peugeot about it," Dawson said. "You
start to see that this isn't a bad way to go,
but it still needs a bit of resources put into
it and that's what we're going to do."
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