Published August 7, 2012
By Huw Evans
For the rescheduled Pikes Peak Hillclimb next weekend, not-for-profit concern, the Fuel Freedom Foundation, is putting its support behind two methanol-powered cars, driven by six-time Pikes Peak winner Paul Dallenbach and his nephew, Wyatt.
According to Eyal Aronoff, co-founder of Fuel Freedom, sponsoring cars competing in the Pikes Peak event is important “because it demonstrates that professional drivers prefer methanol, ethanol and electricity over gasoline. If they are free to choose what fuel they put in their cars, why can’t you have this choice when we drive up to the pump?”
Methanol is already widely used in motorsports circles, including the IZOD IndyCar series and until 1995 was commercially available at California filling stations. It can be produced from various (and widely abundant) waste products such as agricultural and municipal generated effluent and compost, as well as wood pulp, animal feedstocks and natural gas.
Fuel Freedom clearly sees value in promoting vehicles that compete in a highly visible event such as Pikes Peak and recently issued a press statement declaring that “if [regulatory and commercial] barriers [to alternative fuels] were lifted, methanol, ethanol, natural gas and electricity could compete on an equal footing with gasoline. Consumers could have $2-a-gallon fuel and a choice over what they purchase.”
The 90th running of Pikes Peak will also boost another alternative fuel contender, in the shape of Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima, who will be running his all-electric racer, the Monster Sport E-RUNNER (Tajima won the event last year driving a highly modified Suzuki SX4, setting a record with a time of 9 minutes 51.278 seconds).
Clean Technica
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