The idea was already in the minds of the Belgian Fiesta Sporting Trophy organizers: as is already done in Sweden, they wished to have Fiesta ST cars propulsed by Bio Ethanol E85 within their national series.
It was an environmentally-friendly initiative that proved difficult to prepare, but now it will become reality with the participation of Stéphane Lémeret and Jean-Christophe Herminaire during the Rallye du Condroz, which will take place from 2 to 4 November.
Ford is far from being a novice on the Bio Ethanol market. Since 1996, the Blue Oval has sold over 1.6 million cars running on this alternative fuel. Becoming a pioneer in the motor sports field therefore appears as a logical continuation of the project.
Bio Ethanol is a mixture of gas and ethanol, a fuel which finds its origins in biological and agricultural components belonging to the renewable energies families. Its mixture may take different proportions; in the present case, the biofuel contains 85% ethanol (the indicator E85 represents the percentage of ethanol present in the fuel).
Engines have to be adapted to ethanol due to its corrosive nature which is higher compared to traditional fuel. The processing of the biofuel itself goes through six phases: conversion, fermentation, distillation, filtering, dehydration, and finally, mixing with traditional gas.
In Sweden, the national edition of the Fiesta Sporting Trophy (a single-make series created by Ford in 2006 and competing in 11 countries) entered Fiesta STs powered by Bio Ethanol E85. On paper, this mixture of fuel requires minimal adaptation and delivers more performance in power (+18hp) and in torque (+18mN-m).
M-Sport, the organization that runs the Ford team in the World Rally Championship and set down the bases for the Fiesta Trophy series, has decided to include E85 in the plans for the 2008 season. Ford Belgium was only waiting for the word.
"We've been thinking of that solution for a long while," explained Jo Declercq, Public Affairs Manager of Ford Belgium. "Our wish was to use Bio Ethanol in 2007, but the situation and the legislation in Belgium made it impossible. We had to throw in the towel... provisionally."
Renowned car journalist and driver Stéphane Lémeret will be at the controls of a Fiesta ST Bio Ethanol E85 this week-end at the Rallye de Condroz, with Jean-Christophe Herminaire at his side. Before adding the car on the entry list, a few administrative hurdles had to be overcome.
"It is disconcerting to know that in Belgium, we can't drive with Bio Ethanol!" exclaimed Lémeret. "We therefore submitted the idea to Michel Jodogne, General Director of the RACB (Royal Automobile Club of Belgium), who adopted the project right away and helped us obtain the required exemptions which will allow us to race with this car for the last round of the Belgian Rally Championship."
Ford pursued its goal of making this project a reality: it will serve as an example to all, not only for the ecological aspects of the endeavour but also for the highly symbolic value of doing so within a competitive arena, with the additional objective of organizing a 2008 edition of the Fiesta Sporting Trophy with Fiesta STs powered by Bio Ethanol E85.
