Team
NASAMAX Shortly before getting into the car for qualifying on Wednesday, the real star of Team NASAMAX - the bio-ethanol fuel - granted dailysportscar a few minutes of its time for a quick interview.
What sort of a reception have you had since your arrival in France? It’s been superb. The French media have been hugely interested, and we’ve got plenty of other interviews with TV and Radio lined up before and after the race. You’re very much the new kid on the block aren’t you? Well, this is the first time I’ve been involved in motorsport at this level, certainly, but my cousin, ethanol, has been around since Henry Ford built the Model T and has been busy in many countries. In Brazil, for example, he’s powering a considerable proportion of the country’s vehicles. I’m following in his footsteps in the family business and trying to build on his good work with some projects of my own. Running a fleet of 400 buses in Sweden is just one. So we’ve heard; but surely you need to be getting into countries such as America? Actually, ethanol has been working there for a long time, currently providing 1.6 billion gallons for their domestic market. Excuse me, 1.6 billion gallons? Oh yes! He’s used as a blend (up to 10%) with regular gasoline as he burns cleaner and helps to improve the air quality. In fact, in some States it is compulsory to use him during the winter months. Are you hoping to get involved out there? Certainly. At present I’m more expensive then fossil fuel, but as costs come down I have the capacity to expand the current market towards 10 billion gallons per year. Longer term, I will be looking to work in a purer form, and make a significant contribution to reducing CO2 emissions. That depends on my cost coming into line with regular fuel, but with the help of companies such as O2 Empower and Astek the technology is improving all the time, and that drives down the cost. It may be that the governments of the USA and other countries will have to provide tax breaks and other subsidies in the early years, but the benefits of using me will far outweigh the costs. But surely any environmental benefit will be minimal? Not at all! In theory, I could ultimately supply 37% of the world’s energy needs currently (year 2000) supplied by petroleum. That would mean a ‘saving’ of about 4.5 billion tons of CO2 per year. Of course that’s a long way off, and I still have much to do to improve my credibility. Hence the reason why I am now driving a sportscar at Le Mans. Do you not feel you may be in it over your head? Well obviously I realise I’ve got a lot to learn in motorsport, but the ACO have had enough foresight to grant me an entry this year. I’m working with a great team, and some very talented individuals. NASAMAX is serious about raising my profile, and indeed are intent on making sure I can run competitively with fossil fuels sooner rather than later.
So what are the challenges for this race? Above all else, the main challenge is to finish. Because we only started the project six months ago, the team has had to make a lot of compromises to get me in the car for this race. I’m also a lot ‘bigger’ than regular fossil fuel - even though the energy I contain is burnt more efficiently, I need a bigger volume to carry it. As we haven’t had (or even asked for) any allowances for that, the refuelling guys are going to be busier than normal. Later in the project we’re anticipating changes in that area, but this year we have to run as is. It’ll be interesting for sure. What about the future? At the moment I’m totally focused on this race. Afterwards, we’ll see how I got on and take it from there. I’m certainly expecting to be involved in motorsport in a much wider context before too long. One thing’s for sure, you’ll be hearing a lot more about me! Thanks for your time, and good luck in the race. No problem! dailysportscar would like to thank Giuliano Grassi and the Renewable Fuels Association for their help in arranging this interview. http://www.jxj.com/magsandj/rew/2000_03/bioethanol.html
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