Category: Motorsport

Lessman Racing Prepares for World of Speed Meet, September 2010

August 25, 2010 – 9:01 am | USA

GFI/Impco fuel regulators, Clean Air Power injectors - ready to blitz

After a disappointing end to their 2009 campaign the CNG-powered Lessman racing team is ready for another season of record-breaking attempts. New GFI/Impco fuel regulators are installed along with the new Clean Air Power (CAP) injectors in the Lessman/Lucas Streamliner which is entered for the World of Speed meet at Bonneville September 15-18, 2010. The team confidently states the vehicle has completed its best ever preparation.

Categories: Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), Market Developments, Motorsport, Technology, Vehicles & Fuels | Tags: , | Comments (0)

Biomethane-Powered VW Scirocco Opens German Rally

August 24, 2010 – 2:36 am | Germany

The VW Scirocco GT24 CNG runs the opening safety check for the German Rally.

Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz (Spain) and Dakar runner-up Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) exchanged their Race Touaregs for an environmentally friendly biomethane-powered Scirocco GT24 during their drive as course openers on each day of the 2010 ADAC Rally Deutschland. The Scirocco was released from race duties in the VW one-brand Scirocco Cup and modified for the rally opener, including increasing ground clearance by approx 20mm.
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OMV CNG Rally Team 2nd in Schneebergland Rally

July 31, 2010 – 12:16 am | Austria

Stohl, CNG power and gravel - a successful combination at the Schneebergland Rally.

Stohl 0.2 seconds behind rally leader after all 15 stages completed

In the fifth round of the Austrian National Rally Championship, the Schneebergland Rally, the OMV CNG (Compressed natural gas) Rally Team has scored it’s biggest success in this year’s season. They reached second place overall in the CNG-powered car, which conforms to Division I regulations. Stohl performs best driving on gravel roads, and with 60% of the Schneebergland roads being gravel, the promise to perform well was fulfilled. The gap between first and second places after 15 stages was just 0.2 seconds.
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Team biogas.se – Three Podium Places in Three Races

July 1, 2010 – 3:38 pm | Sweden

Ekblom (left) and Olsson celebrate podium finishes in Gothenburg.

Ongoing testing, development and racing has seen Team biogas.se achieve exceptional results in the 2010 Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC), culminating in three podium finishes in the Gothenburg City Race, round 4 of the event, in early June. Fredrik Ekblom and Patrik Olsson, drivers of the biogas-powered VW Sciroccos, are now placed third and fourth respectively on the Drivers Championship table, while Team biogas.se is a clear leader on the Team Championship table. Now the team is aiming higher with the introduction of new Sciroccos, soon to be rolled out by Volkswagen Motorsport in Hanover.
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Categories: Biomethane, Motorsport, Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV), Technology, Vehicles & Fuels | Tags: , , | Comments (0)

Volkswagen CNG Scirocco Presented at Le Mans

June 13, 2010 – 2:45 am | Germany and France

The VW Scirocco CNG on display at Le Mans 2010

Volkswagen’s Scirocco GT24-CNG, successful at the Nurburgring-Nordschleife, was presented to the motorsport public at Le Mans. Before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Jacky Ickx (Belgium), seven-time winner of the famous motorsport marathon, drove the Scirocco GT24-CNG during demonstration runs for cars equipped with environmentally friendly drive concepts.
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Victory for Team biogas.se at Karlskoga STCC

May 27, 2010 – 11:20 am | Sweden
Team biogas.se leads at the start of Race 1 - victory already in sight.

Team biogas.se leads at the start of Race 1 - victory already in sight.

First STCC victory of a biogas-powered car

Racing before 10,500 spectators at Sweden’s Karlskoga Motor Stadium, Team biogas.se driver Fredrik Ekblom won the third round of the STCC (Swedish Touring Car Championship) in his biomethane-powered VW Scirocco. Ekblom claimed pole position for the first of the two race event after qualifying fastest and was never overtaken, leaving in his wake conventionally powered Volvos, BMWs, Alfa Romeos and Seats. Celebrating the victory for Team biogas.se, Volkswagen and fuel-supplier E.OM, Ekblom exclaimed, “I know that this is one of the sweetest victories of my career”.
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Motor Racing News – VW Sciroccos Victorious at Nürburgring 2010

May 17, 2010 – 1:10 am | Germany, Nürburgring
First in the Alternative Fuel Class at Nurburgring - the Scirocco GT24 CNG

First in the Alternative Fuel Class at Nurburgring - the Scirocco GT24 CNG

Fastest Lap Time for Front Wheel Drive Cars

1st, 2nd, 3rd in Alt-Fuel Class

Three 330 hp turbo engine VW Scirocco GT24-CNGs contested this year’s Nürburgring event, powered by natural gas. All three finished without mechanical incident. In the alternative fuel class Car 117 driven by Vanina Ickx (Belgium), factory driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), Dieter Depping (Germany) and Klaus Niedzwiedz (Germany) finished first, claiming the FIA Alternative Energy Cup, while cars 118 and 116 finished second and third respectively. Although there were only four cars in this class the three cars performed creditably in the total field of 199 entrants, finishing 16th, 51st and 72nd. Car 118 completed the fastest race lap for a front-wheel drive car with a time of 9m 04.710s, but lost time when caught up in an other-vehicle accident, without which a top 20 place would likely also have been achieved.
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Motor Racing News – Debut of Natural Power Scirocco Cup

May 16, 2010 – 4:10 am | Germany, Hockenheim
The VW Scirocco R-cup debuts at Hockenheim, all powered by biomethane.

The VW Scirocco R-cup debuts at Hockenheim, all powered by biomethane.

The successful world debut for the one-make Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup, using biomethane fuel, has taken place at the renowned Hockenheim circuit in Germany. Maciek Steinhof (Poland) won the captivating season opener of the eco-conscious racing series, in front of Kris Heidorn (Germany) and Formula 1 legend Martin Brundle (Great Britain). The field of 24 entrants consisting of junior drivers, seasoned racers and four prominent motorsport legends showed a race that was full of diversity and remained captivating up to the final lap.
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Motor Racing News – Podium for Team biogas.se at STCC

May 15, 2010 – 4:33 am | Sweden
Team biogas.se third on STCC Team Championship table after 2 events

Team biogas.se third on STCC Team Championship table after 2 events

Team biogas.se is competing in the Swedish Touring Car Championship for the second year running, having proven the competitiveness of its biomethane-powered VW Scirocco GT24 in its debut year in 2009. The most recent event, at the 39.3 km circuit at Knutstorp on May 7-8, saw driver Patrik Olsson finish third in Race 1 and Fredrik Ekblom fourth. In Race 2 Ekblom finished fifth and Olsson finished seventh. Olsson and Ekblom are 4th and 6th respectively in the Driver Championship after two events, and the biogas.se team is third in the Team Championship, having achieved the highest score of all teams over the Knutstorp weekend. The STCC is Sweden’s toughest racing championship for touring cars and runs over nine stages from April 25 to October 2.

Categories: Biomethane, Market Developments, Motorsport, Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV), Technology, Vehicles & Fuels | Tags: , , , | Comments (1)

Three Biomethane-Powered VW Sciroccos Will Contest 24H Nürburgring 2010

April 19, 2010 – 7:54 pm | Germany
A VW biomethane-powered Scirocco sets the pace in preliminary Nürburgring races.

A VW biomethane-powered Scirocco sets the pace in preliminary Nürburgring races.

Volkswagen will again contest the 24-hour Nürburgring with natural gas cars. Racing three biomethane-powered 2-litre TSI turbo Scirocco GT24-CNG cars this year, the Volkswagen team will tackle the event with factory-prepared, factory-fielded sport coupés. Compared with conventional fuels for spark ignition engines – including transport and trackside provision of the fuel – the Scirocco GT24-CNG’s CO2 emissions will decrease by at least 80 per cent.
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Stohl Commences Austrian Rally Season in CNG-Powered Peugeot S2000

April 11, 2010 – 10:33 pm | Austria
OMV's entry in the 2010 Austrian Rally Season - a CNG powered Peugeot 207 S2000

OMV's entry in the 2010 Austrian Rally Season - a CNG powered Peugeot 207 S2000

The OMV CNG Rally Team has commenced the 2010 Austrian Rally season in style. Every year the team tries something new, and this year it is the world premiere of a CNG powered Peugeot 207 S2000, with the Stohl racing team once again determined to demonstrate the competitiveness of natural gas in a race setting. As Manfred Stohl said prior to the start of the Lavanttal Rally, “We have achieved much with this technology. I am firmly convinced that we will be able to show that CNG is a competitive alternative to gasoline and thus we can make the racing more environmentally friendly.”
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Toyota Landcruisers with CNG Conversions Race the 2010 Dakar

January 1, 2010 – 1:25 am | Argentina and Chile
The Gaso-Terpel Gasel Toyota Landcruiser going throught its paces pre-start of the 2010 Dakar

Carmona puts the Gasco-Terpel Gasel Toyota Landcruiser through its paces.

Intent on proving natural gas is up to the demands of the one of the world’s toughest motorsport events, a newly formed Gasco-Terpel Gasel team have prepared two V6 Toyota FJ Landcruisers to compete in the 2010 Argentina-Chile Dakar Rally commencing on January 1. Both vehicles have undergone conversion to compressed natural gas, fitted with Pelmag conversion kits from Argentina and Italian AEB electronic control units to manage the gas fuel supply. The applied technology is the same used for standard vehicle conversions.
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Epic CNG Journey Reaches Mid-Point

November 26, 2009 – 2:16 pm
Rainer Zietlow (right of photo) and team happy to have completed first leg without incident.

Rainer Zietlow (right of photo) and team happy to have completed first leg without incident.

CNG adventurer Rainer Zietlow has completed the first leg of a two-part world expedition driving a VW Caddy Maxi EcoFuel that will utilise as far as practicable a network of CNG fueling stations to reach journey’s end in Alaska. Setting off from Portugal in October Zietlow and his intrepid team travelled the ‘Eurasia Highway’ to Vladivostok before embarking on a ferry to Japan to end this section. Zietlow detoured briefly to Donghae, Korea in time for ANGVA 2009, where he hand-delivered a certificate from NGVA Europe to ANGVA Executive Director Mr Lee Giok Seng.
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OMV’s CNG-Powered Austrian Rally Campaign Succeeds Beyond Expectation: 2nd Overall

November 12, 2009 – 5:20 pm
OMV's CNG-powered Subaru racing to 2nd overall in Austrian Rally

OMV's CNG-powered Subaru racing to 2nd overall in Austrian Rally

“…the future will belong to gas powered cars…” (Manfred Stohl – former Group N World Rally Champion)

Austria’s OMV CNG Rally team is all smiles having closed off the 2009 Austrian Rally Championship in 2nd position overall, sealing the Vice-Champion position with a fourth place in the season closer, the Waldviertel Rally. This season was the first for OMV competing in the Division 1 class, having dominated the Alternative Fuel class since first entering the competition in 2006. The decision to switch to Division 1 was made just weeks before the beginning of this year’s season, along with the decision to switch to a converted Subaru Impreza instead of the Mitsubishi Evos used in previous seasons. The team again used biomethane for the full series supplied by OMV from its plant in Bruck (west of Vienna).  
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VW Launches CNG-Powered Scirocco Cup as New One Make Event Launched

October 24, 2009 – 6:35 pm | German, Wolfsburg
Biomethane fuelled CNG VW Scirrocco's race against each other in 2010

Biomethane fuelled CNG VW Scirrocco's race against each other in 2010

Volkswagen continues to build on the success of their natural gas vehicle program, organising a one-make cup featuring biomethane powered Scirroccos starting in 2010. With a CO2 reduction of up to 80 per cent Volkswagen demonstrates that major innovative strides are still possible in motorsport and that natural gas is a worthy contender at the highest level. Following the successful debut of the compressed natural gas-powered Scirocco GT24-CNG at the 24-hour race on the Nürburgring, an entire ‘one-make cup’ has now been designed to increase eco-friendly motorsport.
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