http://www.autoblog.com/ click above to view more images of the Ferrari 430 Spider Bio Fuel Ferrari's press conference here in Detroit was rather short and to the point. They reminded us that Kimi is World Champion and that the team is busy readying his defense. They also pointed out that the F430 GT is doing a bang-up job in GT2. And then they talked about the street cars. Besides telling us that Ferrari had a record year, with sales up 8% to 6,400 units worldwide, they also showed the E85 ethanol-powered version of the F430 Spider we talked about yesterday. The F430 Spider Bio Fuel runs on the familiar mix of 85% natural ethanol and 15% gasoline, which results in a modest 10HP power bump and fuel economy that improves by 5% over the standard gas-only V8. So that means that the sweet-sounding 4.3-liter plant is now good for a true 500 HP. The bio fuel car on display in Detroit is still labeled a concept, but the company says that it'd like to put it into production as part of its efforts to reduce fuel consumption and cut emissions 40% by 2012. As we mentioned yesterday, the regions where ethanol is readily available like the Midwest states, Brazil and Sweden are not major markets for the sportscar maker. But ethanol is already being used in the ALMS and elsewhere, so Ferrari already has some experience with it. We already put in our request to have one in the AB Garage. We'll let you know how that goes. [Source: Ferrari] Image Unavailable, Please Login
So it begins... More HP and better milage. The Audi R12 Diesel makes 500hp and 734 FT/lbs of torque...
http://autoshow.autos.msn.com/autoshow/Detroit2008/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=6001833>1=10763 I was just reading it...they claim "24 mpg" but it is not clear if that is an EPA cycle, test driving, or just an estimate. The performance is stated to be 0-60 4.3 or so, 186mph top speed. Interesting; about what I would expect from a mid-90s ZR-1 Corvette, which can also pull out 24mpg in highway cruising with that super-high 6th gear.
It appears Ferrari did this the right way by making it a dedicated E-85 vehicle and not a flex fuel vehicle.
I'm not sure I'll be able to support Ferrari anymore... Bio-fuel powered Ferrari. I hoped I'd never have to say that.
Why do you feel that way? Not too many E 85 stations yet. Flex would be more realistic until there are more stations.
Provided that the owner can find a useful network of fuel supply wherever he wants to go - which should not be a problem given a few years. But, here we are starting to see the wave of the future, like Napolis says... This, the Audi, and also the Hydrogen 7 from BMW - And the power/performance/economy tradeoff even seems kind of reasonable to me...power & performance back to about the 512TR days, but with at least twice the economy and probably far less emissions. No CO2 at all, in the case of the BMW I would think. Glad there are still at least a couple of V12 motors in these prototypes, as well.
+1 considering where e85 stations currently are is not in areas where Ferrari's are primarily found. Also, flex would keep more people happy that would not like to run E85. It has worked well for GM. Erik
FFVs are a compromise in that the engine still needs to be "dumbed down" compression wise to still work with gasoline. All FFVs get worse mileage and performance with E-85 than with gasoline. A dedicated E-85 engine can add 3-5 points compression to take advantage of the 100-105 (R+M)/2 octane.
++ That, plus remember the inescapable fact that there simply is not as much BTU per unit measure contained in E-85 (as opposed to gasoline). Even with a better compression, the engine has less heat energy to work with. Also, the most serious environmental talk suggests that maybe extending all the fuel as an ethanol blend would have a better overall effect than running a few vehicles on E-85. The reality is that we don't really have enough corn to put everybody on E-85 like some are suggesting.
Sure we do. We just can't do that and FEED everyone. Of course, fewer people == good for the environment, so maybe there's a more subtle agenda at work
Herr Tillman, you have reminded me of something so obvious that I am deeply humiliated. Less people == less traffic == less carbon dioxide == cooler running Ferraris == ??? You know, I have never really eaten all that much corn on the cob anyway. Ready to do my part for the brave new world - James
Notice it was called a "Biofuel" vehicle and not a Flex Fuel Vehicle (FFV) James, I'm trying to avoid getting this thread moved to P&R. I agree on the political issue. Ethanol is not bad as a fuel. There are trade offs like everything. But the implementation of ethanol in USA is really dumb.
10/4 on the P&R. The sad thing is that like you say, ethanol has a very high "octane" rating. It also has a fine and long tradition in high performance piston engines; water-alcohol injection in supercharged fighter planes, circuit and drag racing many years here in the US, the little 2cycle engines we used in radio-control models,,, It just may be that we are overlooking the most advantageous uses because of the Frenzy around this kind of issue.
