E3 Spark Plugs racing fans attending Oktoberfest will get a real treat tonight as the Project G.R.E.E.N. racecar – touted as the world’s first environmentally responsible oval track race car – makes its track debut at Oktoberfest Racing Weekend. G.R.E.E.N. is an acronym for Green Racing Experimental Engine Narrative and it’s a project of Circle Track Magazine, Argonne National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy. Their goal: “To bring creativity back to short track racing,” Circle Track Editor Rob Fisher says. “In the past racing was a proving ground for OEMs to test new parts and products that would eventually end up on passenger cars. Lately, racing has become a quest for the level playing field which has hurt the racer’s creativity and created a chasm between what comes out of Detroit and what we use to power our cars.”
Racing fans first read about Project G.R.E.E.N. in the April 2010 issue of Circle Track and have followed its progress since. Project leaders and partners, including E3 Spark Plugs focused their efforts on jettisoning conventional thinking about what makes a great oval racetrack car and proving that fuel injection coupled with alternative fuels could make for a strong competitor on the oval track. Thus far, they’ve reported a significant increase in torque over 85% of the time the engine operates on track testing. And the Project G.R.E.E.N. Camaro’s GM Performance Parts CT525 engine is a bargain at well under $10,000. Researchers also have been testing the car with E-85 fuel, a domestically produced fuel that averages 60% less expensive and is easier on parts than racing methanol.
Tonight, the Project G.R.E.E.N. Camaro will undergo its first major test under race conditions in the 41st Annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend’s Dick Trickle “99″ piloted by Dalton Zehr and carrying a data acquisition system created by Argonne National Laboratory. The system will collect real time data to evaluate how the car performs under race conditions and to characterize the petroleum displacement and greenhouse gas reduction potential (Note that the car’s performance won’t be officially scored or listed in the results). Tonight’s race takes place at the La Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway in West Salem, WI.
Joining E3 Spark Plugs in supporting the development of Project G.R.E.E.N. are Sensors Inc., American Speed Association, GM Performance Parts, Mast Motorsports, AR Bodies, VP Race Fuel, Holley, Schoenfeld Headers, Hoosier Racing Tires, Coleman Racing Products, Jones Racing Products, AMSOIL, Comp Cams, Quartermaster, Speedway Motors, ATL Fuel Cells, Quick Fuel Technology, Random Technology, and Phillips Racing Wires. E3 Spark Plugs’ patented DiamondFire technology makes them a natural choice to partner with Project G.R.E.E.N. In fact, E3 is the only spark plug to be deemed a “supplemental emissions control device” by the EPA. But you don’t have to be a race car driver to take advantage. Install E3 performance spark plugs in your vehicle for cleaner, stronger drive.
(Video by Chicago’s WLS-TV ABC-7.)
