There is a bit of concern about the future of classic cars, given the climate crisis and the need to save the planet. A lot of classic car enthusiasts don’t see electric conversions as a satisfactory option and it seems unlikely that in the future petrol will remain an easily accessible fuel in the national fuel distribution system.
Alternative sustainable fuels are increasingly become a viable option and historic racing is pushing forward their development and use.
Goodwood has announced that the 2024 Revival will serve as a landmark moment in motorsport history, as the entire weekend of historic racing is set to take place exclusively using sustainable fuel.
Goodwood will require competitors to use a fuel which has a minimum of 70% advanced sustainable components, in accordance with the FIA’s current requirements for sustainable fuel. Serving as a drop-in fuel, no modification is required to the cars and there is no compromise on race performance. In fact, Goodwood’s first sustainably-fuelled winner came in the Rudge-Whitworth Cup at the 2023 Revival, as the 1925 Bentley Speed Model with the driver pairing of Ben Collings and Gareth Graham crossed the line ahead of competitors running on standard fuel.
As well as its first sustainably-fuelled winner, this year’s Goodwood Revival also hosted its first sustainably-fuelled race, as a grid of pre-1966 Porsche 911s took to the track to compete in the Fordwater Trophy. Drivers included 2009 Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button, Goodwood hillclimb record-holder Max Chilton, and nine-time Formula 1 winner Mark Webber.
Goodwood is firmly committed to supporting the transition to a carbon neutral future. Prior to the Revival, at the 81st Members’ Meeting (Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 April 2024) the use of sustainable fuels will be mandated for the Ken Miles Cup and Gordon Spice Trophy, and drivers and owners will be encouraged to use sustainable fuels across the event. Electric Avenue will return to the 2024 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard (Thursday 11 – Sunday 14 July), championing not just electric motoring, but a variety of alternative fuels.
Jenson Button, 2009 Formula 1 World Champion who raced in the Fordwater Trophy at the 2023 Goodwood Revival, said: “It was great to be a part of the Fordwater Trophy which brought together classic cars and the very latest in sustainable fuel technology. What’s so exciting about these fuels is that they can guarantee the future of historic racing, enabling us to enjoy combustion engine cars for years to come.”
Rowan Atkinson, regular competitor and avid supporter of Goodwood, said: “I used synthetic fuel in my racing Jaguar at Goodwood this year and found it to be not just as good as the pump petrol used previously but in performance terms, superior to it in every way. It’s perhaps unsurprising that if you synthesise a fuel from first principles, you’re going to make a better product than that produced by just applying heat and pressure to some black gunk you dig out of the ground.”
Goodwood Revival, Friday 6 – 8 September 2024.
Electric cars, charged at home, suffer no tax such as there is on petrol & diesel. I understand that sustainable fuel as mentioned in the article is also subject to fuel duty, part of the reason it is so expensive. ICE vehicles will continue to be used on the roads for many years after any ban on their registration comes into force so, to help our route to net zero, the government should encourage the use of sustainable fuels by investing in their production and removing the tax. We may even discover that this is a better way forward than the ecological damage caused by battery production.
David
David Taylor
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