Car made complete trip using fuels made from sustainable sources
Mazda investigating alternative fuel sources to lower emissions
How do you make a Mazda MX-5 roadster more green without spoiling what makes it such a great sports car? By filling it up with fossil-free fuels. And then taking it to race tracks around the UK to show that it really works.
Mazda UK took the low-carbon MX-5 on a 1,600 km road trip around the UK that included laps on four different race tracks. One in each of the UK’s four countries.
The fuel comes from Coryton, and it is made entirely from agricultural waste. Straw, crop waste, and other byproducts that aren’t fit for human or beast are transformed into sustainable road fuel. It’s Coryton’s second-generation de-carbonised fuel.
Using a completely stock MX-5, the team set off from Coryton’s HQ in Essex. The car drove to and completed laps at Anglesey Circuit in Wales, Oulton Park in England, Knockhill in Scotland, and Kirkistown in Northern Ireland on the week-long journey.
Coryton Director David Richardson said that “we’re delighted to have worked with Mazda UK on this project, which combined a great car with sustainable fuel to lower more than just lap times. As this challenge has shown, sustainable fuel is a real and credible player in our efforts towards net zero,”
Fossil-free fuels have the potential to help lower CO2 emissions from the existing fleet of vehicles, something electric and fuel-cell power can’t. This isn’t Mazda’s first motorsports experiment with alternative fuels. It has a Mazda2 powered by cooking oil and microalgae fats biodiesel that currently competes in the Super Taikyu Endurance Series in Japan.
