Sign Of The TimesGreetings from the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course--where the IndyCar and American LeMans Series are racing this weekend. Today (Friday) will see pole qualifying for the ALMS LeMans Prototype 1 & 2 cars and practice for the IndyCars. This is the fifth weekend of six straight for the IndyCars.
The IndyCar series, as has been well documented, powers its race cars on 100% fuel grade ethanol. Some cars in the ALMS GT2 class, like Lord Drayson's Aston Martin...and the Corvettes, run on cellulosic ethanol (E85). The sign above is in front of His Lordship's transporter in the paddock. The Intersport Racing LeMans Prototype 1 (among the style of cars that contest the 24 Hours of Lemans) is similarly fueled by E85. The LMP1 Audi R10 diesels run on clean diesel fuel. The rest of the ALMS field runs on E10, which you may be running on after filling up at a gas pump near you. Every automobile and light truck sold in the US can run on E10, which means the blend is 90 percent petroleum based gasoline and 10 percent ethanol. Zipping through Indiana, we saw E85 selling for 50 cents a gallon less than unleaded regular (and it was certainly tempting to want to fill up the car at THAT pump). Our 2009 Lincoln test car (AWD MKS) has the gas cap clearly marked no E85 ...but it will accept E10...just like the race cars here. Just an aside: Gas prices around Chicago are in the $4.30-4.40 range for a gallon of unleaded regular gas...Outside of Lima, Ohio...our usual stop (Flying J) had unleaded regular for sale at $3.76 per gallon.
We'll update you with the pole winners for the American LeMans series race...and some comments from the fastest Indy Car practicers.
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