Ethanol will power NASCAR races in Fontana this weekend

[pulledpork]

From the article:

The renewable fuel is part of NASCAR's ongoing greener strategy, Lynch said. NASCAR already boasts one of the largest event-recycling programs in sports and one of the the world's largest solar-powered facilities at the Pocono Raceway in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2011/03/ethanol-will-power-nascar-races-in-fontana-this-weekend.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GreenspaceEnvironmentBlog+%28Greenspace%29

[originalpckelly]

1. Ethanol is fucking scam.

It takes more energy to produce than you get from it. It's not renewable, it's an energy loser.

Their cars would be better if they ran off electricity. The full amount of horsepower at even a low RPM, that mofo technology is great.

[Rage for Order]

13. +1

People who support ethanol are (perhaps unwittingly) supporting food shortages and food price spikes

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. Race on electricity?

The cars would be quiet, so I wouldn't get a headache from the droning, but how do you entertain the fans during a six-hour refueling stop? They'll need to get more beer.

:hi:

[pokerfan]

21. +1000

[DainBramaged]

2. They are being PAID HUGE FEES to use juice, and it's NOT 100%

only 15%. SUNOCO still wants their piece of the action......it's bulshit.


Going solar was the decision of the track owners at Pocono, not fucking NASCAR what a puff piece, must have been given a hard card for the race...

[originalpckelly]

3. And, no Virginia, ethanol is not renewable.

If you were to only use ethanol to power the production of ethanol, you'd eventually get no fuel, as it takes more energy to produce than you get from it!

Ethanol is a scam by the farmers to keep their government subsidies going for corn.

[DainBramaged]

4. Yup, and most of the dumbasses who are fans (me included but not buying the bullshit)

believe this is good for the sport.......

[originalpckelly]

6. What is needed is an electric car circuit.

I too love car racing, but I know BS when I see it.

You could really start to make progress on electric vehicles with that, because eventually the technology would be brought to consumers.

[DainBramaged]

9. They aren't going to fuel injection till NEXT YEAR

they could have just put throttle body injectors on the cars but no they need a system that can't be 'cheated' so all the fucking cars run together like lemmings.......and look identical too.


And they wonder why attendance is down.

[Mopar151]

25. Compared to batteries

Gas tanks are mother-approved. The problem is, the battery has several ways that it can discharge it's energy all at once.

[pulledpork]

8. I will give props for the solar-powered track in PA

And the fact that they encourage aluminum/glass/plastic recycling at their events (all that beer produces a lot of waste, lol).

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[Wilms]

7. If they could run the cars on Crisco, that would be something. n/t

[pulledpork]

10. I was waiting for the first Crisco reply

That #&@( Crisco!

[DainBramaged]

11. I once knew a girl who liked Crisco........

never mind.....

[Mopar151]

26. We've got 'em already

www.hillclimb.org
We've had at least 6 competitors running diesels on vegatable oil, and a couple guys towing on fry grease as well. More of both in the works.

[enough]

12. Every car, truck, tractor, motocycle and boat-engine mechanic and motorhead I know HATES ethanol

with a passion.

[Mopar151]

27. They should'nt

The problems they are having have more to do with the "gasoline" part of E-10. there are several addatives available (Sta-Bil makes one) to prevent deterioration of the gasolene base stock and prevent "phase seperation" of the blended fuel

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

14. Pit-stop teams will probably play a larger than usual role.

Doesn't ethanol get worse gas milage?

On the up-side, ethanol (even E-85) can achieve rediculous compression levels resulting in more horsepower.

[keith the dem]

15. I like NASCAR, but it's time to go back

to the sport that was the precursor to car racing, Bicycle track racing. If you know car racing history, you know that the first tracks were just giant wood velodromes.

The 6-day bike races were very big US events up until WW2. The race at Madison Square Garden was the biggest winter sporting event.

I am now watching the world track cycling championships live from the Netherlands. The mass start races have all the strategy of NASCAR amplified, because the drafting is far more important because the human body can go all out for 50 seconds, while a race car can go all afternoon.

Just watched a wonderful race where an unknown from Columbia upset the current champion in a 40k points race.

[truebrit71]

16. That sounds cool..where/how are you watching them?

I'd like to check it out..

[keith the dem]

17. Sarah Hammer just won Gold!

USA! USA! watch at
http://www.fromsportcom.com/v-2/2/20/v-222144.html

[TheWebHead]

19. burning food for fuel

is nothing to be proud of... especially given the explosion of food commodity prices.

[pulledpork]

20. The food supply is fine

The #1 problem has always been distribution, not production or supply.

[MadHound]

22. Actually they're not,

"Reserves of corn in the United States have hit their lowest level in more than 15 years, reflecting tighter supplies that will lead to higher food prices in 2011. Increasing demand for corn from the ethanol industry is a major reason for the decline, according to federal officials."
<http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/business/10crop.html>

"“Supplies are going to be near the bare minimum pipeline supply” before this year’s harvest begins, Anne Frick, the senior oilseed analyst for Prudential Bache Commodities LLC in New York, said before the report. “Farmers need to plant more acres this year and that will likely require higher prices” to compete with corn, cotton and other crops, she said yesterday."
<http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-12/u-s-soybean-reserve-estimate-cut-on-rising-food-feed-demand.html>

Not to mention our wheat reserves are virtually gone.

And let's not forget what is going on in the breadbasket of our nation. Right now, farmers are unable to get into their fields. After a winter of heavy snows saturated the ground, it has been followed by rain, rain, more snow, more rain, etc. Standing water is present virtually everywhere, with some fields almost completely submerged. This is not only going to delay, or possibly even prevent spring planting, it is also going to take away much of the winter wheat harvest unless conditions dry out soon. Worse, if this turns out to be another major flooding season, then US harvests will drop precipitously.

The food supply is not fine, and the use of ethanol as fuel is a contributing factor, not just in the short term, but also in the long term. Since farmers are making money off of corn right now, they are planting every acre in corn, year in, year out, for the past three years. Corn is a hard crop on the soil, it sucks nutrients out of the soil at a prodigious rate. In a normal crop rotation, a field planted in corn is usually left either fallow, or used for grazing, which brings manure to the field. But with corn being such a profitable crop, farmers are continuing to plant corn, corn, corn. The soil simply cannot take this, and it will become virtually barren. If this happens, we're all in for a world of hurt.

[jmowreader]

23. THey just noticed?

NASCAR's been using Sunoco Green E15 since Daytona!

[Bombero1956]

24. they're switching to fuel injection for next year

NASCAR announced that their flagship racing circuit – the Sprint Cup Series – will join the age of electronic technology as all cars will be required to run a fuel injection system in the 2012 season.

[Obamanaut]

28. And what will power the thousands of vehicles used to transport the

fans to/from the track?