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There’s going to be something new in the air for race goers next year in France. The world’s prestigious auto endurance race, ’24 Hours Of Le Mans’ is going to see the Lola B2K participating and running on a blend of biodiesel.
The UK biodiesel firm, D1 Oil sponsoring The Lola and what it aims to prove to the world is the fact that vegetable oils can compete quite well with the petrol and diesel biggies when it comes to endurance.
Last season saw the earlier version of this car, the B98/10 not perform too well, mainly thanks to its cooling system. All the air that cooled was blown in from the underbody diffuser and then went on to cool the side areas of the car. Now track temperatures can get very hot so there was a problem of overheating.
The Lola B2K has rectified this problem. The fuel is made from the jatropha curcas tree which can grow on almost arid wasteland. So that gives it an edge over other biodiesel sources.
This is definitely better than using tracts of land for soy and canola, the other plants used in biodiesel, which occupy land that could be used to grow food crops. So huge areas in Africa, Asia and the Middle East can be developed to grow these trees.
The Lola B2K comes with a Volkswagen Touareg engine which means the car can sail past the 200 mph mark. This is a twin turbo-charged Caterpillar-tuned V10 engine. There are various blends of biodiesel being tested right now for optimum engine performance.
The Lola is a mid-engine rear-wheel drive and it has a sequential 6-speed sports gearbox. The brakes are the latest and it allows the use of 15” diameter discs. It has adjustable gas-filled shock absorbers and the wheels are 18” in diameter.
Weighing in at 908 kgs, the Lola B2k has 600+ hp at 10250 rpm. It has an independent suspension both at the back and the front with a double wishbone suspension.
What this car does make known, and that is exactly what the people at D1 Oil want, is that green cars are not just plodding, small, in-city kind of cars.
With the Lola B2K making its presence felt in the racing circuits, the whole issue of biodiesel seems to have been brought to the forefront. In an age when global warming seems to be the looming terror approaching humanity, this sets the spark of hope aflame for future generations.