News: Flexing Muscle
April 1, 2008
Once mainly of interest to Iowa farm lobbyists and fleet operators, ethanol fuel has begun to capture automakers’ attention, not only as a means to reduce noxious tailpipe emissions and lessen dependence on foreign oil, but also—thanks to its significantly higher octane rating and cooler-burning characteristics—as a way to enhance engine performance. Now Ferrari, eager to encourage Americans’ interest in alternative fuels (30 percent of its cars are sold in the U.S., after all), and empowered by experience with bioethanol blends from winning seasons in Formula 1 and endurance racing, presents the F430 Spider Biofuel. With a revised fuel-delivery system and tweaks to the engine-management computer, Maranello’s engineers modified the two-seater’s superb 4.3-liter V-8 to consume E85—a blend of 15 percent gasoline and 85 percent ethyl alcohol. Horsepower jumped from 483 hp to 493 hp, and torque increased 4 percent, from 343 ft lbs to 356 ft lbs, while carbon-dioxide emissions dropped 5 percent. For now, the flex-fuel F430 Spider is only a prototype, but as ethanol gains momentum (and with higher horsepower and torque numbers as a new selling point, it surely will) it won’t be long before Ferrari delivers a prancing horse of a different color: green.
Ferrari, www.ferrariusa.com
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