Ferrari 430 Spider Bio Fuel Concept in Detroit

Ferrari 430 Spider Bio Fuel Concept

By Clinton Deacon
January 14, 2008 12:03 AM
Filed Under: Concept Car, Detroit Auto Show, European, Ferrari

Ferrari are hardly a brand you would associate with producing environmental energy saving automobiles, but it seems by this concept we could see a new direction for the Italian supercar manufacturer. The Ferrari 430 Spider Bio Fuel Concept made what we would call a quiet debut at the Detroit Motor Show with no special press conference called which leads us to think it isn't something they are heading into too seriously.

According to Automotive News preliminary data points in the positive direction with power output increased by 10hp to 500 hp with torque up 4% and fuel consumption down by 5%. But there is no need to get your cheque books out just yet, the production is said to be "not close",whch is backed up by the fact E85 fuel is only widely in areas where Ferrari sales are negligible such as U.S. Midwest states, Brazil and Sweden. However a ferrari official has said that if E85 became widely available in California (where 10% of Ferrari's worldwide sales are) then this Bio Fuel model would become a viable option.

UPDATE: Official press reease added below

Source: Automotive News

Press Release (Click to expand)

Ferrari has chosen Detroit as the venue for the presentation at a biofuel-powered F430 Spider in recognition of growing interest in North America in alternative sources of energy.
The development of an engine powered by the biofuel E85 comes as part of a research and development program announced during the Technological Innovation Conference held at Maranello last June as part of our 60th Anniversary Celebrations. On that particular occasion, Ferrari also unveiled projects focused on improving the energy of the whole car which would in turn lower fuel consumption and emissions levels. The ultimate aim being, of course, to cut the latter by 40% by 2012.

The Ferrari F430 Spider Biofuel uses an 85% ethanol mix and was developed with using experience gleaned in competition. In fact, Formula 1’s technical regulations demand that petrol (gasoline) with 5.75% biomass-derived content must be used, while the FIA GT and American Le Mans Series (ALMS), both of which were dominated by the F430 GT2 in 2007, use fuels with 10% ethanol. Furthermore, E10 biofuels will be employed in the next A1GP Championship which Ferrari will be supplying with V8 engines.

Once again, in fact, the track has proved an excellent testing ground for innovative solutions which, if successful, can then be passed on to production cars. Such is the efficiency of the transfer of track technology to road cars at Maranello that all of the Prancing Horse’s cars can already use up to 10% ethanol without any modification whatsoever.

By developing this technological demonstration prototype however, Ferrari has proved category that it can offer the technological solutions demanded by the market demands without impinging on the distinctly sporty, high performance character and supreme driving pleasure of the unique cars it builds at Maranello.

In the case of the F430 Spider Biofuel, certain modifications were made to the fuel feed system and most importantly to the engine CPU to allow the engine use E85. Developing the CPU, two fuels (Flex Fuel) can be used by the engine with the same compression ratio. All of the other technical characteristics have remained unchanged with respect to a standard production engine, however. The use of this type of biofuel and the modifications made have resulted in a significant increase in maximum power output (+ 10 hp at the same rpm) and torque (+ 4%) yet overall weight was unchanged. The advantages to the environment translate too into a 5% drop in CO₂ emissions.