Ferrari’s Green Machine
Yes, even Ferrari is talking about the environment at this year’s Detroit show. The unveiling of the Spider Biofuel was done with very little fanfare, which led some industry observers to question just how dedicated Ferrari is to going green in a big way. The sleek Ferrari F430 Spider Biofuel, with green stripes on its silver bodywork, consumes an E85 — 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline — mix, a growing fuel blend in the U.S. The ultimate goal is to cut emissions by forty percent by 2012. The company stresses that they will make this happen without compromising performance.
Ferrari says technical characteristics have remained unchanged with respect to a standard production engine on this prototype. On the F430 Spider, the fuel system and the engine control unit are modified to handle the ethanol fuel. With these changes, the Ferrari gains 10 hp along with a four percent boost in torque. On top of that, CO2 emissions fall by five percent when ethanol fuel is used.
