Electric cars and car conversions are rarely out of the news these days and we are as guilty as anyone of bringing them to your attention. Personally I am concerned that when I pass my cars on to my children that they may just become rather large paperweights. Much like the carriages from when the horse was usurped by the car.
Personally I am not yet convinced by electric cars and am still waiting for the technology and infrastructure to improve before getting on board. However there is an alternative which hasn’t had nearly as much publicity as the electric option. That is synthetic fuels, an option that Mazda have decided to adopt for their heritage fleet.
Mazda UK is switching its Heritage Fleet to run on sustainable petrol. Highlighting the role sustainable fuel can play in de-carbonising classic cars – the 15-car Mazda UK Heritage Fleet will be filled with SUSTAIN Classic Super 80 supplied by Coryton, each time the cars are driven or loaned to media. Further highlighting the flexibility of this drop-in sustainability solution – none of the cars required modification to run on the petrol, which can be used by any standard petrol-fuelled vehicle.
Developed by UK firm Coryton, Super 80 is one of three fuels in the recently launched SUSTAIN Classic range. Super 80 is a second generation bio-fuel created using 80% agricultural waste, such as straw, by-products and waste from crops which wouldn’t be used for animal or human consumption. The fuel offers a reduction of at least 65% in greenhouse gas emissions when compared to fossil fuels.
With a 98-octane rating and bio-ethanol content of 1%, SUSTAIN Classic has been technically tailored for classic vehicles. It’s also formulated with a premium additive package included, which stabilises and extends the life of the fuel and helps clean and protect the engines.
In November 2022 Mazda drove a 2.0-litre MX-5 for 1,000-miles around the UK, lapping a circuit in each home nation all powered by sustainable fuel from Coryton – underlining the potential sustainable fuels have for decarbonising motorsport and the many millions of combustion engine cars that will remain on our roads for decades to come. The switch to fuel the heritage fleet in the same way further highlights how sustainable fuel is a real and credible player in efforts towards net zero, while at the same time allowing the continued enjoyment and preservation of classic vehicles.
David Richardson, Director at Coryton, said: “We’re delighted that Mazda has decided to place its trust in SUSTAIN Classic to fuel its important fleet of heritage vehicles. We believe that SUSTAIN Classic is the world’s first ever publicly available sustainable fuel catering for classic vehicles and we hope that these fuels will give classic car owners confidence that there are options for them to continue running their vehicles in a sustainable way in the years to come.”
Adding, “now is a vital time to start proving that sustainable fuels can have a real future fuelling our transportation – past and present. While other technologies are given the necessary time to develop, sustainable fuels are here and ready to go to help tackle emissions from the existing fleet of classic and modern cars on our roads – and can be scaled up relatively quickly if needed. Every kilogram of CO2 we avoid adding to our atmosphere, by replacing fossil fuel with sustainable fuel, is a win. We don’t instantly have to go for the full switch to start making a genuine impact. As more feedstocks become available, these fuels will start to contain even higher levels of traceable sustainable elements.”
The Mazda UK Heritage Fleet features 15 cars with engines ranging from rotary to both four and six-cylinder petrol, all of which will now be running on Coryton’s sustainable fuel when they leave storage to head to events or media bookings.
Mazda UK’s 1973 Mazda RX-3 was demonstrated at last week’s Flywheel Festival at Bicester Motion, where it ran powered exclusively by Coryton’s Super 80 SUSTAIN Classic petrol. More details of the sustainable fuel can be found at www.sustainclassic.com