» LPG, as greener alternative fuel, can help to power the sport with a reduced environmental footprint
In a six figure sponsorship deal, Team AON’s star racers, Tom Onslow-Cole and Tom Chilton, will take the wheel of new Ford Focus STs powered by a specially designed Prins Liquid LPG system on a Mountune built Duratec 2.0 engine. As well as financial assistance, Calor will also provide all fuel for the cars and technical support to Team Aon. The LPG component parts, adapted from the soon to be released Prins LI conversion kit, have been hand built for the project by Calor’s sister company Prins Autogassystemen B.V. of Holland.
With the season launch today [Tuesday 23 March], the test cars put in an impressive performance on the Spanish and UK test tracks with LPG technology consistently delivering performance on par with petrol and the added bonus of considerably lower base petrol emissions – making Team AON the greenest team on the track.
Chris Taylor, Autogas Development Manager at Calor said: “The launch of the first competitive LPG car specially developed to suit a motorsport environment is testament to the hard work that has gone into improving performance for Autogas vehicles. We’ve been delighted with how it’s worked on the test track and we’re very much looking forward to watching both drivers in action during the new season. In a climate where motorsports is under intense scrutiny for its contribution to carbon emissions it’s never been a better time to show how LPG, as greener alternative fuel, can help to power the sport with a reduced environmental footprint. And the best thing is – similar technology can be applied to nearly all petrol vehicles – on and off the track.”
Tom Onslow-Cole, Team Aon driver, added: “I can’t wait to take the new car out and see what it can do in a competitive environment. We already know that LPG is a more environmentally friendly fuel than petrol, so if it also proves to be a race winner I’m sure I’ll be driving a car powered by the fuel of the future for British motorsport.”
» Notes for editors:
Calor is the leading supplier of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to homes and businesses in the UK.
Most petrol vehicles including turbo’s and super charged engines can be converted to run on LPG. The approximate cost to convert an average sized 1.8 family saloon is around £1600-1800.
There are 1500 public access LPG Autogas refuelling sites in the UK, with over 950 of these being forecourt sites. Details of Calor supplied sites can be found at www.lpg-vehicles.co.uk
Emissions figures taken form the European Emissions Testing Programme 2003 (EETP 2003) a comparison study of emissions from Petrol, Diesel and LPG vehicles:
- LPG vehicles shown to produce 20% less CO2, 50% less NOX than the equivalent petrol vehicles.
- LPG vehicles shown to produce up to 120 times less PM10 small particle emissions than the equivalent diesel vehicle.
A selection of LPG converted vehicles are available for media road test – please contact 3 Monkeys Communications for further details.
For further information please contact 3 Monkeys Communications
Fiona Chow / Tori Stokes
020 7009 3100
