On 13 November at Okayama International Circuit, Mazda officially announced that they will compete in the final round of the 2021 Super Taikyu Series Powered by Hankook with a Mazda Demio Skyactiv-D 1.5 that runs on next-generation biodiesel fuel.
The car is the number 37 Demio of Team NOPRO, an experienced racing team operated by Toshihiko Nogami which has competed in the Super Taikyu Series since 2015, and prior to that, has also competed in the Super GT Series. Their diesel-powered Demio (Mazda2) has been modified to run on next-generation “Susteo” biofuel manufactured by Japanese conglomerate Euglena Corporation.
This 100 percent bio-based fuel is made from used cooking oil and microalgae fats, which according to Euglena and Mazda, solve two main issues with existing biodiesel fuels: They do not use materials that are in the human food supply, and can be used in existing diesel vehicles and equipment without any modification, which will not require the construction of additional fuel supply infrastructure.
The white and green #37 Demio will be entered under the Mazda Spirit Racing banner as the ‘Mazda Spirit Racing Bio Concept Demio’, driven by Mazda Head of Global Design Ikuo Maeda, development driver Kazuhiro Terakawa, and Team NOPRO drivers Kaoru Ijiri and Yutaka Seki.
The car will compete in the ST-Q class, a non-championship category introduced to Super Taikyu in 2021 for the purpose of showcasing developmental and experimental vehicles and new technologies. ROOKIE Racing and Toyota Motor Corporation already compete in this class with a Toyota Corolla Sport, with a modified combustion engine running on hydrogen fuel.
In a press release from Saturday, Mazda wrote: “Mazda believes that it is important to offer a variety of options to achieve carbon neutrality. To this end, Mazda is expanding its powertrain lineup by introducing PHEV models in addition to its existing HEV, diesel engine and BEV models, and is also working with like-minded partners on renewable fuels such as biofuels. The ‘Mazda Spirit Racing Bio concept Demio” equipped with the SKYACTIV-D 1.5 diesel engine, uses 100% bio-based diesel fuel supplied by Euglena Co. In the future, we will continue to compete in various environments and conditions. We will continue to conduct demonstration tests in a variety of environments and conditions to help expand the use of next-generation biodiesel fuel.”
Next season, the biodiesel Demio will compete in all seven rounds of the 2022 Super Taikyu Series, in what will be a long-term partnership with Euglena. They will be joined not only by the hydrogen Corolla, but also by two new sports cars running on biomass-derived synthetic fuel: The new second-generation Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ, both of which will be supported by their respective manufacturers.
In its first qualifying session, the #37 Mazda Spirit Racing Bio Concept Demio qualified 24th out of 25 cars for the Group 2 three-hour race that will be held on Sunday morning. Ijiri, who has driven Team NOPRO’s traditional diesel-powered Demio previously, was surprised at the new car’s performance out of the box. “‘It’s not as slow as I thought. When I heard about it, I thought it would be four or five seconds slower, but it’s actually about a second,” he said.
Their lap times were still representative of the pace of the traditional ST-5 class cars which this machine was previously competing with.
Those eager to watch this car in action can watch the race live on the Super Taikyu series YouTube channel, with Japanese commentary, beginning Sunday at 8:30 JST (00:30 CET / Saturday 23:30 GMT / Saturday 18:30 EST). Pre-event coverage starts one hour prior to the race.
Images courtesy of Mazda and the Super Taikyu Organisation (STO)
