It might sound arduous to imagine, nevertheless it’s been nearly two years since Suzuki made the shock announcement that it was pulling out of international motorcycle racing. Except, after all, that did not materialize, which you may already know if you are a fan of the FIM Endurance World Championship.
You see, by December of that very yr, Suzuki had additionally introduced that the Yoshimura SERT (Suzuki Endurance Racing Team) would stay to contest that collection in 2023. The crew confirmed sturdy development over the whole thing of the four-race season, ending seventh at Round One – the 24 Heures Motos; fourth at Round Two in Spa; eleventh on the Suzuka 8 Hours; and capping the season with a shocking victory on the Bol d’Or.
In a transfer that additional cements the thought you can take a crew out of racing, however you possibly can’t take the love of racing out of the crew, a bunch comprised primarily of Suzuki staff has come collectively to kind Team Suzuki CN Challenge.
Together with Yoshimura Japan, the Team Suzuki CN Challenge members will probably be coming into an Experimental Class bike within the 2024 Suzuka 8 Hours spherical. The bike is a Suzuki GSX-R1000R, and it will likely be powered utilizing a particular “40-percent bio-sourced sustainable fuel.”
Like each different consumable and half that participates in an FIM occasion, this gas has been licensed by the FIM. However, since it is not the official gas of the EWC collection, the car have to be entered within the Experimental Class.
As it seems, the Experimental Class is additional cool for the Team Suzuki CN Challenge of us to enter, as a result of it means they’ll check out an entire host of different different fine details in an effort to attempt to make racing extra sustainable in the long term.
In its official announcement, Team Suzuki CN Challenge lists eight separate classes through which it says that its bike options sustainable objects. There’s the gas, after all, sourced from Elf. There’s additionally a Yoshimura Japan muffler; Bridgestone racing tires that make the most of each recycled and recyclable supplies; bio-sourced Motul engine oil; recycled carbon fiber fairings from JHI; flax fiber composite fenders; metal brake discs that do not use warmth therapy and low-dust brake pads from Sunstar; and an LFP bike battery (that is lithium ferrous phosphate) and storage battery from ELIIY Power.
So far, Team Suzuki CN Challenge hasn’t introduced its rider roster for the 2024 Suzuka 8 Hours as of March 27, 2024. However, the crew will probably be led by Shinichi Sahara, and the race is not scheduled to happen till July 19 by means of 21, 2024. So there’s time.
The Real Deal, Or Just Greenwashing?
According to Team Suzuki CN Challenge, the gas it would use is Elf Moto R40, which it says is made from “40 percent bio-sourced material” with out additional specification of the place that bio-sourced materials comes from.
We’re not chemistry specialists. While we might wish to imagine within the chance and hope that the thought of biofuels as a class gives, we can also’t ignore the truth that not all biofuels are as inexperienced as some would possibly need you to suppose.
As only one instance, an explosive investigative report from Pro Publica and the Guardian in 2023 discovered that “the production of one of the fuels [produced by Chevron and marketed as a biofuel] could emit air pollution that is so toxic, one out of four people exposed to it over a lifetime could get cancer.”
So, as is usually the case with many issues in life, you need to have hope, however there’s additionally ample cause to be skeptical.
It’s tempting to place your ft down, cease transferring, and say “I’m not going” when the solutions offered are lower than good.
However, whenever you let the proper be the enemy of the great, you additionally halt much-needed ahead momentum. Who needs to try this? Not us.
A examine revealed within the February 1, 2022 challenge of the scientific journal Applied Energy, produced by a bunch of scientists from two universities in Spain, in contrast a complete of 72 totally different biofuels that had been obtainable on the time to evaluate their sustainability.
The examine turned up a large number of outcomes, together with the necessity to consider the effectiveness of any biofuel’s sustainability by contemplating your entire lifecycle, from sourcing and manufacturing to combustion. The examine’s authors additionally famous that “the selection of the carbon source proved to be the most important decision, highlighting the need to consider regional aspects related to soil and climate before promoting a certain biofuel.”
Balancing all ranges of value, from environmental and societal ones to financial ones, is crucial to furthering sustainability targets throughout motorsport and past.