The British Motor Show teams up with Coryton to deliver sustainable V8 sports car

When it comes to sustainable car choices, most people think of an EV over a 5.0-litre V8 muscle car, but The British Motor Show is about to change perceptions by running a Ford Mustang for six months to see if an old-school muscle car can clean up its act.

“Let’s make one thing clear from the outset – we’re big fans of electric cars, they are the future for sustainable motoring,” says Andy Entwistle, CEO of The British Motor Show, as he fills the event’s 5.0-litre V8 Ford Mustang with Coryton SUSTAIN BioFuel. “However, for some people they may not be able to change yet, they may live in an unsuitable location such as an apartment block, can’t afford a new EV or maybe they don’t want to lose their fantastic classic. This doesn’t mean they don’t want to be more environmentally friendly, so we want to know how sustainable they can be in their motoring here and now.”

Using SUSTAIN from Coryton– a second generation BioFuel thatuses agricultural waste such as straw, or by-products from farming, food production or forestry, recycling carbon from the atmosphere – the team behind the show will be running a 5.0-litre V8 Ford Mustang, covering over 1,000 miles a month promoting the event around the UK. As well as using Coryton SUSTAIN fuel, the “Sustainable V8 Project” Mustang will also be run on sustainable oils, use eco tyres and will be maintained using reuseable service parts or second life spare parts when needed.

“We want to know if you can run a V8-powered car sustainably,” added Andy Entwistle.  “This will be of real interest to classic, performance and supercar fans as even the most ardent petrolheads still want to make a difference”plus the low ethanol content of Coryton’s fuel will make it much safer for use in classic cars than standard E10 petrol.”

The British Motor Show team will be keeping a diary of all energy, fuel and parts used over the six months and calculating the carbon footprint, which will be offset at the end of the year. The team will also calculate the cost to do this against running a Mustang normally, and the cost of running a conventional EV.

The team will deliver regular updates before revealing the results at the show in August, looking at how close they managed to get to running an EV and how much more sustainable bio fuel is compared to regular petroleum.

Coryton is one of the world’s leading suppliers of advanced sustainable fuels, creating special blend products using agricultural waste, such as straw, by-products and waste from crops that wouldn’t be used for consumption, and capturing carbon from the atmosphere to generate 100% fossil-free fuel. It’s a clever science.

The fuel operates in the same way as conventional petrol – you simply fill up the tank and go – whilst the company also produces specialist sustainable fuels for motor sport.

David Richardson, Coryton’s Business Development Director, said: “We’re delighted to be working with The British Motor Show on this project. We want to demonstrate to people how effective sustainable fuel can be – products are ready now which can be dropped into any type of engine – and how there’s no lack of performance whilst there are significant savings in greenhouse gases compared to traditional fossil fuels. If we can show what can be achieved with just one car, imagine what could be achieved across the whole fleet?

“There are 36 million existing cars on the UK’s roads, and we need to be tackling those emissions now – sustainable fuel can reduce those, whilst EV technology and infrastructure is given the time it needs to develop. The internal combustion engine (ICE) is often seen as the problem, but in reality it is the fossil fuels consumed that render the ICE harmful to the environment. It’s our belief that we need a range of solutions working together to help meet our net-zero target and that sustainable fuels could play a significant role.”

The sustainable V8 project was launched in conjunction with Sam Hard, founder of Hard-Up garage and well-known for his exploits on YouTube, as well as across the classic car and muscle car scene.

Sam Said: “I’ve loved American muscle cars all my life, so to see a way forward that allows you to run one sustainably, with renewable fuels and without having to modify it in any way is a real boost for car fans everywhere.”

You can watch Sam’s intro video and find out more about the Sustainable V8 project here (link to video).

Regular updates on the Sustainable V8 project will feature on The British Motor Show website throughout.

The resurgent British Motor Show 2023 takes place at Farnborough International once again on August 17-20, delivering a great mix of new cars, live entertainment, supercars, classic cars and celebrities.  With an additional 30% display space for 2023, the show will deliver even more cars and even more entertainment.