Renewable fuel used for first time in classic car race through Swiss alps

Alberto Chimenti Dezani for BGT

CLASSIC car drivers fuelled their vehicles with renewable synthetic gasoline for the Bernina Gran Turismo (BGT) races through the Swiss alps last week for the first time in the event’s history. 

Fuel producer Synhelion said that over 1,000 L of its renewable gasoline was consumed at this year’s races, which took place from 11-13 September. The company, which became an official fuel supplier for BGT this year, has signed a long-term partnership with the event’s organisers and hopes to continue supplying renewable fuel in future races. The company said its fuel can power conventional internal combustion engines without modification.

BGT has taken place each year since 2015 and follows the same route as the 1929 hill climb race. Drivers fuel up in a “paddock” near the start line, which this year included a Synhelion filling station, before racing along a 5.4 km stretch of the picturesque Bernina Pass in the Swiss alps. Synhelion co-founder and co-CEO Philipp Furler said the event demonstrated that they could “change the fuel without changing what people value about driving”. 

The event’s director Luca Moiso said: “BGT connects the past, present and future. It is our mission to preserve the unique character of this historic motorsport event as we write its next chapter. 

“Synhelion’s renewable synthetic gasoline gave our racing drivers the opportunity to be right at the forefront of this transformation.”

Established in 2016 as a spinout from ETH Zürich, Synhelion produces “nearly CO2-neutral” fuels from biowaste and renewable heat, either generated from renewable electricity or captured from the Sun via a proprietary array of mirrors. A mixture of CO2 and methane is first produced through anaerobic digestion in agricultural waste, which is then heated at 1,200^oC with water in a thermochemical reactor to produce syngas. It is then processed via a Fischer-Tropsch process into synthetic crude oil, which is refined into diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. 

When Synhelion launched its first industrial-scale plant in Jülich, Germany, where the BGT fuel was produced, it became the first in the world to manufacture transport fuel using solar heat. The company has since demonstrated its diesel in a digger, a fleet of airport buses and a century-old tourist steamboat, and also supplied sustainable aviation fuel for a flight from Hamburg to Zürich last year. The company is planning to launch a commercial 1,000 t/y plant in Spain next year and aims to reach overall production of 1m t/y within a decade.