This Mazda MX-5 is setting hot laps on fossil-free fuel

06th December 2022

James Brodie

E-Fuels haven’t quite captured the low-carbon transport movement quite like the emissions-free promise of electric vehicles, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in them. On the contrary; they could hold the key to securing the combustion powered future of our classics.

So seeing a mainstream maker of fun cars like Mazda joining a small but growing rank of manufacturers promoting fossil-free fuels – until now, only the preserve of luxury and performance brands like Porsche and Bentley – is certainly another tick in the box for the technology’s yet to be realised viability.

Mazda’s method? Take a bog-standard, totally unmodified 2.0-litre MX-5 Roadster developing 184PS (135kW), brim it with fossil-free fuel refined by UK bespoke fuel specialist Coryton, and set a lap record for an E-Fuelled car at a circuit in each of the four nations of the UK.

The MX-5’s 1,000-mile journey across the country was completed entirely on Coryton fuel, and at an impressive average of 45.6mpg to boot. Laps were completed at Angelsey Circuit in Wales, England’s Oulton Park, Knockhill in Scotland and Kirkistown Circuit in Northern Ireland.

The fuel dropped directly into the Mazda’s tank was Coryton’s ‘second-generation’ SUSTAIN 100% fuel, which is made entirely using agricultural waste. Think straw, by-products and waste from crops not fit for consumption. It’s the same fuel used in competition by CKL Developments, in their race-prepped E-type that took to the Goodwood Hill at the 2022 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard.

David Richardson, director at Coryton, said: “drop-in sustainable fuels are ready now for everyday road cars with internal combustion engines. The UK alone currently has 36 million combustion engine cars on the roads that we could be reducing the emissions from right now. The product and technology is ready to go – the industry just needs support to help scale up operations, which can be done gradually. But every litre of fossil fuel we replace directly helps us get closer towards our climate targets.”