It’s December, 2022, and green is more than just one of the most popular colors of the winter holiday season. Triumph is currently partnering with Dorna on a project to test and develop E40 fuel for use in the Moto2TM World Championship, in time for the 2024 season. From there, as with all things in racing, the goal is to push development and progress even further in the years to come.
How far does Triumph want to take it? At this moment, it says that it wants to see the Moto2 championship get to E100 fuel by 2027—just three years after the E40 goal. Yes, you read that correctly. It may seem like a tall order, but you don’t get anywhere if you don’t start moving, right?
For those unfamiliar, E40 is a fuel blend that’s comprised of 40 percent ethanol and 60 percent gasoline. E100 is all ethanol, all the time. Drivers in the U.S. are used to much lower ratios of ethanol in our fuel, but there’s usually at least some percentage of ethanol found in most of our fuel in 2022. Although E100 may not be common in some places, according to the Society of Automotive Engineers, it’s been in widespread use in South America since at least 2016.
For such a transition to be successful, Triumph—the sole engine supplier to the Moto2TM championship—wants to ensure that it works well in those engines. Like other stakeholders in both motorcycles and racing, the OEM wants to see motorcycling continue into the future, while also adapting to more responsible stewardship of our planet.
“Ultimately, our aim is always to take all the learnings we gain from racing to make our road bikes even better, which of course encompasses not just performance but also their impact on the environment. I can tell you that everybody here at Triumph is very excited to be involved in such significant developments at such a pivotal moment in motorcycle history,” Triumph chief product officer Steve Sargent said in a statement.
Moto2 is hardly the only motorcycle racing series that’s researching the use of sustainable fuels to keep combustion engines alive in racing. In October, 2022, the World Superbike series announced a number of updates to its technical regulations. One such change will be the introduction of E40 fuel in all WSBK classes, beginning with the 2024 season. To simplify things, the WSBK standard will be the same as the MotoGP standard for this fuel.
