WHAT CLASSIC CLUBS MAKE OF IT

STEVE SHAW HAMPSHIRE REGION REGIONAL ORGANISER, TVR CAR CLUB

‘We envisage that the new synthetic fuel will be extremely expensive along with the fact there needs to be a lot of testing and available information before it’s released on to the market. Most of our members want to keep their cars on the road and even though some members’ cars only cover 2000 or 3000 miles a year, they need to know what the effect will be on engines designed to run with hydrocarbons in the fuel. There needs to be testing to highlight the damage that it will cause to older engines along with the safety aspects. It’s already known that Bosch and Porsche are doing a lot of work with this new eFuel so we hope that they’ll release their findings.’

TREVOR HARMER CHAIRMAN, NORTH WEST KIT CAR OWNERS’ CLUB

‘We have a lot of members who own and run old kit cars and specials that now qualify as classics. We have two chemists who are members [of the club] and I know for a fact that they are working on new additives for eFuel so with luck our members might be ahead of the game. The other problem is that many modern classics run engines with ECUs, some of which are able to ‘learn’ new fuels while older units can’t. That will mean re-mapping some of the older ‘newer’ engines – more expense caused by governmental whims and people with zero understanding.’

BARRY COOPER CHAIRMAN, VANDEN PLAS OWNERS’ CLUB

‘Since we don’t actually know what this artificial petrol consists of, its hard to say anything about it. What we can tell our members is that they’ll probably have to buy yet more additives that to date don’t seem to have even been formulated. Basically, it’s all an unknown quantity and more messing about with classic cars and their owners. It’s about time people – but especially the Government – realised what a huge amount of money the classic car movement puts into the economy.’

RICHARD BROCKLEY CHAIRMAN, JAP2JAP

‘We need to know what’s in it, what damage it will cause to older engines and fuel systems from the tank through to the engine. With luck modern classics might survive but I don’t hold out any hope for older classic cars be them Japanese, or whatever.’