Racers rally for green recognition in Monaco
Sole Canadian team makes fine finish
MONTE CARLO, MONACO — Monte Carlo is a place where living the highlife seems to be mandatory. Here, one can rent a Lamborghini Aventador for the day (after leaving a mortgage-sized deposit, of course) for a mere $4,200 and park it outside the famed Cafe de Paris and pay almost as much for a casual lunch.
However, once a year, the mass consumption makes way for a conservation rally — the Rallye Monte Carlo des Energies Nouvelles, or New Energy Rally, is in its 14th year and ranks as the oldest and most prestigious of its kind. This event is one of 12 that make up the FIA Alternative Energies Cup. In September, participants will compete in the 2013 Rallye International Vert de Montreal (Montreal Green Rally).
The entries at this year’s Monte Carlo Rally ran the gamut. Everything from allelectric Teslas and extendedrange Chevrolet Volts/Opel Amperas to a Ferrari running E85 fuel (modified by the owner, no less) and a Canadian entry — a Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid (PHV). This year, 113 cars, 25 per cent of which were Toyota or Lexus hybrids, squared off for an event that takes them on a 1,500-kilometre tour of the south of France.
The rally is split into two very different contests. The first is a straight time/distance rally, where those cars that finish the stages and pass unannounced check points at the right time avoid penalties. Where the Monte Carlo New Energy Rally differs is the fuel economy component. Every drop of energy (both fuel and/or electricity) is accounted for and is used to establish the average fuel economy over the entire rally. The overall winner of this rally is the team with the best combination of time and fuel economy. This year’s winner was a Toyota Prius driven by Arthur Prusak and JeanBaptiste Loty.
The Canadian car was at the Monte Carlo event because it won the Montreal Green Rally last October. Team Prius, as I will call them, saw driver Vinh Pham, a Toyota Canada advanced technology and powertrain engineer and co-pilot Alan Ockwell, who has been navigating since the age of nine and is a two-time Canadian rally champion, bring their ride home in fifth place overall — an extraordinary feat.
While Team Prius finished 18th overall in time/distance, it finished with the fourth best overall fuel economy. The team also had the best fuel economy in the hybrid category. Team Prius averaged a staggering 3.9 litres per 100 kilometres over the distance of the rally, which, is just 0.1 L/100 km more than the official combined economy number. While three all-electric vehicles did pip the Prius in overall economy, there is a caveat — none could complete the rally without taking enormous time penalties for the stops required to re-juice the battery.
The Prius plug-in hybrid rally car was showroom stock. This meant a 1.8-litre, four-cylinder gas engine, electric motor, continuously variable transmission and a high-capacity lithium-ion battery. The advantage to the plug-in is the all-electric driving range of 22 kilometres, which rose to more than 30 km thanks to the hilly terrain and the car’s ability to harvest power through regenerative braking on the long downhill sections.