On Wed 23rd March 2023 we will be enjoying an evening with Alex Poole. Alex is a past BTCC Champion as well as a works rally driver of note. His recollections should result in a most enjoyable evening at
Whalley Golf Club Ltd, Long Leese Barn, Clerk Hill, Whalley, Lancashire. BB7 9DR.
Full details to follow.
Mike Wood was out on our Fellsman run with his little Box Brownie taking some fime pictures of the entrants as they passed through some beutiful ccountry lanes.
PRESS RELEASE
Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs Ltd, PO Box 295, Upminster, Essex, RM14 9DG
Tel: 01708 223111 E-mail: secretary@fbhvc.co.uk Web: www.fbhvc.co.uk
Registered Office: The Barn, Holly Berry House, Hamstall Ridware, Rugeley, Staffordshire, WS15 3SQ Registered in England No 3842316 VAT Reg No. 636 788683
Immediate release: 10 March 2022
Historic Vehicle community rallies in support of carbon balancing scheme
The FBHVC (Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs) announced a carbon balancing
scheme to the historic vehicle community last December.
Whilst recognising that the carbon footprint of the historic vehicle movement is already
immeasurably small, with the entire community accounting for less than 0.25% of the total
mileage on UK roads, the offer of carbon balancing has been incredibly well-supported by
historic vehicle owners.
The Federation’s scheme offers individuals, clubs and those organising events within the
historic vehicle community a quick and convenient way to carbon balance their emissions
thanks to the planting of new woodland here in the UK. Importantly, that woodland will also
be planted using native species to best contribute to the local ecosystem. Planting in this way
also brings with it a host of other benefits, including increased biodiversity, creation of
recreational spaces and flood mitigation to name a few.
So far since last December the historic vehicle community has successfully carbon
balanced 553,564 miles.
The carbon balanced to date has been achieved through a combination of individual
contributions from vehicle owners via www.trees.fbhvc.co.uk and those of clubs and event
organisers. The FBHVC and Tree-V scheme is adaptable to the wide variety of activities that
the historic community gets involved in with, using an equally diverse range of vehicles.
The Federation and Tree-V scheme employs a carbon calculator, which uses annual mileage
and mile per gallon data to calculate the tonnes of CO2 emitted by a vehicle each year.
This figure is then used to purchase the equivalent amount of Carbon Units.
When an individual carbon balances their expected annual mileage, they receive a welcome
pack through the post explaining how their contribution is to be used and what their impact
on carbon balancing has been, plus a sticker for either the vehicle’s bumper, windscreen or
other easily visible area to show the public that the vehicle owner has contributed to the
scheme.
The scheme will be carbon capturing the Brighton Speed Trials, commonly held to be the
oldest running speed event in the world. Other early adopters have included the MG Car
Club Midland Centre with its Welsh Touring Rally and Club Triumph’s Coast to Coast rally.
Static events are also getting in on the act with The Guernsey Classic Vehicle Club carbon
capturing all the exhibiting vehicles at their Annual Show. North Norfolk Classic Vehicle Club,
who have committed to capturing all of their events, have even appointed a Carbon
Balancing Officer to work with the scheme throughout the year.
The scheme has also extended its reach to Transport Museums as well, with Dundee
Museum of Transport and Dover Transport Museum both capturing the miles their collections cover whenever they travel to displays, it’s already proved to be an engaging way for
museums to demonstrate their green credentials to visitors and the wider public.
As news of the scheme has spread throughout the historic vehicle community, individuals,
clubs and museums have now been joined by a wide variety of businesses. These have
already covered a wide variety of companies like Genus Digitisation, who are now capturing
their fleet of work vans that cover mileage in the execution of their work on the preservation
of historical artefacts and documents.
Travel company Bespoke Rallies are also now offering their participants the chance to
capture their epic adventures and the events company Great British Motor Shows are
enabling visitors to capture travel to all of their shows.
Tom Worthington, from Tree-V reacted to the ground swell of support saying,
“We’re passionate about the environment and driving in equal measure, so our ambition is to
help as many of our fellow hobbyists still enjoy their passion without disregarding the impact
of the motor industry and its enthusiasts on the environment. We are thrilled to see that the
historic vehicle community has come out in support of this and we believe that it will help us
spread the message that all our historic vehicles, from vintage to modern, should continue to
be enjoyed on UK roads, by offsetting and capturing the albeit negligible amounts of
emissions.”
David Whale, Federation Chairman says,
“The historic vehicle community is not only a very adaptable movement, but also very socially
responsible. Historic vehicles have a place on tomorrow’s roads and it’s vital that we
continue to enjoy our transport heritage unhindered. This scheme allows us to carbon
balance the very tiny and insignificant amount of mileage we undertake whilst demonstrating
that we wish to contribute to a net carbon neutral future in a positive way.”
You can see more information and offset your mileage at www.trees.fbhvc.co.uk
This will be of interest to all vintage and classic car enthusiasts.
FBHVC – Position Statement on the Future of Transport Regulatory Review 17.11.2021
The latest FBHVC News is now available. Some interesting information on all things Classic. Please click on the link
The FBHVC has just issued the following press release:
PRESS RELEASE
Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs Ltd, PO Box 295, Upminster, Essex, RM14 9DG
Tel: 01708 223111 E-mail: secretary@fbhvc.co.uk Web: www.fbhvc.co.uk
Registered Office: The Barn, Holly Berry House, Hamstall Ridware, Rugeley, Staffordshire, WS15 3SQ Registered in England No 3842316 VAT Reg No. 636 788683
2 September 2021 For immediate release
FBHVC clarification on E10 fuel usage and labelling for historic vehicles
After an extensive consultation process, the Department for Transport has introduced legislation to mandate E10 petrol as the standard 95-octane petrol grade from 1 September 2021 and in Northern Ireland, this will happen in early 2022. They will also require the higher-octane 97+ ‘Super’ grades to remain E5 to provide protection for owners of older vehicles. This product will be designated as the ‘Protection’ grade. The change in fuel applies to petrol only. Diesel fuel will not be changing.
Petrol pumps now show new labels designating the grade, the maximum ethanol content and an advisory cautionary notice. Other information regarding the introduction of E10 petrol may also be provided by fuel retailers such as the ‘Know your Fuel’ sticker (shown at the foot of this article).
For some time, service station pumps have had E5 and B7 labels consistent with the BS EN16942 standard that has been adopted across Europe. This standard also sets out the labelling requirements for other renewable fuel grades such as E85, B20, B30, etc. that can be found across Europe either on service station forecourts or for captive fleet use.
At the filling station
At the petrol station, a circular ‘E10’ or ‘E5’ label will be clearly visible on both the petrol dispenser and nozzle, making it easy for you to identify the correct petrol to use together with the warning text “Suitable for most petrol vehicles: check before use”
Labels on modern vehicles
New vehicles manufactured from 2019 onwards should have an ‘E10’ and ‘E5’ label close to the filler cap showing the fuel(s) they can use.
What fuel should I use?
Almost all (95%) petrol-powered vehicles on the road today can use E10 petrol and all cars built since 2011 were required to be compatible.
If your petrol vehicle or equipment is not compatible with E10 fuel, you will still be able to use E5 by purchasing the ‘super’ grade (97+ octane) petrol from most filling stations.
Our recommendation
The Federation recommends that all vehicles produced before 2000 and some vehicles from the early 2000s that are considered non-compatible with E10 – should use the Super E5 Protection grade where the Ethanol content is limited to a maximum of 5%.
To check compatibility of vehicles produced since 2000, we recommend using the new online E10 compatibility checker: https://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-e10-petrol however, please note that many manufacturers are missing and there are some discrepancies regarding particular models.
Additional information on vehicle compatibility issues is available on the FBHVC website
https://fbhvc.co.uk/fuels.
What is ethanol?
Ethanol is an alcohol derived from plants, including sugar beet and wheat. Increasingly, waste products such as wood are also being used to manufacture ethanol. Therefore, it is renewable and not derived from fossil fuels.
Why are we using it?
Principally ethanol is being added to fuel in order to reduce carbon emissions as Britain heads towards its target of net zero emissions by 2050. According to Government experts, this will reduce greenhouse gases by 750,000 tonnes per year which, they say, is the equivalent output of 350,000 cars. The move will bring the UK in line with many European countries which have been using E10 fuels for a number of years already. In some parts of the world, such as South America much higher levels of bioethanol have been in use since as early as the 1970s.
What might happen?
1. Corrosion / Tarnishing of metal components
2. Elastomer compatibility – swelling, shrinking and cracking of elastomers (seals and flexiblepipes) and other unsuitable gasket materials
Some historic vehicles use materials in the fuel systems that are damaged by ethanol. These include some cork, shellac, epoxy resins, nylon, polyurethane and glass-fibre reinforced polyesters. In later cars these have largely been replaced with paper gaskets, Teflon, polyethylene and polypropylene which are all unaffected by ethanol. Very old leather gaskets and seals are also resistant to ethanol.
As the ethanol molecule is smaller and more polar than conventional petrol components, there is a lower energy barrier for ethanol to diffuse into elastomer materials. When exposed to petrol/ethanol blends these materials will swell and soften, resulting in a weakening of the elastomer structure. On drying out they can shrink and crack resulting in fuel leaks.
If your fuel system has old hoses or any degradation of components, then ethanol may appear to dvance these problems very quickly. You may experience leaks or fuel “sweating” from fuel lines.
Some fuel tank repair coatings have been found to breakdown and clog fuel systems, although there are plenty of ethanol resistant products on the market.
What can we do?
The most important thing is to ensure your fuel system components are regularly inspected and renewed as part of a routine maintenance programme for your historic vehicles. Ultimately owners should look to renew fuel system components such as hoses, seals and gaskets with ethanol safe versions as a long – term solution and more of these are entering the market through specialists every day.
If you should decide to make the necessary vehicle fuel system modifications together with the addition of an aftermarket additive to operate your classic or historic vehicle on E10 petrol. The FBHVC strongly recommends that you regularly check the condition of the vehicle fuel system for elastomer and gasket material deterioration and metallic components such as fuel tanks, fuel lines and carburettors for corrosion. Some plastic components such as carburettor floats and fuel filter housings may be become discoloured over time. Plastic carburettor float buoyancy can also be affected by ethanol and carburettors should be checked to ensure that float levels are not adversely affected causing flooding and fuel leaks.
Ethanol is a good solvent and can remove historic fuel system deposits from fuel tanks and lines and it is advisable to check fuel filters regularly after the switch to E10 petrol as they may become blocked or restricted. If your vehicle is to be laid up for an extended period of time, it is recommended that the E10 petrol be replaced with ethanol free petrol which is available from some fuel suppliers. Do not leave fuel systems dry when storing, as this can result corrosion and the shrinking and cracking of elastomers and gaskets as they dry out.
Engine tuning.
Ethanol contains approximately 35% oxygen by weight and will therefore result in fuel mixture enleanment when blended into petrol. Petrol containing 10% ethanol for example, would result in a mixture-leaning effect equivalent to approximately 2.6%, which may be felt as a power loss, driveability issues (hesitations, flat spots, stalling), but also could contribute to slightly hotter running. Adjusting mixture strength (enrichment) to counter this problem is advised to maintain performance, driveability and protect the engine from overheating and knock at high loads. Modern 3-way catalyst equipped vehicles do not require mixture adjustment to operate on E10 petrol because they are equipped with oxygen (lambda) sensors that detect lean operation and the engine management system automatically corrects the fuel mixture for optimum catalyst and vehicle operation.
Additives and vehicle storage.
Ethanol has increased acidity, conductivity and inorganic chloride content when compared to conventional petrol which is typically pH neutral. Ethanol can cause corrosion and tarnishing of metal components under certain conditions. These characteristics are controlled in the ethanol used to blend E5 and E10 European and UK petrol by the ethanol fuel specification BS EN15376 in order to help limit corrosion.
Some aftermarket ethanol compatibility additives claim complete protection for operating historic and classic vehicles on E10 petrol. The FBHVC is not aware of, or has tested any additives that claim complete fuel system protection with respect to elastomer and gasket materials for use with E10 petrol. The FBHVC therefore recommends that elastomer and gasket materials are replaced with ethanol compatible materials before operation on E10 petrol.
However, corrosion inhibitor additives can be very effective in controlling ethanol derived corrosion and are recommended to be added to ethanol in the BS EN15376 standard. It is not clear if corrosion inhibitors are universally added to ethanol for E5 and E10 blending so as an additional precaution it is recommended that aftermarket corrosion inhibitor additives are added to E5 and E10 petrol.
These aftermarket ethanol corrosion inhibitor additives often called ethanol compatibility additives are usually combined with a metallic valve recession additive (VSR) and sometimes an octane booster and have been found to provide good protection against metal corrosion in historic and classic vehicle fuel systems.
What happens if I fill up with E10 by accident?
Don’t panic – your car will continue to run, just fill up with E5 at the next opportunity and avoid storing your vehicle for long periods with E10 fuel.
E5 Petrol
E5 petrol can contain between 0 and 5% by volume ethanol. Other oxygenated blend components may also be used up to a maximum petrol oxygen content of 2.7%. There is a variation at the pumps, not just between brands but also between different areas of the country, some will contain a lot less but the absolute maximum is capped at 5%.
E10 Petrol
E10 petrol contains between 5.5 – 10% ethanol by volume. Other oxygenated blend components may also be used up to a maximum petrol oxygen content of 3.7%. Again, there is a variation at the pumps, not just between brands but also between different areas of the country, some will contain a lot less but the absolute maximum is capped at 10%.
It should be noted that some Super E5 Protection grade fuels do not contain Ethanol as the E5 designation is for fuels containing up to 5% Ethanol. To re-iterate, product availability varies by manufacturer and geographical location.
Diesel labelling
The renewable content of diesel fuel will not be changing and service station fuel pumps will continue to be labelled as B7, designating a biodiesel, Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) content of between 0 and 7% by volume. New vehicles manufactured from 2019 onwards should have a ‘B7’ and or higher content label close to the filler cap showing the fuel they can use.
For media enquiries, please contact:
About the FBHVC:
The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs exists to uphold the freedom to use historic vehicles on the road. It does this by representing the interests of owners of such vehicles to politicians, government officials, and legislators both in the UK and (through the Federation Internationale des Vehicules Anciens) in Europe.
There are over 500 subscriber organisations representing a total membership of over 250,000 in addition to individual and trade supporters. All our directors operate in a voluntary capacity supported by our secretary.
Website: www.fbhvc.co.uk
This picture from 1982 appeared in the Blackpool Gazette this week.
Thought it might stir a few memories!
It shows Tony Craven with his sons Andrew and Christopher and co-driver Peter Dixon in Tony’s 1921 ‘Albert Allweather’ at the finish of the 1982 Manchester to Blackpool.
We have recieved the following from the FBHVC. Makes for interesting reading.
Due to the number of enquiries we have recently received, the Federation have prepared and attached a summary document containing the facts about historic vehicles and market statistics for your information.
Additionally, the information can be viewed on our website by using the following link:
Kindest Regards
Emma Balaam
Secretary, Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs Ltd.
PO Box 295
Upminster
Essex
RM14 9DG
Tel: 01708 223111
Email: secretary@fbhvc.co.uk
Registered in England, Company No. 3842316. VAT Reg. No. 636 7886 83
Following surgery, Anthony Taylor was unable to compete in the first round of the Jaguar Drivers` Club 4 Hills & a Sprint Championship’s opening round at Aintree.
First time ever in a sprint, his younger brother Phil, accepted the entry and drive, in the Aristocat XK and was delighted to come 2nd in the Powered By Jaguar section.
Great result perhaps Anthony will be less keen to let him have the reigns in the future – he may well provide strong opposition!
