Using ethanol containing fuels in racing fuel cells is a science in itself. ATL, conservative for a good reason, approaches the theme very cautiously.
ATL has published some technical bulletins on the topic (click here for the Feb-2008, and here for the Oct-2008 bulletin). It seems clear using ethanol containing fuel should be approached with caution. All fuel should be drained from the fuel cell after use, and the cell should be flushed with regular gasoline and then drained.
ATL also reports that they have developed a fuel cell treatment compound, which makes the cell more resistant to ethanol containing fuels. Unfortunately this treatment can only be applied as new.
Apparently one can check if one's cell has gotten this treatment by sending the serial number of the cell to ATL. However, most Formula Ford cells (in particular Van Diemen) have not gotten this treatment, even if they are of quite recent manufacture. A new cell, with the ethanol treatment, apparently costs about 860GBP in single units.
It is unclear how this topic will be addressed in the Finnish Formula Ford Championships. One one hand, racing with ethanol would put us in the forefront of Formula Ford racing worldwide - a valueable position especially if UK switches to ethanol in the coming years. Formula Ford Finland has prepared well for this season, providing most equipment needed to run ethanol based fuel for free. However, the fuel cell is not provided, and may become a stumbling block. Fuel supply may be another difficult issue to solve so that everyone is happy.
ATL is obviously happy to sell more fuel cells. Not sure if all teams are delighted about getting a new one, especially if they just purchased one that has been now used, and thus cannot be treated for ethanol. Nevertheless, let's hope these things are solved and that we see the Finnish Formula Ford Championship running with ethanol!
