Eco-friendly Reynard can go much quicker

Although the car was 15th out of 16 in its class, Lupberger, who lapped the track in 4m01.666s, maintains the future starts tonight.

"I think we can do at least a 3m55 tonight," he said. "I did just two laps yesterday, and I had had no experience of the car. We also lost a lot of time with a software problem." The charismatic green machine of Team Nasamax, which runs on renewable "bio-ethanol" fuel, has been popular with the fans, who know it may be a glimpse of the future.

"There's a good chance that all racing in the future will have to go this route," said Lupberger. "It's nothing complicated. It wouldn't require massive changes even for an Audi R8 to run on this fuel. And we're breaking world records all the time for this kind of car, for example when we broke 300km/h top speed last night"

Lupberger has found the car an interesting challenge. The major difference to conventional cars is the very narrow power band (3000-4000rpm). "You have to adjust your style to that, because there's a very big penalty if you aren't in the right gear. The Reynard is an excellent chassis, but there is so much more to come from setting up the car and engine, even this weekend".

Then there's the smell- something of a talking point in pitlane." The fumes smell a bit like perfume to me, but somewhat sweeter. The other interesting thing is that although the motor sounds loud from the outside, you can't hear a thing in the cockpit."

Fuel mileage looks likely to be the major problem for the Le Mans race. The eco-vehicle can only go for eight or nine laps on a tank, at least three less than its class rivals.