Ready, set, SVO! Welcome to the 2007 Greaseball Challenge, a 4500 mile charity biofuel race from Washington D.C. to San Jose, Costa Rica. I nearly fell of my chair when I saw this - not that using biodiesel or converting a vehicle to run on straight vegetable oil (SVO) and driving to Central America is an entirely new concept. But to race for the benefit of charities and grassroots environmental groups?
Ah, pure genius.

The rules of the event are simple: each team bought an old vehicle on a "shoestring budget" and is only allowed to use alternative fuels for the duration of the race (except emergencies). Donations to the event support renewable energy and sustainability projects in Central America, like the Combustibles Ecologicos, S.A., Guatemala, a group dedicated to promoting biofuels in Guatemala. Along the route, teams are rallying at various environmental projects and garnering support for renewable energy (some of them had a chance to meet Willie Nelson of BioWillie Biodiesel). At the race's completion, the battle-tested vehicles will be donated to some of the destination country's local environmental groups.

Four teams set out on April 1, 2007: The Frying Burrito Brothers, Quest for the Golden Grease, Team ZERO, Greased Lightning, and Quantum Heap. These aren't a bunch of highschool kids with extra time on their hands, either - Suzanne Hunt of Greased Lightning is the director for the WorldWatch Institute's bioenergy program. Her partner, Jean-Phillipe Denruyter of Belgium is the Global Bioenergy Coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Don't you wish you had either one of those jobs? See their blog here.

Practically speaking, using only alternative fuels means either buying biodiesel from commercial distributors, farms, or coops, or converting the vehicle itself to run on straight vegetable oil (SVO). Most of the teams seem to have opted for the SVO route, a clearly superior choice, considering that every restaurant becomes potential re-fueling depot (and using biodiesel is still an option). All racers have to do is get permission to scoop up some of the restaurants used oil and, of course, be willing to get a little greasy.

I checked in with the teams around the halfway mark, via the Greaseball blog. According to the race schedule, it looks like everyone is still in Mexico - behind by about 5 days. But honestly, does anyone care? Driving down the Pacific coast of Mexico in a vegetable-oil powered Mercedes doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend April.

What do you think David - maybe next year?

Check out the links for more information:
The Greaseball Challenge 2007
Greaseball Challenge Blog
Greaseball Challenge Fickr Photos
Greased Lightning Team Blog
Originally Posted by WorldChanging (March 30, 2007)