Jay Leno loves ethanol and apparently, so does General Motors. Fresh from a stint in BMW's Hydrogen 7, Leno rolls into this week's SEMA Show with an ethanol-fueled Corvette dubbed the C6RS. The car eschews the Corvette's stock 6.2-liter engine for an all-aluminum 8.2-liter (500 cubic inches) small-block V-8 producing some 600 horsepower and 585 pound-feet of torque (notably more than Dodge's '08 Viper). General Motors also plans to unveil an ethanol-fed '34 replica Chevy Coupe (pictured at left). The unimaginatively named FlexFuel Chevy Hot Rod uses a turbocharged 2.0-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine producing something close to 500 horsepower, thanks in no small part to E85's significantly higher octane rating compared with premium-grade gasoline. GM's SEMA offerings are merely the latest indicators that the company clearly believes the use of E85 (85 percent corn-derived ethanol, 15 percent gasoline) has a future in this country, with thirteen flex-fuel vehicles on sale now and an energetic public awareness campaign underway.
More photos after the break, courtesy of General Motors.
