Eager to continue its programme of green initiatives, the Castle Combe Circuit has announced a ground breaking scheme to power all of it's Racing School vehicles by methane gas generated on site.

Using land on the in-field of the 1.84 mile circuit currently used for crop growing, the circuit plans to raise cows and other high methane producing animals and capture the flammable gas for its own use.

A new subsidiary company, Farm Animal Racing Technology, has been set up by the circuit to establish the high tech facility, which is believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

The school runs a fleet of Formula Ford, Fiesta S and Focus ST's, all of which will be converted to run on the environmentally friendly gas. The cars' existing fuel tanks will be removed and replaced with small gas containers, similar to those used by LPG powered road cars. Only minimal retuning of the engines is necessary.

Harvesting of the animals' digestive gases is likely to be the most challenging part of the operation, as Circuit M.D. Graham Marshallsay explains. "We will need to have the cows hooked up to our gas collecting machinery for most of the day, but they will soon get used to this as they do with milking machines. Obviously the connection is to a different part of the cow, but using some clever motorsport technology we have developed a push fit coupling which is easy to insert and fairly pleasant for the cow."

If the idea is successful, the circuit has further plans to extend the scheme and may introduce a methane powered class into one of its championships in 2011, providing the fuel at very low cost to competitors. Marshallsay said," We see the demand for gas as ever increasing, so we may need to tap into new sources. With the huge number of visitors to the circuit, it would make sense to harness their waste gases too, so we are looking into a revolutionary system where the public toilets will be adapted to capture their valuable but currently wasted emissions. We know cows produce between 800 to 1000 litres of gas a day. We are not sure about humans, but some are much more productive than others. For that reason, we will be giving a discount on admission to vegetarians."

Click here for the Official Castle Combe Circuit web site - designed and built by Racecar