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Mazda's Newest Race Cars Are Powered By Chicken Guts

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When the grueling 2013 Rolex 24 endurance race kicks off at Daytona International Speedway on Jan. 26, the field will include three Mazda6 race cars powered by an unusual type of renewable fuel.

The ultra-clean, synthetic diesel fuel is made from animal fats, such as beef tallow, pork lard and chicken fat.

Now before you start alerting the animal rights groups, you should know that these fats come from the waste left over from Tyson Foods' processing plants. "We're not taking food off the table or feedstock away from animals. This would end up in a landfill," said James O'Sullivan, president and chief executive of Mazda North American Operations.

Mazda has a long history of using its involvement in motorsports to try out new technologies. "We're using the racetrack as an R&D facility," said John Doonan, director of motorsports for the company. It was through racing, for instance, that Mazda discovered a gear box problem with the MX-5 Miata. It also found an issue with ball joints on the RX-8. Both problems were sent back to Japan for an engineering fix before the cars went on sale to consumers.

The 24-hour race at Daytona is important to Mazda for two reasons: it's a challenging durability test for Mazda's new SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine, which will debut later this year on the redesigned Mazda6 sedan. It's also an opportunity to try out the renewable, synthetic diesel fuel produced by Dynamic Fuels, a 50-50 joint venture between Tyson Foods and Syntroleum.

Dynamic's $150 million refinery, which opened in October 2010 near Baton Rouge, La., can process up to 1.5 million pounds of meat remnants per day, and produce 75 million gallons of synthetic diesel fuel every year. In 2011, it contracted with the U.S. Navy to provide fuel for a new fleet of green ships. The fuel is also being tested in shuttle buses operated by Alamo and National Car Rental.

One of the benefits of renewable, synthetic diesel is that  it can easily be distributed through gas stations, using existing  diesel infrastructure, according to Dynamic Fuels. Because it is ultra-clean, it can be used as a blending fuel to help conventional diesel meet tougher government standards. It may also appeal to operators of fleet vehicles and city buses seeking to reduce emissions.  Mazda is the first car manufacturer to use it.

The high-performance engines in the Mazdas racing at Daytona ( 400-hp, 450 lb.-foot torque ) use 60 percent of the stock components found in the diesel Mazda6 coming to market this year. It's a tough time to be launching a mid-sized sedan -- all of the major players in the field have just introduced dramatically upgraded models, many with optional hybrid-electric powertrains. Mazda's diesel offering will help set it apart. Currently, only the Volkswagen Passat is available with a diesel option, although General Motors is promising to bring a diesel version of the Chevrolet Malibu to market.