Orange Peel Tires? The ALMS goes green!

Racing, inherently, is not very green. But what is green is reducing impact, reusing, repurposing and being efficient. And that is what the American Le Mans Series is pioneering in the racing industry with the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge. In the challenge, all cars are ranked according to the amount of energy used, greenhouse gases emitted and the amount of petroleum displaced.
The Challenge is a great opportunity for innovative companies to showcase their green inventions. In addition to the newly announced G-Oil from Green Earth Technologies, Yokohma introduced tires made partially from discarded orange peels.
The Corvette C6.R, driven by Jan Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell and Antonio Garcia, was the top scoring car yesterday in Sebring.

Green Racing?!

Oh yeahhhhh! Sign me up! The Petit Le Mans this weekend will feature a Green Challenge(TM) race within a race, with awards going to green racecars in overall performance, fuel efficiency and environmental impact. Scott Atherton, the President and CEO of the American Le Mans Series, intends to be the Global Leader in Green Racing.

"We want to be the leading and most recognized sports and entertainment property for relevant environment concerns, ideas and practices," said Atherton.

The American Le Mans Series is the first and only race series to meet the criteria and protocols for green racing set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy and SAE International. Those protocols are primarily focused on alternative fuel and the Series is the only motorsports body in the world that features multiple street-legal alternative fuel sources - clean diesel, E10 gasoline and E85 cellulosic (non-feedstock) ethanol.

E85 cellulosic ethanol is different from the E85 we buy at the pump, however. Pump E85 is a blend of grain ethanol and gasoline, whereas cellulosic ethanol is produced from biomass such as wood waste, switchgrass or citrus.

The American Le Mans Series features technical rules that not only allow new technology, but actually encourage auto manufacturers to introduce new innovations into the racing environment. I can't wait to see what else they come up with!