In a major announcement at the North American International Auto Show, American Le Mans Series CEO Scott Atherton declared the series the global leader in green racing.
ALMS is partnering with the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation and the Society of Automotive engineers to make racing a catalyst in bringing cleaner transportation technology to the road.
In particular ALMS is working with SAE to define a set of protocols for a Green Challenge. The Green Challenge will debut at the 2008 Petite Le Mans that will run at Road Atlanta Oct. 1-4, 2008. The criteria for selecting the winner of the Green Challenge are currently being established and will be announced within the next 60 days.
According to Atherton, the Green Challenge "will be a measurement of a car's impact on the environment, its utilization of alternative fuels, its utilization of new technology that may enable to store energy and re-apply it. It's a combination of all of those things that will come up with a measuring mechanism for identifying who did a better job than someone else."
In the future, a measure of "well-to-wheel" efficiency will account for the different sources of fuels, also will be incorporated into the measurement. The sustainability formula will be combined with the cars on track performance to determine which team achieves the most with the least input.
ALMS has been a leader in promoting alternative drive and fuel systems in race cars. The series currently has Audi running the diesel powered R10 in the LMP1 class with other cars running on an E10 ethanol/gasoline blend in the 2007 season. Series rules also allow for the use of hybrid drive systems and energy regeneration systems.
Ed Peper, General Manager of Chevrolet also spoke at the press conference. In a follow-up to the announcement that General Motors was taking an equity stake in cellulosic biofuel company Coskata, Peper announced that the Corvette Racing team will run on cellulosic E85 during the 2008 season.
The Corvette C6R has dominated the ALMS GT1 class for several years and the team is targeting the season opening race at Sebring, FL in March to begin running on E85. According to GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan, a supplier for the cellulosic fuel has not yet been finalized although it will not be Coskata, which doesn't production supply in place. The still unnamed supplier will provide ethanol made from wood chips.
John Mendel, executive vice president of American Honda, was also present at the press conference although he did not participate. According to Mendel Acura hasn't announced yet what fuel will be used in the Acura AXR-01 LMP2 cars. The Honda V-8s used in the Indy Racing League run on E100, so the company has experience working with ethanol in race engines. Honda is looking at how E85 develops in ALMS, but Mendal says Honda is "looking at a broader strategy than that, that would see some different technologies as the company evolves in American Le Mans racing."
Honda is developing a number of road car technologies, including hybrids and diesel engines that will be installed in Acura models beginning in 2009. Honda is currently testing a number of options all of which are open and could appear in future race cars.
