Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
American LeMans
ALMS: Michelin Green X Challenge Turns One
The first Michelin Green X Challenge was run one year ago at Petit Le Mans. We look back at how its grown and a get a glimpse into the next 12 months of the eco competition.
John Dagys  |  Posted October 10, 2009   Monterey, CA
Patron Highcroft Racing celebrates their first Michelin Green X Challenge win at Mosport. (LAT)

Last month’s Petit Le Mans was a race marked with firsts. While most of the story lines centered on the American Le Mans Series’ first-ever rain-shortened race, the Series reached another monumental milestone.

The drop of the green flag at the soggy Road Atlanta circuit signified the one year anniversary of the Green Challenge, a race-within-a-race competition that has become an integral part of each ALMS event this season.

Developed in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S, Environmental Protection Agency and SAE International, the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge is the first and only program that links government agencies and a race organization together in efforts to advance their mutual interest in ‘green’ initiatives.

The GREEN X® Challenge encourages teams and manufacturers to develop environmentally friendly engines for the racetrack, with a winner awarded in both LMP and GT categories at each round. Points are given to every entrant based on a formula created by the GREEN X® Challenge constituents that measures a number of factors during the race: the overall performance of each car, the total amount of fuel it uses and the amount of greenhouse gasses it emits.

In essence, scoring high marks in the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge requires getting to the finish line having used the least fuel, emitted the least amount of toxic gasses, yet having no significant decrease in performance.

The First One

The first Green Challenge, held at Petit Le Mans one year ago, was deemed a success, with Penske Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder taking Prototype honors and Corvette Racing’s iconic GT1-spec C6.R picking up the prestigious award in GT.

Porsche and Chevrolet held true to the form of producing environmentally conscious race cars. The RS Spyder ran with a special direct fuel injection engine (DFI), producing five percent better fuel mileage than its standard engine while also delivering an increase in power.

Corvette Racing, on the other hand, utilized cellulosic E85, powering them to the inaugural MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge GT victory. Unlike more common sugar or corn-based ethanol seen in other series, cellulosic ethanol is manufactured from non-editable wood waste, eliminating the negative aspects associated with those agriculturally based ethanol fuels.

Both Chevrolet and Porsche have been proactive in green solutions, not only in motorsports, but also for the road. (LAT)
“Like anything, once it begins, it takes a while to establish itself and for other teams to come to realize the importance of it all,” said Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan. “We recognized it early on when the Green Challenge was announced. It was something that fit with General Motors’ position of the greening of the planet and looking at fuel economy and automobile efficiencies across the board.”

Porsche not only took MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge class honors, but also claimed a historic 1-2-3 sweep of the LMP2 podium with its Penske Racing Porsche RS Spyders. It’s a memory that will be ever-lasting in the mind of Porsche Motorsport North America President Paul Ritchie.

“I vividly remember the presentation when my boss (Hartmut Kristen) went up there for the award after we won the LMP portion of the Green Challenge,” Ritchie said. “There were lots of guys up on the stage. It was a phenomenal experience. It’s one of the pictures on my computer that I look at on a daily basis. With the three sets of drivers up there in their yellow and black uniforms finishing 1-2-3. I don’t think you’ll see that for a long time. And to be awarded the inaugural Green Challenge made it for an amazing weekend.”

It was the early Green Challenge supporters such as Corvette Racing and Porsche that helped usher in a new wave of green thinkers in the ALMS paddock this season. And the results from the first nine MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge competitions this year proves that nobody is standing still.

2009 In Review

While Corvette and Porsche have continued to be the frontrunners in the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge, a host of other manufacturers began to also shine throughout the season. Audi, with its second-generation clean diesel-powered R15 TDI, took prototype honors at the Twelve Hours of Sebring.

BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team with its E10-fueled M3, finished second in class at St. Petersburg, but scored the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge in GT for the first time. Acura kick-started its seven-race Prototype win streak at the very same event, with the lighter and fuel efficient Lowe’s Fernandez Acura ARX-01b LMP2 car, also running on E10, taking the win.

But as the season progressed, both of Acura’s revolutionary wide front tire LMP1 machines from de Ferran Motorsports and Patron Highcroft Racing tasted Green X victory as well. In fact, Acura has already sealed up the Prototype championship ahead of today’s season finale.

With the demise of its factory RS Spyder program, Porsche shifted all of its focus to the GT category in 2009. The German automaker has picked up four MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge victories to date and hold a comfortable lead in the standings.

“We’re always up for a challenge,” says Ritchie. “It plays right into the way we think because everyone should be looking for maximum efficiency. It makes us go for that. If we can do two more laps than the next guy, we can use that to our advantage.”

Penske Racing and Porsche won the first-ever Green Challenge at Petit Le Mans in 2008. (LAT)
While Porsche has gone head-to-head with Corvette in the GREEN X® Challenge earlier this year when they raced in separate classes, the two manufacturers have now been dueling directly on the track since Corvette’s arrival to GT2. The Pratt & Miller-built cellulosic E85-fueled Corvette C6.Rs scored Green X wins in three of its four GT2 starts this season and have closed the gap in the GT standings.

“Now we’ve seen Corvette coming along and they’re using E85,” Ritchie said. “However the calculation works, they clearly have a more efficient overall product because they’re now winning it. They’re given more points because of E85 in the mix. That makes us sit down and think, ‘Well, maybe we should be doing something like that.’ They continually challenge us to keep up with what’s going on. That makes us spring into action and think about it.”

Porsche indeed fought back at the Petit Le Mans when its No. 44 car from Flying Lizard Motorsports, equipped with cellulosic E85 for the very first time, took the GREEN X® Challenge victory in GT. With that level of success, there’s a strong chance we’ll be seeing more Porsches adopt the alternative fuel in the future.

With nine races down and one to go, the MICHELIN® GREEN X® Challenge concludes with today’s Monterey Sports Car Championships at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and its inaugural full-season champions will be crowned.

Page 1 of 2
Prev
12
Next
john_dagys's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Dagys

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.