American Le Mans Series Set to Launch Environmentally Conscious Green Challenge

ATLANTA, June 25 -- Imagine an auto racing series that is both high performance-oriented and environmentally conscious. That's the American Le Mans Series. And to prove it, the Series will conduct the first ever Green Challenge(TM) October 4 at Road Atlanta during its signature event, Petit Le Mans.

To make things even better, the Green Challenge(TM) has the complete backing of the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and SAE International, formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Representatives from these entities along with those from Argonne National Laboratory and the American Le Mans Series collectively have spent thousands of hours developing the formula for its race car competitors to win the Green Challenge(TM). That formula involves more than 30 pieces of data and measurements.

The criteria measures race car performance, fuel efficiency and environmental impact using a formula that ranks each car by the amount of energy used, greenhouse gasses emitted and petroleum displaced.

With a focus on automotive relevance in which race track innovations transfer to the showroom, the American Le Mans Series features four classes of highly sophisticated and technically advanced race cars. All compete on the track at the same time in the tradition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Each race car currently competes on one of three "street legal" versions of clean sulfur-free diesel, E10 or cellulosic E85. Street legal refers to fuels virtually identical to those the consumer gets at the fuel station. Cellulosic ethanol is made from non-food based refuse such as wood waste, switchgrass or citrus remains.

"Through its development of relevant automotive technologies targeted toward the consumer, the American Le Mans Series is uniquely positioned to help the automobile manufacturer reach tomorrow's innovative solutions, faster," said American Le Mans Series President and CEO Scott Atherton.