In the latest post on the GM Fastlane blog, Corvette chief engineer Tom Wallace describes what he calls the greatest victory yet for the Corvette Racing team. Just over a week ago at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, the Corvette C6R of Johnny O'Connell, Jan Magnussen, and Ron Fellows became the first ever GT class winner of the ALMS Green Challenge. The American Le Mans Series debuted the Green Challenge as part of the PLM to measure the environmental impact of the competitors. The challenge measures the fuel consumption and well-to-wheel impact of the fuels used by the racers in a formula combined with on-track performance. Efficiency is always an important element in racing, particularly endurance racing because it allows the cars to run longer between fuel stops. The Corvette team had already optimized the C6R to minimize friction and drag. The key to the Green Challenge victory was the fuel used by the Corvettes. They have been running through most of the 2008 season on cellulosic E85 made by KL Engineering.

[Source: GM FastLane]

Just over a month ago at the Detroit Grand Prix weekend, Corsa Motorsports announced its intention compete in the ALMS LMP1 class with a hybrid-powered race car built in England by Zytek. The new car was supposed to debut this weekend at the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. Unfortunately, earlier this week, the Utah-based team decided that the hybrid system wasn't quite ready for primetime. According to a release on the team's website, they are confident in the safety of the system, but the reliability is still a concern. Therefore, Zytek is continuing to exercise the system on its dynamometers until they are confident that the system can run the full race distance. In the meantime, Corsa, which is moving up from the GT2 class where it has been running a Ferrari F430GT, is running the Zytek chassis with a conventional E10-fueled 4.0L V8. Hopefully, we'll see the hybrid system running at the 2009 season opener at Sebring.

[Source: Corsa Motorsports]

The tenth running of the Petit Le Mans took place on Saturday and along with celebrating a decade of the American Le Mans Series it also marked the debut of the ALMS Green Challenge. For those of you that TIVO'ed the race you can come back later. The rest of you can follow the jump to see who won.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

Next weekend marks the tenth running of the Petit Le Mans endurance race at Road Atlanta and the debut of the Green Challenge in the American Le Mans Series. The usual suspects like Audi and Peugeot will be on hand with their diesel-powered LMP1 cars. However, Corsa Motorsports will jump into the fray with the first hybrid racer in the ALMS. The team will campaign a Zytek chassis powered by a combination of a Zytek V8, three phase AC induction motor and a lithium ion battery. The new car has been running since July in England and has now been shipped to the U.S. for its race debut. The team is planning to run the full 2009 season with the hybrid as the Green Challenge becomes a permanent fixture. Hybrid technology will also be expanding in motorsports in 2009 with Formula 1 implementing it and possibly Peugeot as well in the European Le Mans Series. Veterans Johnny Mowlem, Gunnar Jeanette and Ralf Kelleners will drive the car at Road Atlanta.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

Here at the Detroit Grand Prix today, Corsa Motorsports announced their intention to debut a hybrid powered sports car in the LMP1 class at the Petit Le Mans in October. Corsa will be using a chassis developed by Zytek with an E10/electric hybrid powertrain. The 10-hour race at Road Atlanta on October 4 will also mark the debut of the Green Challenge were the teams will be judged on their fuel consumption and overall environmental impact. Corsa hopes to make a good showing as part of the Green Challenge.

Zytek has designed a new E10-fueled 4.5L V8 that will be paired up with a three phase induction motor and six speed gear box. The car will feature regenerative braking with energy stored in a lithium ion battery provided by Continental Automotive. Track testing of the car started in July at the Donington Park track in the UK and the car will soon be shipped to the U.S. for its race debut. Corsa is planning to run the entire 2009 ALMS season with the new car.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

The Detroit Grand Prix is back at the city's Belle Isle Park this Labor Day weekend and Saturday's activities will be dominated by the Detroit Sports Car Challenge. The Sports Car Challenge is the 9th race of the 2008 American Le Mans Series. We spoke to ALMS President Scott Atherton this morning about the series' green racing efforts. According to Atherton, the response to the Green Challenge that will debut at the Petit Le Mans at the beginning of October has been outstanding. The Peugeot 908s are coming back to challenge the Audi R10s again in the top dog ALMS class. The big news is yet to come though. The Green Challenge will run throughout the season starting in 2009. Atherton revealed that at least two manufacturers that are not currently involved in ALMS are seriously looking at joining the series specifically because of the Green Challenge. Unfortunately he wouldn't say who those manufacturers are but if I had to guess, I'd say Toyota and Nissan would be the top candidates.

When the Green Challenge was first announced at the Detroit Auto Show last year, Honda's John Mendel told us that that Acura would be looking at alternative powertrain options in the future as well. The Acura team will be holding a press conference tomorrow to discuss their future ALMS plans. We'll be there to let you know what they say. Can you say Acura diesel?

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

Last March, Peugeot brought its diesel-powered 908 HDi LMP1 prototype to Sebring for its first race outside of Europe as a warm up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Peugeot demonstrated some amazing speed compared to its German rival - the defending champion Audi R10 TDI - but wasn't quite robust enough to last on the bumpy Sebring circuit. Peugeot has decided to return to North America in October for the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta. Peugeot is bringing two cars this time around and they will be challenging Audi, Porsche and Acura, not only for the overall victory but also for the Green Challenge. The Atlanta race will be the debut of ALMS' Green Challenge which will award points on formula based on fuel efficiency, and total net carbon emissions. The car with the best combination of low carbon footprint and performance will win. Next year ALMS will run the Green Challenge throughout the entire season. In the meantime, this race should prove to be another epic between the French and German diesels.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

British race team ECO Racing has announced their intention to compete in three of this years remaining American Le Mans Series races with a car running on biodiesel. ECO racing is taking up the ALMS's Green Racing challenge with a Radical LMP1 chassis powered by a production based V10 diesel. The team had originally planned to compete at the Sebring 12 Hour race earlier this year but regulatory issues kept them off the track. They are now back and ready to compete at Road America, Road Atlanta and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. ECO racing first ran a biodiesel fueled car at Le Mans in 2004 two years before the debut of the Audi R10 TDI. The team runs a jatropha based fuel supplied by D1 Oils. The Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta will also be the debut of the ALMS Green Challenge where teams will earn points based on the total carbon footprint of there cars. A team like ECO Racing should have a good chance for that trophy since they run an efficient diesel engine fueled by an oil from an inedible tree.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

At the beginning of the year we brought you initial news of the planned Green Challenge being implemented by the organizers of the American Le Mans Series. The announcement was made at the Detroit Motor Show, however details of how the initiative – co-sponsored by the Energy Department, the EPA and SAE International – would play out were still being worked on at the time.

The series has now announced that the Green Challenge will kick off this coming October at the "Petit Le Mans" race at Road Atlanta. ALMS race cars running on clean diesel, E10 ethanol or cellulosic E85 will be ranked by how much fossil fuels they use and how many emissions they produce over the course of the race distance. The vehicles which go the farthest on the least with the least impact will receive the lowest scores (i.e. the highest ranking), with winners announced in both the prototype and GT classes. Although only the one race will feature the Green Challenge component this season, in 2009 the initiative will carry through the entire calendar.

[Source: AutoWeek]

Life can be rough. I had just received a press notice telling me about this "green" race car, the Radical SR10 LMP1 prototype, that the British Eco Racing team has entered in the American Le Mans Series opener at Sebring. I did a little digging so I could better inform you when I found headline-reversing type news. Apparently, there was an incorrect provision of homologation (yeah, I had to look it up too) papers from chassis manufacturer, Radical, according to a report in the well-informed PlanetLemans. The team does hope to get its affairs in order in time to race in the fourth installment of the ALMS in Salt Lake City.

What exactly makes this car so green besides the (water-based) paint scheme? It has been engineered to run on a 50 percent biodiesel mix (though because of "rules" it may have to use Shell GTL diesel for now). Also, the car uses bodywork components made from 100 percent biodegradable hemp fibre and it has solar panels to juice up some of its electrical systems. No word on any carbon offset program.

[Source: Planetlemans]

The American Le Mans Series kicks off its 2008 season next weekend with the 56th running of the 12 Hours of Sebring in central Florida. The ALMS has long had the most diverse field of race cars of any major series in North America and this year it's getting even more so as the series makes a push for greener racing. This is the only series that has cars running on three different fuels; gasoline, ethanol and diesel all play a major part. In the LMP1 class, Audi is kicking off its third year running the diesel-powered R10 TDI. They'll get competition this time from Peugeot, which is bringing one of their 908 HDi prototypes to race in the U.S. for the first time.

In the production-derived GT1 ranks, the Corvette C6Rs will tackle an Aston Martin DBR9 with all of them using cellulosic E85 fuel. The same fuel will also power an LMP1 Lola entered by Intersport racing. The rest of the field for now will continue using the E10 ethanol/gasoline blend that was used in 2007. As the season progresses and going into 2009, other teams are likely to make the switch to E85 and possibly even diesel. Although Honda representatives were non-committal at the Detroit Auto Show, it appears that they are looking hard at diesel power especially as they are about to introduce a diesel-powered Acura TSX in the U.S. next year. ALMS officials are also encouraging other alternative powertrains, such as hybrids, and they are open to looking at all options. When the 2008 draws to a close at the Petite Le Mans race at Road Atlanta this fall, ALMS will also introduce their first Green Challenge that will measure a variety of sustainability efforts by teams in addition to their on-track performance and fuel efficiency. ALMS officials are working hard to encourage innovation and diversity in the field that can help advance powertrain and fuel technology. For those of us who enjoy motorsports it's by far the most interesting and exciting series to watch and I for one will be among the happy spectators this year.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

When the American Le Mans Series held their winter test session at Sebring a couple of weeks ago, Peugeot dropped by with their diesel-powered 908 coupe. For their first visit they did pretty well, beating the more experienced Audi R10s by eight-tenths of a second. In the hands of Stéphane Sarrazin the Peugeot also beat the previous lap record - set by the Audi during qualifying for last year's race - by more than two seconds.

Peugeot announced on Friday that they will return to Sebring March 12-15 for this year's running of the 12 Hour race. The ALMS season opener will kick off the tenth season for the series. The addition of the Peugeot will mean three diesel-powered LMP1 cars at Sebring. With their ultimate goal being victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans at this time, it's unknown if Peugeot will run any other races in North America this year. Hopefully they will decide to stick around for a full season of fun, or at least turn up for the Detroit Grand Prix on Labor Day weekend.

[Source: American Le Mans Series]

Aston Martin is not a brand that's ever been associated with fuel efficiency or alternative fuels. However, at the Autosport International Show in Birmingham England next week, they will unveil their latest race car based on their "entry level" Vantage model. The GT2 class Vantage will come delivered ready to run on E85. More racing series are starting to allow the use of ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. All the non-diesel cars in the American Le Mans Series ran E10 in 2007 and several of them are expected to run E85 or E100 in 2008. ALMS officials will be making an announcement about 2008 fuel plans at the Detroit Auto Show which we will be covering here.

[Source: Aston Martin]

After some earlier speculation that Audi might scale back their 2008 race program for the R10 TDI, the Ingolstadt brand has just announced their plans for next year. The R10 has been lacking in competition in the LMP1 category although the LMP2 Porsches and Acuras have given them a serious run this year including multiple overall victories in the ALMS. The fans' worries were all for naught. The R10s will be back for a third full season in the American Le Mans Series and will also contest the Le Mans Series in Europe. In addition, three of the R10s will show up at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. This will give the Audis the opportunity to run the full European racing series against the Peugeot 908 HDis.

[Source: Audi]

Audi's dominating R10 TDi racecars may leave the American LeMans series because of a rule change by the organizers. Although ALMS nominally uses the rules defined by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) for the 24 Hours of LeMans, they do occasionally tweak minimum weights, and air restrictor sizes to help even out the competition. The ALMS has increased the restrictor size for LMP2 class cars this year to allow them to compete better with LMP1 cars, which includes the R10.

Since Audi is planning to run the R10s on a special biodiesel fuel this year, it would be a shame if they decided to quit the series because of this change, especially since the gasoline powered ALMS cars will begin using an ethanol blend this year. Hopefully, Audi will take it in stride and continue demonstrating what can be done with diesel engines to race fans all across America.

[Source: ProjectLemans.de via GermanCarBlog]