Michelin Green X Challenge: The environment at the heart of endurance racing
Submitted by: John Warner on Mar 28, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Tagged with: Innovation, sustainability
Source: Michelin
Michelin Editorial
- "Endurance racing is the Michelin Group's priority in motor sport today," says the Michelin Group's Competition Director, Frédéric Henry-Biabaud.
"This year again, Michelin will be the technical partner of a long list of top teams in all four of the discipline's categories. Endurance racing enables Michelin to showcase the added value of its tyres with regard to durability, grip, consistency and safety, not to mention respect for the environment.
Indeed, regarding the latter point, Michelin has decided to give its energy challenge – which has been renamed to become the Michelin Green X Challenge – a more global dimension. Our intention is to profit from the lead the Michelin brand has taken with road tyres for more than 15 years and apply it to our circuit racing activities."
Since it was first organised in 1923 "with a view to revealing the potential of vehicles that figure in the catalogue of motor manufacturers", the Le Mans 24 Hours has never ceased to be a unique testing ground for carmakers, component providers and, of course, tyre firms like Michelin whose environmentally respectful approach to the endurance classic has led to the launch of the Michelin Green X Challenge in 2009.
Last century, lighting systems and disc brakes were introduced and later became commonplace thanks to Le Mans. Today, it is diesel technology, automotive safety and respect for the environment that figure at the heart of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest's concerns.
ince 1923, Michelin and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) have shared the same spirit of innovation. Indeed, the inaugural Le Mans 24 Hours race was won by a Chenard & Walcker racing on Michelin tyres. In 1967, the French tyre company innovated with an Alpine-Renault A210 which was the first car to contest Le Mans on slick tyres.
In 2007, in association with the ACO, Michelin launched the Michelin Energy Endurance Challenge which rewarded the efforts of those teams which succeeded in combining performance with energy efficiency.
This year sees Michelin go further still with the introduction of the Michelin Green X Challenge which now extends to include the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Le Mans Series and the American Le Mans Series. The Michelin Green X Challenge reveals those competitors which succeed in consuming the least fuel while at the same time optimising performance. The team which comes out on top in the Michelin Green X Challenge after the five rounds of the 2009 Le Mans Series will be given an automatic entry for the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours.
The Michelin Green X Challenge mirrors Michelin's lead when it comes to an environmentally respectful approach to motor racing and sets out to promote a balanced performance package that takes fuel consumption, grip and durability into consideration.