Michelin Green X Challenge

Alliance Associate Michelin is taking efficiency to a new frontier: the racetrack. Earlier this month, the company announced its decision to become title sponsor of the "MICHELIN Green X® Challenge" environmental competition for the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), pitting racing teams against one another to crown the best in overall performance, fuel efficiency, and environmental impact.

Since the ALMS's inception in 1999, Michelin has collaborated with top car manufacturers to create specialized competition, fuel-efficient tires used in the races; furthering its involvement in the series by sponsoring a green challenge seemed a logical next step for Michelin. "Stretching fuel in competition wins races," said Scott Clark, COO of Michelin Americas Small Tires, in a Michelin press release. "Providing support to the ALMS through the MICHELIN® Green X® Challenge is a natural fit for us and together with our partners, we can help encourage teams and manufacturers to demonstrate a cleaner, more fuel-efficient way to race, while maintaining performance and the spirit of competition."

Through its participation in the ALMS, Michelin is helping to establish energy efficiency not only as a winner on the track but also on the road. As Scott Atherton, President and CEO of the ALMS, shared in an interview with the Argonne National Laboratory publication TransForum, "where the ALMS has set itself apart is that all the technology being developed in the series has a direct link back to the road car, back to the production car." Michelin's Green X® Challenge is capitalizing on this trend: "Motorsports venues have traditionally been the ideal place to demonstrate and develop new technologies," added Silvia Mammone, Michelin Motorsports and Sponsorship Manager. "The ALMS provides a unique opportunity to prove out future consumer technologies."

Another priority of Green X ® Challenge is to educate consumers on the environmental impact of their choices not simply in terms of the cars they drive, but also in the quality, make, and energy consumption of the wheels they use to outfit their automobiles. "The truth is," said Public Relations Manager Lynne M. Slovick, "while many drivers are in favor of more environmentally positive mobility, most are unaware of how tires can reduce a vehicle's environmental impact by improving its energy performance."

Data show that since 1992, compared to conventional tires on the road, the 570 million Michelin green energy saving tires sold worldwide have reduced fuel consumption by an estimated 2.38 billion gallons, resulting in a reduction of CO2 emissions of 25 million tons. "This means that each second, 11.6 gallons of fuel is being saved and 240.6 pounds of CO2 are not being released into the atmosphere," Slovick explained. That kind of savings is a good track record.