Track Chics care deeply about GOING GREEEN > FASTER!
Green Racing is a topic that Track Chics are passionate about.
This is the place to learn more about the science behind - and the competition for - the Fuel for our Future!
Track Chic will be following the various racing circuits, race teams and track facilities to learn more about their green initiatives and what they are doing to reduce motorsports’ carbon footprint. We’ll be following teams such as American Le Man Series Drayson Racing as they campaign their Lola–Judd prototype as a test bed and dynamic platform to develop and advance new technologies for improved efficiency and performance. Elspeth Drayson, team CEO and co-owner will keep us up to speed as the Drayson Racing competes head-to-head using the sport as a catalyst to advance environmental technologies.
Track Chic will also collaborate with the women of the new Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP) to share their online journal of the development of America’s premier motorsport facility, the only one of its kind with the "green" objective driving the project’s design. The impressive motorsport park includes a sustainable building design, waterless urinals, tank-less water heaters, reclaimed water for the irrigation system, recycling of garbage and oil, the maximum efficiency HVAC available today, thermal resistant windows, supplementary insulation, and the use of high-efficient lighting and florescent bulbs.
The online journal will bring an intimate, female perspective on all aspects of AMP’s development from its inception stages, through zoning approvals, land development, course design, AMP’s sustainable design “Green” initiatives, marketing, event management, etc. as we build awareness and momentum for AMP’s Grand Opening.
Here’s some Good Green News regarding the racing circuits’ new and ongoing environmental initiatives!
The American Le Mans Series connects their brand to race fans and auto enthusiasts through their core attributes: Relevant technology, Authentic Competition, and Green Racing Leadership.
As their 2010 logo attests, ALMS works closely with the EPA, DOE and SAE and earned the designation as “Leader l Green Racing”, a cause that women are committed to. More than going fast, women appreciate initiatives such as the Michelin Green-X Challenge that rewards those who goes the farthest, the fastest with the smallest impact on the environment.
Other ALMS partnerships include Green Earth Technologies G-Oil used as the official motor oil; Freescale, creators of semi-conductors and electronics that make cars greener; and, Yokohama ADVAN ENV-R1 orange oil–infused tires.
The series also supports the Nature Conservancy Adopt-An-Acre and Green Park program by planting trees in each race market.
This year, Dyson Racing debuted a unique ethanol-biobutanol blend at Petit Le Mans in the team’s LMP2 #16 Lola-Mazda. And Paul, Lord Drayson, UK’s Science Minister, driver and co-owner of Drayson Racing, announced his team’s commitment to campaign the #88 LMP1 Judd V10-powered Lola B09/60 for a full North American 2010 season using the sport as a platform to test new technologies.
“NASCAR Green Clean Air" is a program to help capture the carbon emissions produced by racing. Under a pilot program that will expand significantly next year, NASCAR will plant 10 new trees for each green flag that drops during Cup Series events.
The tree-planting program is just one part of the NASCAR industry's growing green initiative. There are strong waste management, land conservation and bottle-and-can recycling programs at NASCAR-sanctioned race tracks; all oils and car fluids used at the track are recycled by Safety-Kleen; Goodyear recycles all tires used in racing; Exide provides a recycling program for racing batteries and all NASCAR offices have introduced a recycling program aimed at 100 percent recycling, while two new NASCAR office buildings, the 20-story NASCAR Plaza in Charlotte, N.C., led by NASCAR and the new headquarters building for ISC and NASCAR in Daytona Beach, Fla., will qualify for LEED certification, an important and relatively rare distinction making them "green buildings."Coca-Cola Recycling is active at several venues and has diverted of more than 20 tons of waste from landfills.
Racetracks are also building solar farms to power their air-conditioned suites and planting trees to offset their carbon emissions. Teams such as Roush Fenway Racing are outfitting their race shops to meet stringent standards for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and being careful not to leave their 18-wheel haulers idling. Sponsors are ramping up recycling programs and marketing hybrids and high-efficiency products through racing.
NASCAR has consulted with former vice president Al Gore and held summits with sponsors to organize efforts to reduce its carbon footprint in campgrounds and grandstands at tracks. Using a formula for competition- and fan-produced pollution, Carbonfund.org calculated the carbon footprint of the 2008 Daytona 500 as 14,163 tons.
On the competition side, NASCAR is exploring the replacement of its carburetors with more efficient fuel injection (perhaps as early as 2011) and the use of alternative fuels in at least one of its national series.
IRL Indy Racing League
The Indy Racing League is a responsible leader in green technology and repeatedly assesses ways in which to further make its motorsport entities eco‐friendly. The IndyCar Series is the first and only major racing series in the world to run on a renewable fuel – 100% fuel‐grade ethanol. But the IndyCar Series’ leadership in eco‐friendly racing doesn’t end with its use of renewable fuels. In pursuit of a greener future for our planet, the IndyCar Series, its teams and partners, and the tracks where they compete are embracing a variety of practices befitting responsible members of the global community.
The IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway partnered with Planet Green, Discovery Communications’ 24‐hour eco‐lifestyle television network to educate fans on greening tips and the partnership also ensured that the massive trash load collected after the race was properly sorted and recycled.
IndyCar Series was the first automotive racing series to utilize Bluetooth Technology to provide event information, promotions and advertisements to the spectators in attendance. This new technology enabled patrons to receive information on the event and special offers, while not incurring costs through their mobile carrier, since the technology utilizes radio frequencies. Additionally, with this new messaging option, the IndyCar Series eliminated the paper products that would traditionally be used to provide such messages.
Since the beginning of its motorsports program in 1995, Firestone Racing has shipped its used Firestone Firehawk racing radial tires to cement kilns, where they are used as replacement of other fuel and steel feedstock used to make cement. If the tires were not used, the kiln would require more fossil fuels (coal oil or natural gas) and more steel additives to make cement. Firestone actually developed and patented, then gave to public use, the technology for feeding whole tires into cement kilns, thus saving energy that would be required to break‐up/shred used tires.
Safety‐Kleen is the official environmental service provider of the IndyCar Series. With approximately 400,000 customer locations worldwide, Safety‐Kleen is a global leader in environmental services. They provide safe, environmentally responsible disposal of automotive liquids both at the race track and at teams’ race shops around the country. In fact, everything it collects at race tracks, including used oil, oil filters, anti‐freeze, brake fluid and oily rags is recycled into useable products. Overall, Safety‐Kleen collects more than 200 million gallons of used oil annually as well as collecting and reclaiming more than 330 million gallons of waste annually.
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