American Le Mans Racing Series CEO Scott Atherton to speak at CU-ICAR

Published: December 1, 2009

GREENVILLE — Scott Atherton, president and CEO of American Le Mans Racing Series, will offer an inside look at the  technologically advanced and innovation-driven racing series in a public lecture at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR). It will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, in the AT&T Auditorium of the Carroll A. Campbell Jr. Graduate Engineering Center, 6 Research Drive.

Atherton will tour CU-ICAR facilities, including its Deep Orange lab, where faculty and students in Clemson's automotive engineering graduate program are designing and building prototype vehicles, and get a behind the scenes look at test cells and laboratories. Executives from Michelin and BMW are expected to join Atherton for part of the day's activities. Both companies are actively involved in the American Le Mans Series and have their North American headquarters in the Greenville-Spartanburg area.

A graduate of the University of Washington, Atherton is recognized as one of the top executive leaders in the global motorsports industry. Prior to taking the reins of the American Le Mans Series and Panoz Motor Sports Group, he was president of California Speedway. Under his nine-year leadership, the Braselton, Ga.-based American Le Mans Racing Series has emerged as the most technologically advanced and innovation-driven racing series in the world, along with Formula 1, enabling the motorsports industry to serve as a laboratory for technology transfer into the larger, consumer-oriented automobile industry. 

As the “global leader of green racing,” the series has developed partnerships with international manufacturers, such as BMW and Michelin, that pursue innovations in greener alternative fuels, more efficient engines, vehicle dynamics and tire technology.

Michelin, for example, sponsors the Michelin Green X Challenge, a series championship that measures and rewards teams for achieving the highest performance on the race circuit with the greatest fuel efficiency and the least environmental impact. All cars in the series race on one of four alternative fuels or powertrains: clean sulfur-free diesel, E85 (cellulosic), E10 or electric hybrid. At the end of last season, it also tested a bio-butanol in race conditions.

Atherton's visit is sponsored by CU-ICAR, the Clemson University Brooks Institute for Sports Science and SAE International.

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