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"Green, Orange, Loud--57th edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring"

You may have seen the "Tweet" on Twitter this morning...had a cup of coffee with Scott Atherton, CEO of the American LeMans Series, which marks its 100th race event this weekend here at Sebring. Atherton and I spoke for a few minutes on the green racing initiatives in ALMS racing for a CBS News report. I thought I'd share some of that on the blog.

The Yokohama Tire people are proud of their new "orange oil" tire, which is fitted on all the cars in the ALMS Patron GT-3 Challenge by Yokohama Series. Orange oil is blended with natural rubber to make the base for the tires, which will also be available on street cars such as the Toyota Prius and Camry Hybrids and Honda's Civic and Accord Hybrids this summer. With a smile, Atherton suggested that there might (yes, might) be a slight citrus aroma when the cars light up the tires under acceleration. The street version will be called the dB Super E-spec. The process uses less petroleum products to manufacture tires. The orange oil is derived from what's left when orange juice is made--a renewable resource.

Saturday's Race marks the 100th event for the American LeMans Series.

The biodegradeable motor oil is, if it is validated in a race car, an interesting development. If, for instance, a significant portion of lubricants could be made with the animal fats left over from meat processing, it would reduce the amount of petroleum used to make the lubricants.

We'll have more later.