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ECO Racing Enters ALMS Season Finale at
Laguna Seca Oct. 18;
Noda and Prendeville to Drive
Environmentally Ground-Breaking Car
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10/09/2008
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By Linda Mansfield, Restart
Communications
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 MONTEREY,
Calif., Oct. 9 - The much-anticipated world
debut of ECO Racing's environmentally
ground-breaking, production-engined, bio-diesel
LMP1 Radical AER is scheduled to occur at the
American Le Mans Series' season finale, the
Monterey Sports Car Championships Oct. 16-18 at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif.
The British team has chosen Japanese star Hideki
Noda and America's Andrew Prendeville, a veteran
of the tough Firestone Indy Lights Series, to
drive the car in the four-hour race that begins
at 2:45 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday, Oct. 18.
The race is scheduled to be broadcast on NBC on
a tape-delayed basis from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Eastern time on Sunday, Oct. 19.
Noda, 39, of Osaka, Japan, has raced worldwide
in Formula 1, Indy cars and sports cars.
"I am honored and excited to be joining ECO
Racing at the final round of the American Le
Mans Series," Noda said. "The Radical SR10/AER
machine is in its final stages of development,
and I am honored to be chosen as a driver to be
part of the development process. I would also
like to thank my sponsors and fans for making
this happen.
"I haven't run Laguna Seca since 1997," Noda
added. "It is a challenging track, and I am
looking forward to racing there. The ALMS is a
competitive series, with a solid fan base. I
would like to take this opportunity to see what
I can do in the ALMS and make it a race that
will be a good start for the next season."
Las Vegas-based Prendeville, who has raced
competitively in the Firestone Indy Lights
Series for the past two seasons, will be making
his sports car debut in the No. 10 car.
"I think this is going to be a very interesting
weekend for me," said the 27-year-old native of
New Jersey. "The American Le Mans Series is very
intense this year and puts on a good show. I'm
very excited to be teaming up with Hideki Noda,
ECO Racing, Matt Connolly and P1 Groupe to make
this all come together. This is a very
intriguing opportunity, and I'm hopeful for a
positive outcome."
The team was created by pioneering race engineer
Ian Dawson. It is dedicated to developing, using
and showcasing environmentally efficient
technologies on the elite stage of international
motorsports.
In 2004 Dawson raced the first bio-diesel sports
car at Le Mans, two full years ahead of the
debut of Audi's diesel racer and three years
ahead of diesel-powered rival Peugeot.
Since that time Dawson has continued to develop
the production road car-based V10 engine,
creating a partnership with D1 Oils to use the
Jatropha-based bio-diesel fuel. All test-bed and
on-track testing has been undertaken using
Jatropha bio diesel. It is made from the
Jatropha curcas tree, a drought-resistant,
inedible oilseed plant that makes use of
otherwise unusable land and has no impact upon
the food chain.
"After testing successfully over the past two
months in the UK, I am delighted that ECO Racing
will be at Laguna Seca, one of the great race
tracks and a real challenge for our car in its
debut event," Dawson said. "The team and our
partners, Radical and AER, have worked very hard
to create the best possible baseline for us to
begin our journey into 2009. I am also very
pleased that we have a very strong driver lineup
in Hideki and Andrew. We have a great mix of
experience and speed."
ECO Racing would also like to thank its
sponsors:
* Steward (steward.ne.jp);
* Cisco Asset Management (cisco-a-m.co.jp);
* Prostaff (prostaff.jp.com/en/etop.htm);
* Dydo Drinco (dydo.co.jp);
* Global Jyuhan Corp. (global-j.co.jp);
* Tereshia (tereshia.com);
* P1 Groupe (p1groupe.com); and
* Matt Connolly Motorsports (mcmracingteam.com).
About ECO Racing:
For more information on ECO Racing please
contact Andy King at:
Cell: +44 7989 018464
Email:
aking@eco-racing.co.uk or
andy.king@k-mc.co.uk
ECO Racing is a company led by veteran Le Mans
engineer Ian Dawson, award-winning businessman
Simon Wright and experienced Finnish driver
Harri Toivonen, who have been inspired by the
opportunity to extend the use of eco-technology
beyond fuel and into many other aspects of
motorsports.
The team has been working tirelessly towards
achieving its goal of being competitive in the
world's most demanding racing environments using
as many eco-based products and solutions as
possible, both on and off the track. For
example, it will recycle its race tires through
"fragging," turning them into bark chippings. It
is also working towards the use of hemp fiber
for non-critical bodywork panels.
ECO Racing has two V10 bio-diesel-powered
Radical LMP1 sports cars. The turbocharged V10
engine uses production-based components that
have been modified to adapt to the stresses of
endurance competition.
The Jatropha curcas tree is a drought-resistant,
inedible oilseed plant used to produce
bio-diesel fuel. Jatropha has many advantages
over other bio-fuel crops, as it requires less
water than most plants, is hardy, and does not
need
to be grown on good-quality agricultural land.
The four-hour Monterey Sports Car Championship
race at Laguna Seca on Saturday, Oct. 18 is the
final round of the 2008 American Le Mans Series
(ALMS). Earlier this year the ALMS reaffirmed
its position as motorsports' global leader
in alternative fuels by announcing its
partnership with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy and
SAE International to incorporate "green racing"
principles into its 2008 racing season.
After its debut at the Petit Le Mans at Road
Atlanta Oct. 4, in 2009 the ALMS will conduct a
"Green Challenge" as an integral part of the
series. The Green Challenge (tm) has been
developed by the ALMS in association with the
U.S.
Department of Energy, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and SAE International,
formerly known as the Society of Automotive
Engineers (SAE). Using a formula involving more
than 30 pieces of data and measurements, the
criteria
measures race car performance, fuel efficiency
and environmental impact to rank each car by the
amount of energy used, greenhouse gasses emitted
and petroleum displaced.
The Le Mans Series in Europe and America's ALMS
is contested by cars in four categories. LMP1 is
the top category and consists of high-tech,
prototype sports cars. ECO Racing's Radical
bio-diesel car can reach speeds in excess of 190
miles per hour.
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