MTS sensors go green at the race track

June 3, 2009

CARY, N.C. -- MTS Systems Corp., Sensors Division, after decades of providing  magnetostrictive sensors to the racing industry, is supplying liquid level transmitters for the IMSA-sanctioned American Le Mans Series' Michelin Green X Challenge. The Michelin Green X Challenge is an environmental race-within-a-race that ranks teams on overall performance, fuel efficiency and environmental impact. MTS' Level Plus sensors have been incorporated into the fuel dispensers at each pit stall to provide real-time measurement data for each team's fuel usage, which is transmitted to a control room and used to calculate each team's fuel efficiency.

"MTS Systems has been providing motorsport testing solutions for decades and is used by a majority of top race teams in several racing series," said Lee Aiken, product marketing manager, MTS Sensors. "We are excited that IMSA has elected to use MTS as the supplier for this crucial function within the innovative Michelin Green X Challenge."

The American Le Mans Series has long been considered the most sophisticated and technical racing series in the world and is often the catalyst for transferring new automotive technologies from racecars to consumer automobiles. As the only major racing series in the world in which all cars run on one of three street-legal alternative fuels--clean diesel, E10 or cellulosic E85--the American Le Mans Series is also the global leader in green racing.

The Michelin Green X Challenge debuted at the Petit Le Mans, the signature endurance race of the American Le Mans Series, last October and will be in effect for the entirety of the 2009 season; which this year will also introduce an E10 gas-electric hybrid as an optional fuel source.