Up until now, the tyres of endurance race cars were heated up to 70°C in small tents by a flow of hot air coming from a gas burning space heater. The resulting smell, fumes and noise polluted the surroundings and the whole system was a safety risk in the paddocks. Because of these reasons, such heating will be banned in the coming years by the rules of the Le Mans Series and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is to the disliking of the teams, since a car on cold tyres will drift and may therefore be a safety concern for the other cars on the track. Hence the request from the Le Mans Series to come up with a « green » tyre heating system.

The Sunny Green Box allows to heat the tyres on wheels up to 70°C within 40 minutes before their mounting on the car by using a « green » power source. For this, we combine two proven systems: the FLEXCELL ® lightweight solar panels and the MA HORNE ® racing tyre heating blankets. During each Le Mans Series week-end, about 50 lorries sit behind the paddock in the sunshine with their large roof not used for any purpose. By covering these with solar cells, each lorry becomes a solar power plant of its own. A pack of buffering batteries will be placed inside the lorry to provide continuous power. This pack is charged and held up to its charging level by a so-called solar tracker. The power supply system is made redundant through the possibility of powering the blankets from plugs in the garage.

Sunny Green Box can bring a huge CO2 saving to motorsports!

Calculation of fuel economy:

Today:
Each car has a diesel burner behind its garage to heat its tyres. 
Average race fuel consumption per race car for each LMS week-end = 700 litresConsumption of diesel oil by the burner per race car for each LMS week-end = 100 litres
Which gives us a total consumption of 800 litres of fuels par race car.

Tomorrow:
Solar panels are installed on top of each race car's lorry and power heating mats.
Average race fuel consumption per race car for each LMS week-end = 700 litresZero consumption of diesel oil since all burners are replaced by solar power.
Which gives us a total consumption of 700 litres of fuels par race car.This translates into a fuel saving of  12,5% for each LMS race car !!!

Calculation of CO2 saving achieved through replacing the burners by the solar system:

Total solar electricity produced during a full LMS season = 6.700 kWh, equals 2 tons of CO2
Total extra electricity drawn from the grid during a full LMS season = 3.300 kWh, equals 1 ton of CO2
Total diesel fuel economy by replacing all burners = 30.000 litres, equals 70 tons of CO2
Hence a total CO2 saving of more than 70 tons for each LMS season !!!