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The Green Grand Prix
April 14, 2023
The Green Grand Prix is an educational and competitive event in Watkins Glen, NY including the only Official SCCA road rally that promotes entry of all road- legal vehicle types and fuels in North America. Our Road Rally is sponsored by THE DORIS BOVEE MEMORIAL FOUNDATION. Doris Bovee was an environmental enthusiast and our road rally is a tribute to her.
WATKINS GLEN, NY – The Toyota Green Grand Prix, a showcase of motoring technology that aims for a cleaner environment, is returning to the famed Watkins Glen International race course on Friday April 14th, 2023.
The single-day event will feature a fuel-efficiency competition for pre-registered drivers of alternate-fueled vehicles, hybrids and traditional gasoline-powered and diesel-powered vehicles. Individuals, colleges and universities, car clubs and manufacturers are all invited to participate.
Entries in the rallies are now being accepted through the Toyota Green Grand Prix website at www.greengrandprix.com.
The diversity of the day’s activities emphasizes the breadth of the goals of the Green Grand Prix. “The mission of the Toyota Green Grand Prix is educational, to promote innovation in sustainable transportation technologies,” said Bob Gillespie, chairman of the Green Grand Prix Corp., a non-profit organization. “We are proud that our event, in its seventeenth year, attracts students from universities, colleges and high schools. We want the Green Grand Prix to be a means of encouraging technology students to stay in the Northeast to help move our region to become a center for clean energy.”
The Toyota Green Grand Prix’s rallies are sanctioned by the SCCA will offer up the challenges and excitement of driving on the race track and driving on open roads.
The first event of the day will be the Doris Bovee Memorial Road Rally. This is a Time-Speed-Distance event held on scenic public roads of the Finger Lakes Region. Drivers and navigators will be scored on their ability to follow a challenging course at precise legal speeds. A 100-mile, fuel economy event on the 3.5 mile WGI full course will follow in the afternoon. This is essentially the same configuration as the original 1957 track. The rallies are open to nearly all classes of road vehicles. The afternoon fuel economy event will include the Prius Challenge, with special categories of competition for all generations of Toyota Prius. A class for Exhibition category vehicles will also be included” Gillespie said.
Many hybrids, plug-in hybrids and full electric vehicles are expected.
The Doris Bovee Foundation is one of the Green Grand Prix’s key supporters, and the morning event is named in the honor of Doris Bovee, who was a well-known area environmentalist and taught for many years in the Corning-Painted Post (NY) school district .She was known for her love of plants and birds. Ms. Bovee was also involved with SCCA road rallies and was part of the Glen Region SCCA at its inception. The rallies are sponsored by the Glen Region Sports Car Club of America and are the only official SCCA road rallies of their kind in the nation.
Other important supporters of the event are Corning Enterprises of Corning, NY and the Central New York Clean Cities Coalition based in Rochester, NY.