If you’ve been hankering to get a good look at Neil Young’s LincVolt behemoth, you’d best make plans to get to SEMA in a few weeks. We got word today that the 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible with a brand new biodiesel and battery-based powertrain – and young Neil himself – will make an appearance at the specialty show. Young is scheduled to take part in a vehicle technology panel with Jim Campbell, vice president of General Motors Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, the Automotive X Prize’s Peter Diamandis, Scott Atherton from the American Le Mans Series, Azhar Hussain from TTXGP eGrandPrix, Imtiaz Haque from Clemson University CU-ICAR, Patrick Reininger from R. L. Polk, and Bryan Krulikowski from Morpace.
It’ll be interesting to see if Young and Diamandis talk about the past, considering that Young and his team dropped out of the X-Prize in mid-2009. It seemed to be an amicable split, since the LincVolt team said it was focused on the main goal of getting the car finished and didn’t have the problems with the competition the way some others did. “We have always been in a race against Time,” the LincVolt webpage said at the time, “not a race against other contestants to win a cash prize.”
[Source: SEMA | Thanks to Biodiesel Magazine for the images]
SEMA Announcement
GM VICE PRESIDENT OF PERFORMANCE VEHICLES AND MOTORSPORTS TO DELIVER FIRST- EVER SEMA SHOW VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Kick off the 2010 SEMA Show by attending the inaugural SEMA Vehicle Technology Keynote featuring Jim Campbell, vice president of General Motors Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. Campbell is responsible for integrating the engineering and marketing of performance versions of current production models, as well as all motorsports activities. Jim Campbell will open up the Vehicle Technology Briefing Program on Driving Green Performance, Tuesday, November 2, 2010, at 9:00 am in the SEMA Awards Theatre, Booth 30239 South Hall Upper. During his keynote address, Showgoers will learn how GM’s
transformation is leading the reinvention of the automobile and how advanced technologies are impacting the performance industry today and creating new business opportunities for SEMA members.
Following Campbell’s presentation will be a panel discussion with industry leaders, including Peter Diamandis from the X PRIZE Foundation, Scott Atherton from the American Le Mans Series, Azhar Hussain from TTXGP eGrandPrix, Imtiaz Haque from Clemson University CU-ICAR, Patrick Reininger from R. L. Polk, Bryan Krulikowski from Morpace as well as rock icon and performance enthusiast Neil Young, leader of the LincVolt team.
