Rolex 24 @ Daytona

[Rennen]

I watched Motors TV from 8pm (UK start time) until they quit at 4.30am...then followed it on Speed's Live Streaming until Motors TV woke up at 2pm (UK time) right until the finish.
Ant' Davidson was in #3 DP Vette for the final stint, but went missing with a mechanical issue with just 30 mins of the race left to run which was really disapointing for family (and 8Star after all their hard work) following his return to racing and debut on a Oval track!
But he enjoyed himself and got within a tenth of teammate Sarrazin's best lap time with the car, which was good.
He was last at Daytona when he was just 2 years old...when we took our young family to Disney World, Kennedy Space Centre and took in the Daytona 500 as part of our annual vaccation in 1982!

[sublimao]

I have just watched the highlights and I noted good racing with great
overtakings. The cars, drivers and teams were not up to the tradition of this event even if I'm happy for Juan Pablo who always entertained me wherever he raced as well as Max Papis.
I was there in the old good days 1979 with the black 935 Interscope and definitely there were so much more spectators....

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

From what I saw the Hippie car had ALOT of TV time for a bottom rung 3 car effectively class. Quite an achievement to their hot-rodded Cayman to get thru the 24 hours incident free!

Not only that, but for whatever reason that car was seemingly spotless at the end of the race, unlike nearly every other porsche there which was pretty battered and bruised and at the least covered in dirt and rubber.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by sublimao

I was there in the old good days 1979 with the black 935 Interscope and definitely there were so much more spectators....

Then you will remember Otto Zipper's Ferrari Daytona, which was the moral victor of that race.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

Not only that, but for whatever reason that car was seemingly spotless at the end of the race, unlike nearly every other porsche there which was pretty battered and bruised and at the least covered in dirt and rubber.

That's funny, because it's the only car that I made contact with during the race -- after I let him by coming out of the pits on cold stickers at 4AM.

-mike

[Mindspin13B]

Can someone explain why the cautions took so damn long?

Reason: Car stalled on track
Solution: tow car to pits
Length of yellow: 20-30mins


I feel like this is a 10min process, max. Yellow, tow the car out of the way, green.

Someone explain this to me.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Mindspin13B

Can someone explain why the cautions took so damn long?

Reason: Car stalled on track
Solution: tow car to pits
Length of yellow: 20-30mins


I feel like this is a 10min process, max. Yellow, tow the car out of the way, green.

Someone explain this to me.

Everybody started pitting when the pitlane was opened and then it took the rest of the caution to reorganize the field with all the wave-arounds and all.

[pederb]

For some reason I can't get into it, I recorded the whole race that Speed broadcasted but I found it very boring. Not sure if it is the track or the lack of real speed or the cars, but I basically forwarded it all

When watching Le Mans I almost forget to eat, I'm so into it

[Mindspin13B]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Everybody started pitting when the pitlane was opened and then it took the rest of the caution to reorganize the field with all the wave-arounds and all.

So? are the teams entitled to all this stuff? If it's something small, why not just clear the issue and let them roll? Why do we need to pamper them with allowing them to take time to pit and all this stuff?

Seems like half of the actual time spent under caution could be avoided if they just went back to racing as soon as the issue was cleared.

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

That's funny, because it's the only car that I made contact with during the race -- after I let him by coming out of the pits on cold stickers at 4AM.

-mike

No doubt, it definitely didn't show. Guess they were very lucky with that one. The Patron car was pretty clean as well. Loved, but not battered and bruised. How was the race for you?

-Nate

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

No doubt, it definitely didn't show. Guess they were very lucky with that one. The Patron car was pretty clean as well. Loved, but not battered and bruised. How was the race for you?

Our race was eventful, but there's always issues over 24 hours!

When I got into the car on the pre-grid to start the race, the radio wasn't working and neither was the rear view camera (rear visibility isn't very good in the car, even with the camera). They sent us out about 30 seconds later so there wasn't time to communicate with anyone, I just stuck to our plan (single stint all drivers for the first cycle) and came in when the fuel light came on. The crew changed out different things each stop until the radio started working again (at 7PM when I got into the car again, was the first time the radio worked). We lost a little time in the first part of the race as we were all being pretty conservative without the radio (or spotters) and after a penalty for speeding on pit lane (not sure who did it, but it wasn't me!).

Over night everything was good and we started making up positions. I did most of my driving and my fastest laps of the race over night. No mechanical issues.

By the time I got back to the pit lane at around 9:30AM for my last double-stint of the race, I found out we were having some oil problems. Intermittent warnings on the dash due to low oil pressure and the crew wasn't sure if it was leaking or burning. Either way, we just had to cross our fingers and hope we could make it to the end.. which we did, barely.

After the race JvO brought the car to pit lane and after jumping out, the crew pushed it back to the garage. There was a puddle of oil under it.. turns out the crank cover was cracked and leaking. Yikes!

Otherwise it was pretty smooth for us. Car was very difficult for Ed and I to drive as we had to trim it completely out to compete (0 degree wing == massive fun on the banking and bus-stop).

-mike

[JoeMaters]

Originally Posted by Mindspin13B

Can someone explain why the cautions took so damn long?

Reason: Car stalled on track
Solution: tow car to pits
Length of yellow: 20-30mins


I feel like this is a 10min process, max. Yellow, tow the car out of the way, green.

Someone explain this to me.

Cautions usually are for four laps. 1 lap for GT, other lap for DP stops and the other two to wave by laped cars up front leader and reorganize...

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Otherwise it was pretty smooth for us. Car was very difficult for Ed and I to drive as we had to trim it completely out to compete (0 degree wing == massive fun on the banking and bus-stop).

-mike

....wow! I can only imagine. I managed a ride-along in one of the BMW M5s this weekend and it was the first time I'd ever been on banking in a car, and the feeling was a bit odd and unsettling. I can only imagine in a race with the multiple classes and everything else.

Good deal though. Sounds challenging, and like a great learning experience as well.

What's the next race you're preparing for?

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

....wow! I can only imagine. I managed a ride-along in one of the BMW M5s this weekend and it was the first time I'd ever been on banking in a car, and the feeling was a bit odd and unsettling. I can only imagine in a race with the multiple classes and everything else.

Good deal though. Sounds challenging, and like a great learning experience as well.

What's the next race you're preparing for?

Thinking about driving or riding on street tires through the banking makes me nervous.. I bet it moves around a lot!

I'll be at the Sebring Winter Test in the GTC car.. but the next race will be w/ Grand-Am at COTA in the Patron Ferrari.

-mike

[Scooter185]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Thinking about driving or riding on street tires through the banking makes me nervous.. I bet it moves around a lot!

I'll be at the Sebring Winter Test in the GTC car.. but the next race will be w/ Grand-Am at COTA in the Patron Ferrari.

-mike

I got so excited when i saw your name go by on the ticker at the top of the screen lol. Good luck at COTA and Sebring.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Thinking about driving or riding on street tires through the banking makes me nervous.. I bet it moves around a lot!

I'll be at the Sebring Winter Test in the GTC car.. but the next race will be w/ Grand-Am at COTA in the Patron Ferrari.

-mike

Thanks so much Mike for your insight into the race from a drivers point of view, it makes for interesting reading, best of luck at COTA, hope you guys get a good result.

[StevenK51]

Regarding the cautions, this was the procedure I interpreted from being at the track:

Yellow flies, pack up behind the pace car.

Next time by, DPs pit.
One lap later, GTs pit.
Wave-around cars ahead of class leaders.
While packing up again, wave-around cars pit.
Once packed up, DPs filter to the head of the queue.

Restart.

[sublimao]

Originally Posted by skycafe

Then you will remember Otto Zipper's Ferrari Daytona, which was the moral victor of that race.

Yes the old 365 was running slow but at the end was second ! Despite the age the Otto Zipper's Ferrari made a sensational result much better than the more powerful 512BBs and the large group of 935s. I read that Mr Zipper deceased not long ago. The names of racing drivers were unbelievable, so many from Europe.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by sublimao

Yes the old 365 was running slow but at the end was second ! Despite the age the Otto Zipper's Ferrari made a sensational result much better than the more powerful 512BBs and the large group of 935s. I read that Mr Zipper deceased not long ago. The names of racing drivers were unbelievable, so many from Europe.

Mr. Zipper actually passed away the night before the race, the Ferrari carried a black band across the hood in his memory. Morton and Adamowicz only used the brakes twice a lap because that was a big weakness for the car. This was before the chicane on the backstretch, so the Daytona was running at speed around most of the speedway, which helped because that was the forte of the big 12, galloping speed. Sensational memories of going out to the east banking and watching that car howl off the back straight and around the banking on a cold winter's night, always climbing up the order as the newer and supposedly superor machinery suffered problem after problem.

There were a lot of Europeans in this year's race and what I believe was the entire Porsche Factory driver squadron, not too shabby.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by skycafe

There were a lot of Europeans in this year's race and what I believe was the entire Porsche Factory driver squadron, not too shabby.

I read somewhere else it was every Porsche factory driver bar Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb (I'm not 100% sure on the names though as I can't recall where it was mentioned).

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by rich07

I read somewhere else it was every Porsche factory driver bar Wolf Henzler and Marc Lieb (I'm not 100% sure on the names though as I can't recall where it was mentioned).

Henzler and Bernhard were the two Porsche factory drivers not at Daytona, Lieb was in the Brumos Porsche.

[Jonerz]

One thing I noticed late in the race was the infield camping started clearing out. While those people have paid their money, so the series doesn't have much impotice to make a change, it is somewhat disconcerting that the campers valued getting out of the circuit over seeing the conclusion of the race. I wonder if moving the start time back to noon or one might help? Perhaps something needs to be done to make the race easier to follow from the infield?

Chris

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Henzler and Bernhard were the two Porsche factory drivers not at Daytona, Lieb was in the Brumos Porsche.

Ah, clinky clinky , that's right! Thanks! Still, all bar two is a pretty significant showing.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

One thing I noticed late in the race was the infield camping started clearing out. While those people have paid their money, so the series doesn't have much impotice to make a change, it is somewhat disconcerting that the campers valued getting out of the circuit over seeing the conclusion of the race. I wonder if moving the start time back to noon or one might help? Perhaps something needs to be done to make the race easier to follow from the infield?

Chris

Same thing happens at the Nürburgring - and nobody is all too worried about that. I think you can't really prevent that. After 24 hours, and maybe 3 days of camping a lot of people are worn out and desperate to beat traffic.

[Adam43]

I've seen people leaving at Le Mans too. And Who concerts. ...