Competition

Flying Lizard Daytona Prototype #45 at the head of the grid after winning the pole position with a Porsche Flat 6 engine. (Photo D Bottom)Marilyn and I spent some of the winter months in Florida this year.   We stayed next door to Daytona Beach and while we were there I thought, why not go to a race at the Daytona Speedway.  I had never been to the speedway and learned the Rolex 24 was coming up.  I thought it would be an excellent time to get introduced to racing at Daytona.  We’ll spend a little time acquainting you with the speedway, then plunge into the race itself and tell about the fun experience of being there.

The speedway track was built in 1958 under the sponsorship of William France, Sr. (NASCAR Founder) with a focus on promoting track speed and providing fans with a better view of the cars.  At one time, the races were run 50/50 on the ocean beach and the Atlantic Highway (A1A).  Engineering of the track was modeled on Ford’s Proving Grounds in Dearborn, Michigan that had banked curves for high speed testing.  When the project was approved, the City of Daytona agreed to a 50-year lease of the land to France’s corporation for $10,000 a year.  I’ll bet the city increased the lease rate in 2008!  Since there is a high water table in the area, most of the high banks of the track required fill dirt.  The interior of the track has a huge lake (Lake Lloyd) that is used for speedboat racing and it is the genesis of the track’s millions of acres of high banking.  The track’s banking range from 2 degrees on the straight-aways to 31 degrees in the turns.  In paving the track, they developed a patented process of connecting the paving equipment to bulldozers anchored at the top of the banks so the paving equipment would not roll down the incline.  The lighting at the track was installed later  and until 2008, was the largest single lighted outdoor sport facility.  The track offers approximately 74 permanent garages equipped with lifts along with 54 temporary garages pads when needed.  At the end of each of two garage complexes are tire maintenance facilities manned and operated by Continental Tire to service the teams.  Adjacent to each tire facility are Sunoco gas stations.

Cayenne V8 powered Action Express Daytona Prototype #5 coming out of the garage and ready to take the grid. (Photo by D Bottom)The track is surrounded by viewing stands on the outside and an interior field offering fans the amenities of RV parking and camping, the Sprint Fan Zone area above the garages, vendor concessions and TRAM transportation throughout the speedway.  One of the premiere race observation decks is the Budweiser Party Porch, hugging the 3000’ long backstretch, where fans can enjoy watching the cars come around the steep turn 2 at full speed. The track has two primary configurations: Tri-Oval for NACAR and Road Course for sports cars.  There are other minor configurations of the track for motorcycle racing.  The road course is used for the Rolex 24 and increases the track’s length from 2.5 to 3.56 miles, the difference being the addition of international horseshoe turns and the chicane range.   While Le Mans is held at the peak of the summer solstice, the Rolex 24 is run near the winter solstice so more of the race is run at night.  The track’s lighting is limited to 20% of maximum to keep the cars dependent upon their headlights.  

Hurley Haywood came out of retirement to drive the famous Brumos #59 Porsche GT3. (Courtesy of PCNA)The Rolex 24 runs over a 4 day period beginning on Thursday and completing on Sunday afternoon.  The first day is for practice and qualifying. In my opinion it is the best day for seeing the cars, crews, and drivers.  You’re allowed access to the garages (over 100) to watch the crews prepare the cars and make changes throughout the practice sessions. You get to see the drivers first hand and I stood next to Jorg Bergmeister and Jimmy Johnson on two occasions as they worked with their crews on making changes to the cars between qualifying runs.  The drivers are friendly and will talk with the fans.  One thing you learn quickly is that the road in front of the garages is for the cars and when they enter and exit the garages heading to and from the track, you have to get out of the way.  It’s opposite the public streets where the pedestrians have the right of way, the drivers are busy and in a hurry.  Friday morning is for practice and at 1 pm the racing begins with the Grand AM 200 for GTC cars.  Sprinkled alongside and in between the races’ are all kinds of fan activities ranging from driver autographs to a chili cook off.   One thing that impressed me was the welcoming of charitable events such as 5k runs and the Blind Driver Challenge for the National Federation of the Blind.  Even on a race day, drivers took time to participate in many of these charitable activities.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Grand AM 200 race on Friday that included several Caymans.  The Porsche cars did well through most of the race, running as high as 2^nd but they faded in the end with an 8^th place finish for BGB’s Cayman.  Ahead of Porsche in this race were five BMW cars, one Mustang and one Camaro.  This marked the beginning of a very successful representation by BMW at this racing event.  Plumb Rum Bum Racing’s BMW M3 took first place and I only mention it because I like the name.

Teamwork in action — major pit stop for the Cayenne powered Action Express #5 Daytona Prototype (Courtesy of PCNA)Saturday morning the PCA corral is opened for member parking and hospitality tent.  There was a large turnout of Porsche Club members, mostly from the upper Midwest and East Coast.  There was a large variety of cars ranging in years and models parked in the corral.  The hospitality tent offer coffee and donuts along with information about PCA and questions were quickly answered by the staff.   Members congregated Saturday morning to kick the tires and talk about the upcoming race along with their favorite racing team.   Since I am new to sports car racing, I didn’t have a favorite team yet but, quickly settled on the Porsche Teams of TRG (The Racers Group) who took us on a PCA sponsored tour of their racing facilities at the track.  Martin Steger, Director of Club Racing, was our guide and did an excellent tour.  We visited their parts and equipment van (an 16 wheeler) which also housed the drivers lounge.  We also toured the garage area where TRG was prepping the 5 cars they had entered in the Rolex Race.  Some interesting notes coming out of the TRG tour were: seven sets of tire changes per car during the race, fueling is once per hour for the 22 gallon tanks, 14 RV Vehicles accompany the teams along with 60+ airline tickets to get them to Daytona. Each car is equipped with three cameras (front, rear, and driver). The car’s data is captured on Motec Data and Chase Cam.  Each driver has a coded plug in the helmet that he must use during the race.  This identifies the driver and corresponds to his medical records in case there is an emergency.  The car’s position in the race is tracked on GPS.