Thoughts from Daytona
It’s fair to say that the 2019 Rolex 24 at Daytona was an astonishing race. For the first time in history the race was red flagged twice due to the most extreme weather conditions ever seen at Daytona. The continued torrential rain eventually lead to the 24 hours finishing 10 minutes early.
Amid all this carnage was Racecar Engineering’s Editor, so what did he think of the event, other than wishing he had purchased a larger umbrella…?
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There is something irritating about the parking arrangements at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The car park is outside the back straight, moved there in 2018, but the cold temperatures that greeted this year’s race, not to mention the wind and rain, made the ride on the Noddy train cold.
However, the reason it is out there is because there are so many manufacturer stands on the infield where we used to park, crowd figures have increased hugely and simply, the space can be sold. So, where once we could walk to the press centre now sit huge mobile car showrooms, and PlayStation was there with BMW offering virtual drives of the circuit.
IMSA is certainly catering to its crowd. The cars are developments of the base LMP2 chassis that compete globally, but with manufacturer-derived engines and aero kits. Balance of performance means that the cars can carry styling cues from the production range without a lap time disadvantage.
It has drawn in Mazda (Multimatic), Acura (ORECA), Cadillac (Dallara) and, to a lesser degree, Nissan (Ligier), and more manufacturers are on the way. A new television deal has been signed with NBC this year, and for one cynical driver, this was the reason why, when the rain was still falling at 9am, the cars were given the instruction to re-start the red flagged race despite the prospect of carnage on the race track…which was duly delivered.
The Lamborghini Evo had its race debut (see our November issue), the new Porsche (featured in our March issue on sale early February), the updated Acura, while the Audi Evo made its competition debut in Dubai early in February.
IMSA runs a motor racing show, but on a tight budget (estimated to be around $6 million per car, although estimates vary from $3.5m to $10m), with minimal development in technology thanks in part to the long homologation period of the base car.
A new long-term deal has been signed with Michelin which has become the sole tyre supplier for the series in all classes, including GTD (known as GT3 in Europe), and the only issue for the teams was the lack of data from the tyre after years with Continental.
The tyre is faster, and each of the chassis used them differently. ‘The Cadillac looks like it understeers a lot more than ours, and they have a lot more traction and acceleration than us,’ said Acura driver Juan Pablo Montoya. ‘For them, diving into a corner is a big deal, while for us rolling the car into the corner is a big deal for us. We will make the time on the brakes and in the middle, because we cannot put the power down.’
It was a side note on an otherwise eventful race. The formula has attracted the top teams, and top drivers at least for its signature races such as Daytona thanks to the safety features of the LMP2 base chassis. The series has created powerful partnerships with global companies and is looking healthy.
