Winter Test, Sebring – Day One
Lots Of Shiny New Things Ah, life is good. Unlike the other DSC contributors present (Russell and Martin) who are both local Floridians and bundled up in jackets, I’m here in a t-shirt, shedding what rust I can from what has been a long and harsh winter up north. The weather is perfect right now – highs forecast to be in the 70’s without a cloud in the sky. My family hates me – it snowed at home yesterday… To the important stuff – the test. Fifteen ALMS cars are entered for the 3-day test. The track time will be shared with IMSA Lites on Monday and Tuesday, with Star Mazda stepping in on Tuesday and Wednesday. The first session of the day has been divided up between the prototypes and the GT cars. This meant that the first 30 minutes were an Acura show. After seeing the new P1 Acura in the flesh (or is that carbon), yes, it is different. The sight of same size tires front and rear (Michelin 310-71-18) is indeed different. Both cars are also running the new ACO mandated rear wings and sound quite impressive at speed. According to David Brabham, this first session was a systems check and all was fine. He did notice more grip in the front in some corners, but haven’t really dialed that in yet. Lost in the drooling was that the P2 Acura of Fernandez was also on track. Dyson will not be on track until Wednesday and that their Mazda-Lola will again appear here in the bare carbon with white stickers. Their single car that is present is the ex-B-K car which is still running in the 2008 specification. The car will be up-dated to full 2009 spec, which will include a newly revised rear aero package. The team will continue to test here on Thursday and hopes to take delivery of their new car One of the new BMWs is at the track. This is the same car that has previously been tested here and at Road Atlanta. This will be the first time that all four drivers have been able to be in the car and will be a significant step as Rahal Letterman pulls together its effort for the season. The car passed homologation on the 21st, much to the delight of the team. As usual, the engineers were not as pleased, so it appears as if some more will be headed their way after the legalities. New up-rights are due to be coming to the team in time for a test later in February. According to a team spokesman, the car has been homologated as a true GT2, not a GT2s – does this mean full ACO/FIA compliance? We’ll know later… The Flying Lizards are here with their three cars – one 2008 spec and two new 2009 spec. Both of the cars are in virgin white with the bare minimum of stickers present. The 2009 cars are new – they haven’t seen the track yet. The no. 46 did not make it out on track for the session. Also on track were the cars from Panoz Team PTG, LG Motorsports and Robertson Racing. All of these cars looked quite composed going down the front straight – much better than usual. Ian James was in the Panoz, with this being his first time in the car. “The Panoz is a different animal! I’m here because of my previous experience with PTG and with Yokohama. They’re really stepping up their efforts here – I believe they’ve got something like 22 different compounds here to tryout.” Two more sessions to follow today. Times from the morning session: #66 Acura 1:45.876
#15 Acura 1:47.559
# 9 Acura 1:47.599
#40 Ford GT 2:05.026
#21 Panoz 2:05.283
#28 Corvette 2:06.661
#92 BMW 2:07.170 GH & RW | 
