ALMS – Mobil 1 Grand Prix of Mosport – Warm-Up Report
And A Conversation With Audi’s Ralf Juttner
© Gary Horrocks

Warm-up/Pre Race
The #22 Panoz will be starting from the back of the grid, owing to Bill Auberlen not driving the car in the previous sessions. He was at Infineon for the Grand-Am race and had to fly a red-eye to arrive here for the race.

Continuing on the Panoz theme, Tom Milner indicated that he hopes to have both Panoz cars running the last two races of the season (Petit and Laguna). “After Miller, I decided it was best to only run one car. That way we could concentrate on the input from two drivers, and develop the car. Once we got that car right, then we could concentrate on the second and build it up to the same specification. We’ve just needed time with the cars and I think we’re about there. If we run them again next year, I’d like to have the opportunity to really tear into the cars and do some things better than we have them right now. Redo some wiring, get in some wind tunnel time – just further develop the car. I like doing things different than the others. Having a car that is unique means that I can do things that are different and not have others looking over my shoulder. I’ve reached that point in my life that I just want to win races. As you get on in years, you begin to realize what’s important and for me, that’s getting back to winning.”

The conversation drifted to the past, where Tom remembered back to 1981, when Klaus Ludwig (Miller Zakspeed Mustang) took out Brian Redman (Lola T-600) late in the race at Sears Point. “That was so elegant, the way Klaus did that. I still get a dig in at Redman about it every time I see him. Klaus blamed it on “bad brakes.” You’d never get away with that now. Klaus would have been penalized. We were on the other end of that at the same track in 2001. The BMWs were running 1-2-3-4, but Charly Lamm wanted his cars 1-2, not 1-3, so he got on the radio and told his driver to make it happen. It did and everybody waited for me to react. I just stood there and let the officials make the call. Charlie didn’t realize we heard his call over the radio. We came out good on both of those I guess.”

The #71 Tafel did not make it out for morning warm up. The team opted to swap out the motor for the race. Change that – or rather, don’t change that: it was water / impurities in the fuel, engine OK.

The van der Steur Radical did not make it out during the session.

The #44 Flying Lizard Porsche will start from the back of the grid for the race – tire swap.

A few minutes with Ralf Juttner of Audi Motorsport
Ralf Juttner, Technical Coordinator for Audi took a few minutes to explain the regulations surrounding the fuel capacities and fueling restrictions that are in place currently.

“This year we are running to the current ACO regulations in regards to fueling. This means a 38mm restrictor for the diesel cars and 33 for the spec. fuel (gas/ethanol mix). Last year, we ran with a 33mm restrictor from Miller on. The capacity for the Audi fuel tanks for 2007 was reduced 10%, so the capacities are at 81 liters, compared to 90 liters for the conventionally fueled cars.

“The race at Mid-Ohio made it quite visible that was a difference in the refueling times between the Penske Porsches and our Audi, especially with the stops being made under the green, and effectively deciding the race.”

This was the race that the Audi had dominated, but lost when Penske was able to get their Porsche out of the pits quicker than Audi, in a fuel only stop late in the race.

“The ACO and IMSA have studied the situation, as have we. And they are currently being looked at. We have looked at using a larger diameter restrictor, but have found that it does not make a difference. The effective restrictors end up being the valves and the hose. We’ve adjusted hose length and it helps a bit, but the risk is that a car might not be able to be fueled, depending on where it stops, if the hose is shortened.”

Also, this race marks the return of the 2007 spec R10s to the series. Ralf explained that most of the changes to the car are in the details. Quite a bit of it is focused on usability for the mechanics – reducing the time and effort required to work on the car. There have also been some changes, as far as reducing weight and some minor geometry changes also. There have also been some changes to the motor for drivability. These don’t really amount to anything for outright lap times. They’re meant to make the car more usable and friendly.