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Sebring 12 Hours –
Friday Round Up It is so fast and furious here that relating what is going on, with the energy we’ve got left, takes longer than the time available. But on Friday afternoon at Sebring, as the Star Mazdas zoom round, we can at last give you some of the low-down on this week, on some of the more significant tales. Energy is the theme here – whether it be the energy of the Lola Mazda at turn 1, the energy of the E85 bio-fuel… or the energy released by Gary “Remington” Horrocks, as he shaved his head this morning, behind DSC’s rental van, in the Friday morning sunshine…. More seriously though, Ben Devlin’s accident was potentially a very serious one – but one which turned out with just a badly damaged race car. Ben Devlin: “I feel OK now, maybe better than I did yesterday morning. I had a bit of a headache after the wreck, but I feel OK now. I still don’t really know what happened. The car snapped, then I was a passenger. Thankfully everything – the catch fence, the tire wall and the Lola – held up like it was supposed to. The team has been working on rebuilding the car and it should be ready to go for the race day morning warm up session.” "I always commit with a comfort blanket and to have it taken away is strange," summed up the newly eloquent Devlin. Ben was hugely appreciative of the efforts of the whole crew, as they worked to build up a car around the spare chassis. There was never any intention, or possibility, to be ready to go on Friday morning: by race day warm-up, it will be out again.
We used Didier Theys’ description of the accident yesterday, but need to correct a small error. The Belgian wasn’t following the #8 car, as we thought he said. Jan Lammers (below) was set to qualify the #27 RS Spyder, so Didier must have seen the accident while spectating at Turn 1.
We managed to ask Race Director Tim Mayer about the accident. “The tyre wall did its job, the fence did its job and the car did its job – and the driver walked away from it. It was a serious accident, but the marshals were there immediately, the safety team was there very quickly. As Race Director, you want to see those systems work.” Talking to a very senior engineer about what happened, he confirmed what we remembered from the introduction of the LMP1 aero regulations and specifications – that the prototypes were not expected to leave the ground, even in an incident like this. However, the circumstances were extreme. The LMP2 car did make contact with the inside wall at T1, which seemed to be the catalyst for it lifting up on the ‘forward’ (right) side, and once the air got under it, the car was heading upwards. It traveled a long way, tumbling as it went, and, we believe, landed on the tyres/wall on the outside of the track, hitting the debris fence at the same time. It landed at an angle, and dropped onto its floor. Anyway, with Ben Devlin OK, the Lola Mazda set to start tomorrow, let’s get on to other things. The Audis are back for the season, as you know, while the #61 Risi Ferrari has two new drivers for the bulk of the season - Patrick Friesacher, and Grand-Am regular Harrison Brix. Quotes provided by Risi’s Fiona Miller. “Anyone who has followed Risi over the last few years knows that while the driver lineup for the No. 62 car has been quite constant, we have faced a more fluid situation with the drivers in the No. 61 car,” explains Giuseppe Risi. “In 2008, we have solidified that situation, with Tracy Krohn and Nic Jönsson driving with us at major events like Sebring and Le Mans, and Harrison and Patrick piloting for us in the heart of the American Le Mans Series schedule. Their addition to Risi Competizione’s driver lineup for 2008 continues with our strategic emphasis on consistency and continuity, and enables us to build on the strong competitive foundation we’ve built with the Ferrari 430GTC over the last two years.” “The ALMS is a very professional series which operates at a very high level in motorsport, and I’m really happy that I can join Risi Competizione which is a great team,” says the Austrian Freisacher. Friday afternoon saw another press conference concerning developments in the “green” campaign, including further information of the developments on the use of E85. In conversation with IMSA’s Execeutive Director Doug Robinson, we can recount the sequence of “E” events during recent weeks. There had been some confusion concerning the announcement that Corvette Racing would not be utilizing the E85, as was previously announced. What happened was that Corvette Racing utilized an initial batch of the fuel in both dyno testing and in on track testing. That testing on the dyno went quite well, and encouraged the team to try it on track. It was in the track testing, held here at Sebring, that the team found that the initial blend of E85, which included toluene, was having adverse affects and causing degradation of the flanges inside the fuel cell of the Corvette. The team informed IMSA of the situation, which in turn informed both the Drayson-Barwell and Intersport teams, which had intentions to use the E85 fuel. Both teams stayed with their decisions to run the fuel for the race. Corvette Racing, because of the complexities of their fuel cell, when compared to the others, decided to not run with the E85 this weekend, as a precaution. The team has been testing a new configuration of cell, in a small scale, and so far the results appear to be promising enough that the team expects to be using the E85 at St Pete. There was some concern that it was the toluene or similar additives that was causing some of the issues, so a new blend is being now developed that consists of splash blending, or mixing on site, of the ethanol with the addition of the standard VP Racing fuel. Further work is going on with the blend, determining what mix of detergents and lubrication might be required. One of the basic reasons for this juggling is for the equalization of performance. Neither the FIA nor the ACO want the fuel cells to have capacity for greater than 110 liters. Because of the differing energies per measure of the differing fuels, differing fuel capacities have to be calculated. To bring up, or equalize some of those capacities, the energy levels of the fuel is adjusted by the use of additives, which will increase the power potential of the fuel. This “playing with the blend” will take place during the season, and is hoped to be completed by the end of the season. Capacities can be juggled with the use of capacity restrictors of various types, but the intent is to not require the use of a new fuel of a differing capacity. To some, the actual ethanol content in the E85 is likely to be a bit misleading. By government regulations, E85 can a blend somewhere between 70 and 85%, depending on the season. Because of evaporative characteristics, the fuel actually has differing contents of ethanol, depending on the season. The winter blend is 70%, while the summer blend is 85%. Because of the length of season and the fact that 3 of the races occur in the “winter” season, IMSA has chosen to go with a blend that is 70%. Perfectly legal and permissible. The goal and intention is to have a blend of E85 that is a street legal blend when it is all done. “The E85 spec. has never been used in racing in the US,” adds Tim Mayer, “so we’re learning all the time about the way constituents react with each other. The original spec. contained toluene, which is a normal constituent of fuels. We’re all learning, and we’re learning faster because it is racing – and that knowledge will be passed on to the customer.” This all plays into the continuing efforts of the series to promote the use of green technologies, but as Doug Fehan stated, “ethanol is not the answer, but is actually a part of the answer.” Next up, for 2009, hybrids… We told the story yesterday of Drayson-Barwell and its E10/E85 fuel earlier this week: the team didn't venture out for this morning's practice session, choosing to concentrate on race prep. This is a Thursday evening shot.
Below is Jon Field is the similarly E85-fuelled Intersport Lola - in the session before qualifying (with the AGR Acura behind it).
Back to Tim Mayer, who explained what happened immediately after that chunk of quaifying was lost yesterday. “We have a rule, so there is no judgment factor. If qualifying is not complete, you go to the practice times. It was simply a matter of following the rules.” We need to explain here that Tim Mayer has (former Race Director) Marty Kaufmann as Chairman of the Stewards, so “we can use all his experience, dating back to 1987, to help guide the events – and to help generate a new group of race officials.” “I looked over at Marty and the other stewards and they agreed that I was reading it right, so it was simply a matter of me implementing the rule. It was black and white. “In grey areas, if I see a violation, I consult with the stewards and implement their decision.” Finishing off with some newsy snippets / comments. Tom Kristensen went off at T10 this morning, the inertia of that diesel V12 weight taking him into the wall. Outwardly, the car seemed almost undamaged! Jan Hettler was in the right place at the right time.
Bill Riley: “We didn’t go on track (with the LG Corvette for the Friday morning session). Where we are in the program, I think it is best that we have a nice relaxed day, prepping the car for the race. This team needs it. I thought I had long hours before, but to get this car ready, I put in a 113 hour week. My longest had been a 109, back with the Cadillac program. But the team was there too, the whole time working to get the car ready for the race.” Bill did confirm that the LG Corvette is running a 6.0 liter motor, as it is based upon the standard Corvette, as requested by GM. Craig Stanton (in the Vici Porsche): “It’s coming along quite well. Everything came together quite fast, but we’re making progress. The crew is from many different places and is quite good. We’ve even had to borrow a transporter from Rahal to use for now. “Porsche has done quite a few changes to the car, all mostly small, but they add up to make a significant change. I can really tell how well the front aero is working when I get passed by a P car, and all of the air is taken off of the front. The car really moves around then. But the car really sticks well on the track when it’s got air on it.” “For me, it’s looking to be a very busy year. It’s looking like a full season here, plus there are some developments coming up for me in the Grand Am. I’ll be busy, but I like it that way.” As we finish this at almost 17.00 local time, it’s raining – as the SPEED World Challenge race gets underway. |
