Most liked posts in thread: IMSA 2016

Steve · Feb 9, 2016

Here's your CTSC at Daytona broadcast reminder:

Crashton · Jan 11, 2016

Captain America goes racing!

Green Flash · Jan 12, 2016

Fast and Innovative

Steve said: ↑

The Deltawing's new livery is a bit clever in at least one respect. I assume those are just reflective stickers.

Click to expand...

The technology and innovation of racing is one aspect that makes the sport interesting. With so much of racing moving to identical cars with the only difference in the paint job, it can get a bit boring.

Dr. Panoz and the DeltaWing team are trying a very different approach to car design and are running an engine they design and build.

Crashton · Jan 12, 2016

Never met you so I'll take your word on the ugly part. The older I get the faster I was.

Back on topic: Cars that look like a missile.

Crashton · Jan 13, 2016

I loved that, laughed my arse off I did. :lol:

Green Flash · Jan 19, 2016

Entry List for Daytona

The IMSA website is filled with flowery-written articles, but little hard data. During the Roar, their app had practice times listed. But, after the next practice began, the previous practice time list was deleted. Now, there are no practice results from the Roar on the IMSA site. I did find entry lists for the Roar Before the 24. All of those cars should be back and additional cars that did not make the Roar practice session. The MINI team brought 2 cars for the Roar, but are bringing 3 cars for the race.

Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge

http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/races/entry_lists/2016_CTSC_Roar_SundayEntryList.pdf

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

http://http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/races/entry_lists/2016%20ROAR%20Pre-Event%20Provisional%20Entry%20List%2012-30_v2.pdf

Green Flash · Jan 20, 2016

Daytona Provisional Entry List

The entry lists are now available on IMSA's website, apparently updated daily.

Continental

http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/races/entry_lists/2016_CTSC_Daytona_PreEvent_EntryList_0.pdf

WeatherTech

http://http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/races/entry_lists/2016_IWSC_Rolex24_PreEvent_EntryList.pdf

Steve · Jan 23, 2016

Looks like the Mazda prototypes are ready to play with the big boys this year.

Months of Preparation Led to Near-Seamless Engine Change For Mazda (imsa.com)

No. 55 & 70 Prototypes Aiming For Wins In 2016

Moving to a gasoline-fueled MZ-2.0T engine paid immediate dividends for Mazda Motorsports. The two-car team posted the third- and fifth-fastest times in the Prototype class at the recent Roar Before the Rolex 24, and is now in a position to challenge for the victory in the 54th Rolex 24 At Daytona on Jan. 30-31.

â€œMazdas are designed to put smiles on peopleâ€™s faces,â€ said John Doonan, Director of Mazda Motorsports North America. â€œWithout a doubt, there were many smiling faces among the Mazda camp at the ROAR and those watching from afar.â€

Joel Miller, Tom Long and Ben Devlin were third-fastest at the Roar with a lap of 1:39.828 in the No. 70 Mazda/Castrol/ModSpace entry. Jonathan Bomarito, Tristan Nunez and Spencer Pigot were fifth-fastest in the sister No. 55 car, with a best lap of 1:39.134.

â€œEveryone on the Mazda Motorsports team was pleased with our performance at the ROAR test days, and especially with the outlook for our Prototype program for 2016,â€ Doonan said. â€œWe are very focused on running up front and putting ourselves in a position to win as many race as possible. With consistency, we believe we can contend for the championship. We are simply going to come to the race track each day and do our jobs."

A year ago, the then Diesel-powered Mazdas finished 11th and 12th, with the top car qualifying 20th. The team did manage to lead a lap as a result of the dieselâ€™s superior fuel mileage. The diesels started at the back of the pack in their debut in 2014, finishing 13th and 14th in the Prototype class.

But it was more than merely an engine switch that got the team near the top of the charts, as the team cut a deficit of nearly five seconds seconds to five-tenths of a second. Rather, it was a culmination of hard work and mid-season testing through the latter stages of the 2015 season that is paying dividends.

â€œIt shows how hard the SpeedSource/Mazda Motorsports guys have been working to get the program to the level of being competitive at the front end of the grid,â€ Long said. â€œThe level of prep has always been there; hard work has never been a question. Itâ€™s so good to see the guys excited with both cars in the top five. Seeing all the guys smiling really makes all the hard work worth it.â€

Long explained that the switch was more than swapping out engines.

â€œIt involved an incredible amount of work,â€ Long said. â€œAll the cooling, the plumbing, the electronics all changed for the new engine, so a lot was undertaken. It looked a lot more seamless than all the hard work it really took. It shows how professional a group that SpeedSource is to pull this off. Kudos to Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez for taking a back seat at the race track and testing, while Joel Miller and I were off racing and representing Mazda. They did an incredible job developing that package.â€

SpeedSource owner Sylvain Tremblay has more than a decade working with Mazdas, winning the GT class in the Rolex 24 in 2008 and 2010. After running the diesel in the Rolex Series GX class in 2013 (winning the team and manufacturer championship) and for two years in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, he feels that the hard work making that engine combination work in the Prototype class is paying dividends.

â€œPeople might think the engine change was monumental, but if anything, all the gains weâ€™re making now actually started two years ago when we were running the diesel engine,â€ Tremblay said. â€œOur diesel power plant was very good at many things. It was very, very good off the corner, but we were lacking on top end. We did an unbelievable amount of work on the chassis, trying to gain every little morsel of speed since we were lacking on top end. Then once we got our new Mazda MZ-2.0T, we definitely have some top end. Itâ€™s definitely put us back in the game, back near the top of the time sheets. Iâ€™m really proud of the guys, and really proud of Mazda for believing in this program. Hopefully we can repay their loyalty with some race wins.â€

Now that the car is proven to be fast, thereâ€™s a lot more work ahead.

â€œThis race is not going to be won by whatâ€™s under the engine cover,â€ Long said. â€œItâ€™s going to be won by the hard work and dedication by the team, teamwork, and who makes the least mistakes. We donâ€™t have any false hopes [by the Roar results], we know that speed is only one factor of many for a 24-hour race."
Click to expand...

Source: IMSA

Steve · Jan 24, 2016

I'm jealous. If you take any good pics, post a few here.

Green Flash · Jan 25, 2016

Experiencing the Daytona 24 Hours

Steve said: ↑

I'm jealous. If you take any good pics, post a few here.
Click to expand...

Steve,

You need to put the Daytona 24 Hours on your Must Do list. It is one of the most storied international races and it is right here in the old USA. This year will be special - the 50th anniversary of the race, the inaugural race for the new Ford GT, the new BMW M6, competitive prototype cars from Honda and Mazda, first race in IMSA for the Lamborghini, 3 JCW MINIs in the Continental race, and the MINI Corral and Hospitality Patio. Weather forecasts call for high temperatures for the weekend to be in the high 60's. It will be a great weekend of racing creating life-long memories.

You should look at future years calendars and try to block out the last weekend in January for a trip to Florida.

Will post some photos of the race.

Steve · Jan 26, 2016

Here's a bit more on the new Mazda car and program.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUg0pWCh4DM"]RACER: Inside the Mazda Prototype with John Doonan - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Jan 28, 2016

Changing weather makes for strange qualifying results for the 24H.

ROLEX 24: Porsche leads qualifying with GTLM 1-7 (racer.com)

Thursday, 28 January 2016
Marshall Pruett

Rain fell throughout qualifying for all four of IMSA's WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes on Thursday, with the intensity of the rain increasing as each class took its 15-minute turn on the 3.56-mile Daytona, the GT Le Mans category â€“ the only one with unrestricted tire regulations â€“ dominated as the seven fastest laps went to Michelin-shod cars.

Porsche North America's Nick Tandy captured the GTLM pole (2:01.408) in his Porsche 911 RSR (TOP), BAR1 Motorsports' Johnny Mowlem set his second consecutive PC pole (2:05.708), Mikhail Aleshin earned the Prototype pole (2:05.793) in the SMP Racing BR01-Nissan P2 (ABOVE), and Norbert Siedler topped GTD in the Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R (2:05.798).

Despite Tandy's achievement, IMSA's rules dictate the starting grid will have Prototype leading the field, followed by PC, GTLM, and GTD.

The result was similar to the close of IMSA's 2015 championship at Petit Le Mans where a massive downpour throughout the race allowed Tandy's Porsche entry to take the overall win.

Click here for full results
Click to expand...

DneprDave · Jan 30, 2016

Naw, he just extended the rear wing for improved downforce.

Steve · Jan 30, 2016

Full race available via stream at Rolex 24 At Daytona | International Motor Sports Association

Live timing and scoring: http://scoring.imsa.com/

Steve · Jan 31, 2016

Well, that was fun!

Steve · Feb 1, 2016

IMSA say they're working on posting up the full race. In the meantime here's the end of the race for anyone interested (the version w/ commentary by IMSA Radio, i.e., Radio Le Mans).

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW_wOb5Aco8"]Rolex24 at Daytona 2016 Finish Last 12 minutes - YouTube[/ame]

Steve · Feb 2, 2016

The Daytona24 is now up, in six parts. Now I can catch up with some of the stuff I missed during the night.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7LoRpoz4MI"]2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona Part 1 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHlwAsN2S8I"]2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona Part 2 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkbaZupmCJ8"]2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona Part 3 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Oi2x1G2VY"]2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona Part 4 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kx3EogGww_c"]2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona Part 5 - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u06idGnmgDc"]2016 Rolex 24 At Daytona Part 6 - YouTube[/ame]

fishmonger · Feb 2, 2016

guess I have to watch the late night and early morning hours now - only part of the race I didn't see in realtime

Steve · Feb 3, 2016

FYI, the Continental race won't be uploaded for web access until some time after it is broadcast (13 Feb, 8:30am Eastern on FS1).

Steve · Feb 3, 2016

Nair (Ford): â€œWeâ€™ve Got a Fast Car Thatâ€™s Not Reliable Right Nowâ€ (sportscar365.com)

John Dagys | February 3, 2016

The highly anticipated competition debut of the new Ford GT in last weekendâ€™s Rolex 24 at Daytona didnâ€™t necessarily live up to pre-race expectations, with both cars facing a string of reliability issues, almost from the get-go.

While both cars finished the race, they were heavily delayed, with the No. 66 entry of Joey Hand, Dirk Mueller and Sebastien Bourdais the highest-placed in 31st overall and more than 30 laps down on the GT Le Mans class-winning Corvette.

According to Raj Nair, Fordâ€™s executive vice president, Global Product Development and chief technical officer, the issues â€“largely tied to the gearbox and electrical systems â€” came as a bit of a surprise, but hasnâ€™t discouraged the team for future success.

â€œOur test program had been pretty good, so to be frank, we expected a little bit better result as far as reliability,â€ Nair told Auto Hebdo.

â€œTo be pragmatic, it was the first time out with the car, a brand-new car, and those 99 percent of the time are going to find issues you didnâ€™t know.

â€œThe one thing I can guarantee you about [the race] was that an engineer was going to come to me some time during the day and tell me that never happened in testing.

â€œUnfortunately, that happened more that I would have liked. But thatâ€™s why weâ€™re here. We know the issues we have. For the best part, weâ€™ve got enough data now, almost, to know how to fix them.

â€œThe good thing is the car is pretty fast. If it hadnâ€™t been for the reliability issues, I think we had the pace to run up front.

â€œWeâ€™ve got a fast car thatâ€™s not reliable right now. We obviously have to have both.

â€œBut I rather have a fast car thatâ€™s not reliable and know how to fix it than a reliable car thatâ€™s not fast and not know how to get it to be faster.â€

Both cars were plagued by gearbox issues, with the first domino to fall coming in only the 10th lap when Ryan Briscoe pitted the No. 67 Ford due to being stuck in sixth gear.

The No. 66 car, meanwhile, had a complete gearbox change, compounded with electrical gremlins, which dropped it well down the running order.

When asked pre-race, Ford Performance boss Dave Perciak was not able to disclose the total amount of total testing mileage, or the number of endurance tests it had completed but said they had done extensive on-track and dyno testing.

By mid-race, the Rolex 24 in fact turned into an extended test for the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team, in gathering as much data as possible to help diagnose and solve the issues.

â€œWe wanted to get time on the car so we went ahead and went through all of the work of changing [the gearbox],â€ Nair said. â€œBut early on in the race, we were setting some pretty good times.

â€œI think even from the feedback from the drivers, you always get more feedback and know how to get a little bit more out of it.

â€œSome of the parts that failed, some of the electrical issues, some of the simple things like brake line routings and some of the things weâ€™re working to learn how to work as a total team between the partnersâ€¦

â€œAll of those things, we learned a lot and we know how to improve on it.â€

Despite the struggles at Daytona, Nair is determined to get to the bottom of the reliability concerns before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which has been declared the programâ€™s major focus for 2016.

â€œWe put everything we know together to have a successful program,â€ Nair said. â€œThe one thing we canâ€™t buy is time.

â€œWe certainly would have liked to have had a season or a half-season on us before coming into the 24 Hours of Daytona.

â€œYour first race being 24 hours is tough. But at the same time, the real important race this year is Le Mans. So itâ€™s better to find these things now.

â€œWeâ€™re going to run the car and break as many parts as we can and [do] more testing and fix those parts that break, all with the goal that weâ€™re going to not just fast but reliable at Le Mans.

â€œI think everyone remembers that win in â€™66 coming 1-2-3. What most people donâ€™t remember is â€™64 and â€65 werenâ€™t such good years for the car.

â€œWe donâ€™t have the luxury of those two years to sort out and then win. We need to put our best effort in to go for the win this year.â€
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