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Grand Am
GRAND-AM: Homestead-Miami Notebook
The Jesse James of GT, Tuning For 2011, Radars, To Taper or not to Taper, Same Car; Different Shape, Budding Comedian, Temp Blocker, John From Cincinnati and more from Homestead-Miami.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted March 06, 2010   Homestead, FL
The Jesse James of GT

One of the feel good stories of the weekend has been the pace and Rolex GT pole position scored by Leighton Reese’s Banner Racing/Godstone Ranch Corvette.

After leading GM’s Pontiac program for the past few seasons, the championship-winning team found its funding cut for 2010 when the auto giant filed for bankruptcy.

But Reese, one of the most dogged competitors in any paddock, refused to let the demise of his factory GXP.R effort spell the end of his GRAND-AM team.

With new partners in Godstone Ranch, Reese and his Wisconsin-based team had a busy winter, transforming the bulbous GXP.R into a more svelte and sleek Corvette.

“This is the chassis won the 2008 Rolex GT championship,” Reese said, “it’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? The car is 6.6 inches shorter than the Pontiac. If you put the Corvette right next to the Pontiac GXP the size difference is enormous. We actually used the same roll cage but we lowered it about 4 inches and moved it back about 6 inches and we moved the driver’s seat back 2 inches and we shortened the whole chassis 6.6 inches. But like everything you do, one change creates 50 more changes so the process was a lot more complicated than just shortening the drive shaft and all that sort of stuff.”

Poor weight distribution was always a shortcoming with the Pontiac, as its nose-heavy nature created understeer and punished the front tires as a result. With so much weight moved rearwards on the Reese’s re-bodied chassis, the car is much friendlier to drive.

“It really didn't change but just by getting the car shorter it changed the center of mass. We've got the polar moment [of inertia] fairly reduced on the car. So all our stuff is compressed into the middle. Like the oil tank had to move forward while the driver also had to move backwards. The hood is so much lower, everything is 6 inches lower. The aerodynamic footprint, is better, it's just a slipperier car…a lot sexier too!”
Leighton Reese has enjoyed the speed shown by his Corvette-bodied GXP.R, and has taken to his new 'Jesse James' look, complete with dark sunglasses, beanie and soul patch. (Marshall Pruett)

Reese’s Corvette hasn’t seen a wind tunnel yet, but he and the team have been able to draw from data and experience from wind tunnel data they gained with their Corvette during their World Challenge program. Banner Racing still has a lot to learn about their revised Rolex GT car, but with driver Paul Edwards grabbing pole position for today’s race, Reese was his usual gregarious self.

“We were P1 in practice and didn’t do too bad in qualifying here. Adding Tony Dowe in an engineering capacity has been great, and we've got Paul Edwards who… hopefully you’re going to be hearing some good stuff about him in the future,” he said with a laugh. “He’s our star driver, we love him!”

Tuning For 2011

Continental Tire will hold a test on Monday to evaluate a number of new tire compounds and constructions for 2011 season, and as Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Mike Hull told me, everything was coming together as expected.
Reese's Banner Corvette has been the class of the field so far at Homestead-Miami. (Marshall Pruett)

“I’m impressed. Their testing script is just like what we’re used to with the other tire manufacturers we work with, and they’ll be keeping us and a few others busy with short runs in the morning, and then long runs in the afternoon.”

So far, two Rolex DPs and four Rolex GT cars are scheduled to test, and as Continental Tire makes changes based on the results of Monday’s efforts, additional tests with a different set of teams is expected to be held.

Radars

Aiming the mighty SPEEDtv.com radar gun at the start/finish line in the final practice session before qualifying (when most teams do simulated qualifying runs towards the end) gave a good indicator as to who might claim pole, but a few surprises emerged.
In DP, Brumos Racing came from seventh on the radar chart to snatch pole from the car with the fastest trap speed, the #99 ‘Red Dragon.’

The evolution of the Coyote-Porsche V8 package continues to make strides, posting the sixth fastest speed, and later qualifying eighth.

In GT, the radars told two different tales. While Porsche claimed the top two speeds, the swarm of Mazdas, while lacking in outright top speed, more than made up for it on the infield section of the track.

Car #, Team, MPH
99 GAINSCO/Stallings 177.6
10 SunTrust Racing 176.8
1 TELMEX Ganassi 176.3
60 Michael Shank Racing 175.9
61 Aim Autosport 175.7
90 Spirit of Daytona Racing 175.7
59 Brumos Racing 174.6
77 Doran Racing 173.7
75 Krohn Racing 173.3
8 Starworks Motorsports 172.8
95 Level 5 Motorsports 172.8
6 Michael Shank Racing 171.8
55 Level 5 Motorsports 171.1
7 Starworks Motorsports 170.7
66 TRG 158.9
44 Magnus Racing 157.7
69 SpeedSource 157.7
30 Racers Edge Motorsports 157.2
48 Miller Barrett Racing 157.2
41 Dempsey Racing 155.9
42 Team Sahlen 154.6
46 Autohaus Motorsports 154
70 SpeedSource 153.7
68 SpeedSource/NWR 153.2
40 Dempsey Racing 153
43 Team Sahlen 152.5
97 Stevenson Motorsports 152.2
28 LG Motorsports 151.4

No Spark

Starworks driver Ryan Dalziel was apologetic after qualifying, noting the planned narrated in-car lap we’d arranged to do using the team’s own video footage went awry. Electronics gremlins saw the Rolex 24 winner running without telemetry and a few of the other data systems teams are accustomed to working with.

To Taper or not to Taper

While the GRAND-AM series keeps a steady hand on the aerodynamic tools that teams are allowed to use to tune their Daytona Prototype machines, enough freedom is given to allow each team’s engineer to tailor the balance of their cars to their drivers’ liking.
Chip Ganassi Racing team director Mike Hull. (Marshall Pruett)

The end result sees teams employing different aero philosophies to achieve the same means: the fastest and most consistent lap times possible.

A quick glance at the rear wings of the assembled DP field today showed two popular choices for Gurney tabs – tapered tabs that have a taller, more uniform height across the top, except for the outermost portion that is tapered down, and the more traditional ‘flat’ Gurneys that are the same height from end to end.

Asked why some teams prefer one more than the other, GIANSCO/Bob Stallings Racing engineer Kyle Brannan told SPEEDtv.com, “It’s just a personal preference, I think. We’ve used the tapered Gurneys all along and they work fine for us. There’s no real advantage between the normal ones or the ones we use, but since we started out testing and running with them, we know what we have. It’s the same for guys using the regular ones, I’m sure.”

The tapered Gurneys help to relieve pressure around the end plates, which sounds like a natural choice for everyone to use, but Brannan says a lower, flat Gurneys negates any real advantage the tapered ones might offer.

A mix of tapered and flat Gurneys were seen on the top qualifiers in DP, further proving Brannan’s point.

Up front, Daytona Prototypes usually run without dive planes, but the TELMEX Ganassi team and AIM Autosport utilized them to add a slight bit of extra downforce on the noses of their Rileys.
Tapered and standard 'flat' Gurneys. (Marshall Pruett)

Dive planes, in their traditional use, have little to do with producing front downforce, but with their implementation in DP, they provide a tiny bit of additional loading on the front of the car, helping it to turn.

Teams also run with louvers atop the front wheel arches, which reduces drag and adds downforce. Blanking off the louver section will improve straight-line acceleration, but at a track like Homestead-Miami, terminal velocity isn’t the only consideration.

The most popular setup at Homestead-Miami in DP has been to run without dive planes and to use tapered Gurneys on the rear wing, but as some have shown, impressive speeds can be achieved by a number of means.

Same Car; Different Shape

Like Leighton Reese’s Corvette, the Stevenson Motorsports team also updated their Pontiac GXP.Rs to a new body for 2010, opting to go for a new Camaro shell that was designed and built by Pratt & Miller, makers of the GXP.R.
Dive planes are also an option, but few teams have chosen them this weekend. (Marshall Pruett)

Although Banner Racing has had few issues with the aero balance of their Corvette, the Stevenson Camaros are needing some extra time to get their new body sorted to their drivers’ liking.

Andrew Davis, pilot of the #57 Camaro alongside co-driver Robin Liddell, says the team learned an immense amount of knowledge about the car during testing and the Rolex 24 race.

“Our first concern with the new Camaro was just getting the aero balance right because it's the same chassis that we ran with Pontiac GXP.R but now the Camaro GT.R, we need to just trying to find where that aero balance, where it lies. So we really focused over the test days at Daytona trying to find that balance and see where the car was happy. When you look at the drag numbers and everything and just the downforce numbers between the two cars, there are some differences. Our main concern was on the front, just trying to make sure we have enough front grip for the high speed stuff. And we really made a lot of progress through those test days and then continuing to test it for the 24 and we found a good balance there.”

After qualifying sixth and posted the fastest Rolex GT lap in the pre-race warm up, the Stevenson team is poised to make another leap forward with the car. With more downforce at the front of the GT.R, Davis expects better tire wear and a more consistent car to drive – two things the GXP.R struggled with at times.
Andrew Davis. (Marshall Pruett)

“The Camaro’s front tire wear has been okay. When we get to a track like Homestead here, which is historically hard on rear tires, and that’s what we've been fighting. So far the rear tire wear is in step with the front. But to change the chassis, not only aerodynamically, but just the way the body sits on the car, the weight distribution is different. Even though it’s the same chassis it's different all the way around. And as refined as we had the Pontiac, Robin and I drove it for two years and the team had worked on it for two years straight – you make that change to a new body profile, and it's a big change, but it's not like starting from scratch. We’ve been doing a good job so far, and let’s hope that translates into a win today.”

Budding Comedian

Best pre-race quote award goes to GAINSCO’s Alex Gurney. The 2009 DP driver’s co-champion, while always fast at Homestead-Miami, hasn’t enjoyed the best of luck at the 2.3-mile Roval.

“I think apart from last year’s finale, my only good memory at Homestead was in 1998 when I had a pole position in the Barber Dodge race. Jon Fogarty was in the same race. One way to look at it is to say that Homestead is one of my favorite tracks on the GRAND-AM schedule. I rank it right after Virginia, Barber, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Daytona, New Jersey, Montreal and Salt Lake – right after those...”

Temp Blocker

I was curious as to he purpose of the stainless steel ‘cow catcher’ piece mounted to the bottom of the SunTrust Racing Dallara, and assumed it was fabricated by the team to help deflect debris like paper from blocking the car’s narrow radiator inlet.
The 'temperature blocker.' (Marshall Pruett)

Wayne Taylor Racing’s crew chief, Simon Hodgson, pointed out that the device, which he’s termed the ‘temperature blocker,’ is rather used limit the amount of air into the radiator in cooler conditions like what we’ve experienced to far this weekend.

Rather than throw a piece of duct tape over the inlet – the common practice – WTR fashioned a more aerodynamic alternative to raise their water temperature while deflecting the unneeded air in a more efficient manner. Well done.

Broke, Broken, Broker

LG Motorsports has suffered a painful entry into the Rolex GT series, experiencing regular axle failures on Friday. So regular, it turns out, that crew chief Louis Gigliotti knew precisely when to call the car in.
With three sets of blown axles, the LG Motorsports team has had a trying weekend. (Marshall Pruett)

“They’ve been going eight laps, exactly.” The stock Corvette axles are failing without any of the tell-tale signs the veteran crew knows to look for.

“This is a weird one. I don’t know why it’s happening; we’ve used these forever.” After going through three sets of axles, Gigliotti worked with Dan Cota of EMCO Gears to look at a possible solution.

“We use the stock Corvette transaxle mated to EMCO’s gearbox, and that’s a standard combination,” Gigliotti said. “We’ll see what we can come up with and hope everything lasts.”

John From Cincinnati

Think of your town’s mayor, and then ask yourself if he or she would fly to support you at your first professional race. The answer would likely be a ‘no,’ and if you live in a large city, there’s simply no way it would happen.
Cincinnati's favorite son, John Edwards. (Marshall Pruett)

But not in the case of Cincinnati, Ohio’s John Edwards, who’s making his pro debut this weekend in the Rolex Series with Mazda. With more than 350,000 residents, the Western Ohio city is known for its loyalty, and getting behind a young athlete – in this case a young racecar driver – is how they do things in Edwards’ home town.

Not only did Mayor Mark Mallory fly down to Homestead this weekend to offer moral support for Edwards, he also named January 27th, 2010 ‘John Edwards Day’ in Cincinnati – an honor most of the drivers in the GRAND-AM paddock have yet to experience.

Drivers in Mourning

The Rolex Series paddock is filled with Atlantic Championship graduates, and more than a few were upset to hear that the series had cancelled its 2010 season, and looks set to fold.

Jon Fogarty, 2002 and 2004 Atlantic champion, was dismayed at the news.

“It's horrible. Obviously, it produced a ton of good drivers, a lot of great history and I'm hoping it is just temporary – I don't know what they call it, a furlough – but hopefully it's just going to be temporary. They've got a great product and a really cool race car and it's been a good proving ground and training ground for drivers. We'll see. Hopefully if things pick up, it will give them the opportunity to get underway again. It does happen. The Atlantic series is a business and businesses mature and decline. It seemed to be a formula that worked so I don't see any reason why it shouldn't, when economic times are better, to be prosperous. I keep in touch with a lot of people who are still involved in the series and I knew things were tenuous so it wasn't a huge surprise. Just a shame. But everybody is trying to find a way to get by, in spite of it. That’s where the focus is shifting now so I guess hopefully when money is a little bit more available things will return.”

More DP for RHR

In the case of Ryan Hunter-Reay, IndyCar’s loss is GRAND-AM’s gain.

With only a partial schedule in place in the IZOD-sponsored Andretti Autosport IndyCar, RHR has been able to fill the holes in his calendar with drives for Level 5 Motorsports. A podium run at the Rolex 24 last month highlighted his debut with the team, and he’s back again this weekend, partnering with team owner Scott Tucker in the #95 entry.

“IndyCar is my primary focus but, yeah, when I have gaps in the schedule Andretti’s been very understanding on that and they’ll let me drive a lot of racecars so it's pretty cool. I'm having fun. We've had a good time together at Homestead, and at Daytona. Now I’m going to do a few more DP races with them and then I think we might do something else pretty exciting together here pretty soon. Hopefully, we’ll be announcing that soon.”

(Level 5 added a second LMPC entry on Friday for Hunter-Reay and Mark Wilkins at Sebring.)

Tune into SPEED to watch the Rolex Series race from Homestead-Miami today at 5 p.m. ET.

Marshall Pruett is SPEEDtv.com’s Auto Racing Editor, and also covers IndyCar and sportscar racing for the site. Pruett grew up at ‘Pruett's Olde English Garage,’ his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits.

Pruett spent 20 years working in the IRL, CART, IMSA, and most of the known open-wheel feeder series before retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, no, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

Marshall lives in Northern California with his wife Shabral.

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