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GRAND-AM
IN THE COCKPIT: Ricky Taylor, Rolex 24
There is nothing like the good vibrations and sweet sensations of being in Daytona Beach at the end of January for one of the greatest races in the world, The Rolex 24 at Daytona...
Ricky Taylor made his debut with Spirit of Daytona Racing in last weekend's Rolex 24. (Photo: John Dagys)
There is nothing like the good vibrations and sweet sensations of being in Daytona Beach at the end of January for one of the greatest races in the world, The Rolex 24 at Daytona!
It would be my first race in four years where I would be racing for a team other than my father’s and I was excited, yet nervous as ever for what the race would bring as we knew going in that it would be extremely tough to race for the win this year.
I felt like we had a great driver lineup and I was very excited to have the opportunity to drive with the guys I’ve looked up to for so many years: Oliver Gavin, Antonio Garcia, and Richard Westbrook. The team has been the most underrated in the pit lane and I feel that this we had a great chance at a great result, not to mention our possibilities for the rest of the season.
So much can happen during a 24-hour race and having a completely clean race is almost a victory in itself. Each and every stint can consist of near misses with spinning cars and debris, close calls with lapped GT cars, facing the unexpected loss of grip from dropped oil, grass, or dirt, and the big one: a driver error leading to an off or an accident.
At Daytona it’s so easy to make a mistake, there is Turn 1 where we are often passing GT cars on either side and it is also one of the best places to pass a DP. Quite often you will encounter dirt and grass on the racing line from people who have run across the grass on the inside which, by the time you arrive on the scene, it is too late to avoid which severely hampers your braking capability.
Turn 3 is a great place to get by GT’s but these days, with a good driver, a GT can brake almost as late as a DP which makes the pass slightly more risky. The next corner is the kink which is a flat out left hander and GT drivers do not like DP’s to pass here so they will often block or completely not see you which almost led to a door to door hit between me and the 56 Ferrari in the middle of the night. Turn 5 is another hard braking right hander but GT drivers run many different lines approaching the corner which makes reading which way to go very difficult because we are coming up on them with a lot of speed and need to make a decision.
After Turn 5 and 6 we get into the biggest problem area, the Bus Stop. This quick chicane is a major problem area, we will face many different issues here and because of the amount of commitment it takes to go through this series of corners quickly, we are very vulnerable to debris, grass, and other cars.
With all of that said, we really needed to have a safe race and be there on Sunday morning to race to the finish. Richard qualified the car in a fantastic 5th position and the rotation was for him to start, for me to drive second, Antonio third, and Olly to drive fourth. The plan was for all of the drivers to do double stints every time, a single stint being about 45 minutes.
At the beginning of the race our car was quite uncomfortable and we were going to struggle to keep pace with the BMWs and Fords. We were struggling to stay on the lead lap throughout Saturday night but with well-timed yellows and some crafty strategy work we were able to hang onto the lead lap. During the night time hours our car balance improved drastically and we were consistently one of the quickest Corvettes on the track which was a great feeling to be able to attack.
We stayed on the lead lap through the night but by daybreak on Sunday morning our car had gone away from us again and was a handful to keep pace again. We still managed to stay on the lead lap through all of our brake changes and extended services and actually improved the car tremendously to the point where we felt we would not just be fighting to stay on the lead lap, but maybe for a possible podium finish. Being one of only five cars on the lead lap was a great feeling, but later that morning the wheels began to fall off when some damage from the late night hours came back to haunt us.
When I got out of the car, the exhausts broke, melting the floor off of the car, and damaging the alternator system. Now we had a lawnmower sounding Corvette that could not charge the battery properly and we would have to sacrifice some of our driver aids to not drain battery power. All of this happened with about four hours to go in the race and we had an 11-lap lead over the 2 and 99 cars, but it would be a tight race to the finish.
We managed to keep going without the airhose, coolsuit or rearview camera and the battery voltage was holding fine but the car was very, very hot inside and I had to get out after a short double stint because my eyes were burning from the heat. Richard then got in for the final hour and a half but almost immediately after getting in the car, he lost power steering. That must have been an extremely long final hour as our cars are extremely heavy without power steering and extremely hot without driver aids.
Richard muscled through it and our boys got us to the finish line with a 4 lap lead over the 99 and the 2 cars with a solid P5 effort.
It was a great 24 hour and I was so proud to be a part of such a great effort, all of the drivers pushed 100 percent for all 24 hours, the pit stops were flawless, the crew dealt with adversity on multiple occasions, engineering and strategy was great keeping us in contention, and I can’t wait to come back next year to finish a few spots higher.
This ties my best result at the Rolex 24, but it was the best I have every started a season in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series so I am confident that Richard and I will fight hard all year and be in contention for a championship in September!
Ed's Note: In case you haven't seen it yet, check out what Ricky, brother Jordan and fellow drivers Spencer Pigot and Mark Jensen did to prepare for the Rolex 24!
Ricky Taylor, 23-year-old son of three-time sports car champion Wayne Taylor, embarks on his first season with Spirit of Daytona Racing, co-driving the No. 90 Corvette DP with Richard Westbrook. Follow him on Twitter: @Ricky_Taylor90 or at http://www.sdr-motorsports.com/
It would be my first race in four years where I would be racing for a team other than my father’s and I was excited, yet nervous as ever for what the race would bring as we knew going in that it would be extremely tough to race for the win this year.
I felt like we had a great driver lineup and I was very excited to have the opportunity to drive with the guys I’ve looked up to for so many years: Oliver Gavin, Antonio Garcia, and Richard Westbrook. The team has been the most underrated in the pit lane and I feel that this we had a great chance at a great result, not to mention our possibilities for the rest of the season.
So much can happen during a 24-hour race and having a completely clean race is almost a victory in itself. Each and every stint can consist of near misses with spinning cars and debris, close calls with lapped GT cars, facing the unexpected loss of grip from dropped oil, grass, or dirt, and the big one: a driver error leading to an off or an accident.
At Daytona it’s so easy to make a mistake, there is Turn 1 where we are often passing GT cars on either side and it is also one of the best places to pass a DP. Quite often you will encounter dirt and grass on the racing line from people who have run across the grass on the inside which, by the time you arrive on the scene, it is too late to avoid which severely hampers your braking capability.
Turn 3 is a great place to get by GT’s but these days, with a good driver, a GT can brake almost as late as a DP which makes the pass slightly more risky. The next corner is the kink which is a flat out left hander and GT drivers do not like DP’s to pass here so they will often block or completely not see you which almost led to a door to door hit between me and the 56 Ferrari in the middle of the night. Turn 5 is another hard braking right hander but GT drivers run many different lines approaching the corner which makes reading which way to go very difficult because we are coming up on them with a lot of speed and need to make a decision.
After Turn 5 and 6 we get into the biggest problem area, the Bus Stop. This quick chicane is a major problem area, we will face many different issues here and because of the amount of commitment it takes to go through this series of corners quickly, we are very vulnerable to debris, grass, and other cars.
With all of that said, we really needed to have a safe race and be there on Sunday morning to race to the finish. Richard qualified the car in a fantastic 5th position and the rotation was for him to start, for me to drive second, Antonio third, and Olly to drive fourth. The plan was for all of the drivers to do double stints every time, a single stint being about 45 minutes.
At the beginning of the race our car was quite uncomfortable and we were going to struggle to keep pace with the BMWs and Fords. We were struggling to stay on the lead lap throughout Saturday night but with well-timed yellows and some crafty strategy work we were able to hang onto the lead lap. During the night time hours our car balance improved drastically and we were consistently one of the quickest Corvettes on the track which was a great feeling to be able to attack.
We stayed on the lead lap through the night but by daybreak on Sunday morning our car had gone away from us again and was a handful to keep pace again. We still managed to stay on the lead lap through all of our brake changes and extended services and actually improved the car tremendously to the point where we felt we would not just be fighting to stay on the lead lap, but maybe for a possible podium finish. Being one of only five cars on the lead lap was a great feeling, but later that morning the wheels began to fall off when some damage from the late night hours came back to haunt us.
When I got out of the car, the exhausts broke, melting the floor off of the car, and damaging the alternator system. Now we had a lawnmower sounding Corvette that could not charge the battery properly and we would have to sacrifice some of our driver aids to not drain battery power. All of this happened with about four hours to go in the race and we had an 11-lap lead over the 2 and 99 cars, but it would be a tight race to the finish.
We managed to keep going without the airhose, coolsuit or rearview camera and the battery voltage was holding fine but the car was very, very hot inside and I had to get out after a short double stint because my eyes were burning from the heat. Richard then got in for the final hour and a half but almost immediately after getting in the car, he lost power steering. That must have been an extremely long final hour as our cars are extremely heavy without power steering and extremely hot without driver aids.
Richard muscled through it and our boys got us to the finish line with a 4 lap lead over the 99 and the 2 cars with a solid P5 effort.
It was a great 24 hour and I was so proud to be a part of such a great effort, all of the drivers pushed 100 percent for all 24 hours, the pit stops were flawless, the crew dealt with adversity on multiple occasions, engineering and strategy was great keeping us in contention, and I can’t wait to come back next year to finish a few spots higher.
This ties my best result at the Rolex 24, but it was the best I have every started a season in the GRAND-AM Rolex Series so I am confident that Richard and I will fight hard all year and be in contention for a championship in September!
Ed's Note: In case you haven't seen it yet, check out what Ricky, brother Jordan and fellow drivers Spencer Pigot and Mark Jensen did to prepare for the Rolex 24!
Ricky Taylor, 23-year-old son of three-time sports car champion Wayne Taylor, embarks on his first season with Spirit of Daytona Racing, co-driving the No. 90 Corvette DP with Richard Westbrook. Follow him on Twitter: @Ricky_Taylor90 or at http://www.sdr-motorsports.com/
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