Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
Grand Am
ROLEX 24: Friday Notebook
Friday's notebook has 'Scuse Me While I Kiss the Ford, Catching up with Patrick Dempsey, GTP Rolex 24 Gallery, Chips Ahoy, Alex Job's Rolex 48, Diesel Duel at Daytona? and more.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted January 29, 2010   Daytona Beach, FL
With 24-hour race experience at Daytona and also in France, Patrick Dempsey continues to add serious mileage to his pro racing experience. (John Dagys)
'Scuse Me While I Kiss The Ford

With the pullout of Lexus and Pontiac for the 2010 season, Ford finds itself with heightened pressure to succeed after last year's struggles. The early stages of the 2009 Rolex 24 looked like a Ford-powered Daytona Prototype might land in victory circle, but those plans soon went awry as their V8s began dropping out one by one. Fortunately, their problems at the Rolex 24 didn’t result in a loss of business, and they find themselves in the enviable position of having more than a third of the DP powerplants in the Rolex 24 -- 5 out of 14 cars.
Michael Shank Racing plan to show the same speed their Riley-Ford displayed in 2009 while avoiding race-ending electronics issues. (Marshall Pruett)

Speaking with John Maddox of Roush Yates Engines, builders of the Ford DP mill, he assured me that they aren’t relying on the statistical odds to deliver a long-awaited victory. “A lot of work went into solving the problems we had at the 2009 Rolex 24 race and making sure we’re stronger than ever for 2010.”

The root of the 2009 Rolex 24 failures fell on faulty crankshaft trigger sensors, but interestingly, the Fords weren’t halted by a batch of bad parts. Maddox and his team had to go a lot deeper to trace the real origins of the problem.

“The problem last year was all about harmonics. The crankshaft speed that we were running at during Daytona was setting the crank trigger wheel into its natural frequency. So when it gets into its natural frequency, it gets excited and starts moving around – like a guitar string. You watch a guitar string when it hits its natural frequency, and it begins to vibrate all by itself. Once they started vibrating, it kept happening until they eventually broke.”

With the engine’s ECU no longer receiving information from the crank trigger sensor, the system shut itself down. Game over. Unlike the simplicity of replacing a failed spark plug, the crank trigger sensor is sandwiched between the minute gap that separates the engine and the back of the chassis, making a quick fix impossible.

Maddox and the Ford/Roush Yates team went into action immediately after the race, redesigning the sensor with a stronger material, and they also made sure to use a material that wouldn’t be susceptible to doing Jimi Hendrix impersonations.

“Through a lot of engineering analysis, we came up with a new trigger sensor that has a natural frequency much higher than anything we’d ever encounter. We also added in a redundancy by installing a second sensor on the back of the engine, so if the front one fails, we can plug the rear one into the ECU without losing much time.”

Although the Ford DP engines were fixed after the '09 Rolex 24, they've yet to run a live 24-hour simulation, but Maddox said the rumbling 5.0L V8s have been very active on Roush Yates’ transient dyno.

“We’ve done multiple endurance tests since last year’s Rolex race. We ran 2800 miles in December (the '09 race-winning Riley-Porsche completed just over 2600 miles) using an exact simulation map of the Daytona lap with every shift and braking zone replicated for 2800 miles straight. Then we took the test engine apart, inspected it all, gave it our approval, and built the rest of our customer engines for this year’s race from there. We’re ready to go.”

Watch a lap of Daytona being completed on the Roush Yates dyno.



Take a look at the glorious IMSA GTP cars that raced at the Rolex 24, including the 1989 race winner, the Busby Porsche 962. (GTP.com)
Rolex 24 IMSA Photo Gallery Retrospective

Enjoy a look back at some of the unique IMSA machinery that competed at the Rolex 24 between 1985 and 1993 with a photo gallery of 70 images of GTP, GTPL, GTO and GTU cars from an amazing stretch of 24 Hours of Daytona events.

Click HERE to view the gallery.


Catching Up With Patrick Dempsey By John Dagys

Patrick Dempsey is quickly becoming an endurance racing veteran. The popular TV/movie star made his Rolex 24 debut just two years ago and now returns to the endurance classic with more confidence than ever. Last June, Dempsey embarked on his first 24 Hours of Le Mans -- a race that featured many ups and downs.
Adjusting to the handling characteristics of the MAZDASPEED3 and his Rolex GT RX-8 requires PD to reset his brain when he switches between the Rolex and Continental Tire series. (John Dagys)


Competing in a Ferrari F430 GT prepared by four-time FIA GT2 champions AF Corse, Dempsey ended up driving over 10 hours of the race himself after co-driver Don Kitch Jr. fell ill, leaving the driving duties to himself and Joe Foster. The duo persevered and finished a respectable ninth in class, a commendable achievement given all three drivers were Le Mans rookies.

“It’s nice to have a solid 24-hour race under your belt,” Dempsey said. “I’ve definitely developed a lot more confidence having survived that race. It was a dream come true to go there and in those conditions, plus the amount of seat time I got... Having close to 10 hours in the car at Le Mans is a great gift. Now the real hunger is to win. You want to be up there and competitive.”

Dempsey’s latest challenge lies with his Rolex GT Series team, which has expanded to a two-car Mazda RX-8 operation for 2010. Dempsey Racing has joined forces with Team Seattle, the charitable organization which has raised over $3.5 million for Seattle’s Children Hospital from the past decade of racing in the Rolex 24 and last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with Dempsey and Foster.

Dempsey and longtime driving mentor Foster team with Charles Espenlaub and Scott Maxwell in the No. 40 RX-8, while the Team Seattle Mazda features the driving strength of Kitch, James Gue, Dave Lacey and 2009 Rolex GT Series co-champion Leh Keen. The No. 41 machine was quickest in the “Roar Before the 24” test three weeks ago and qualified ninth in the 30-car GT field this weekend.

Like a handful of other Rolex Series drivers, Dempsey is pulling double-duty this weekend, also competing in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with a brand-new MAZDASPEED3. The ST-class machine, entered by Freedom Autosport, was co-driven by none other than 2009 Atlantic Champion John Edwards, who Dempsey gave laps in his RX-8 during the Rolex Series test.
Chip Ganassi's experience in the explosive March-Buick made for a memorable Rolex 24 in 1986. (GTP.com)

“It’s such a transition from an RX-8 and the speed difference is huge,” Dempsey said. “It’s a Street Tuner car, so it has a lot of characteristics of a production car. The front wheel drive is certainly challenging. You have to prepare for that and get the wheel pointed, and the car really takes off. The adaptability to the car is giving me more experience. This weekend is flying by because I’m always in a car or running from one car to the next. So that’s fun and challenging as I continue to grow.”

Dempsey and Edwards finished 22nd in class in Friday’s Fresh From Florida 200, but they now both set their eyes on the twice-around-the-clock enduro. Edwards secured a last-minute ride with the Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda squad, one of seven RX-8s entered in tomorrow’s race and the full Rolex Series season.

With such a solid field of RX-8s, including the 2008 Rolex 24-winning SpeedSource squad, Dempsey feels 2010 could be Mazda’s breakthrough year in the title chase.

“We really want to give Mazda a championship and have a real shot at doing it this year, so that would be nice to see,” Dempsey said. “You look at the field of drivers in the Rolex 24 and for the rest of the season in the Rolex Series, there’s a lot of people out there. If you can succeed here, you can succeed pretty much anywhere.”

Dempsey hopes to compete in as many Rolex Series races this year as his filming schedule allows. While he’ll likely be on the set of a movie during his hiatus from filming Grey’s Anatomy this spring, Dempsey is working hard with his insurance company to let him race during the film’s production.

And a return to Le Mans shouldn’t be counted out, either. In fact, Dempsey has even grander ambitions for the future, which includes many of the classic endurance races around the world.

“If we could get sponsorship, I’d love to go back to Le Mans this year,” he said. “We certainly want to go back with Mazda in two years, so we’ll see. But I absolutely want to do it. We want to do Le Mans, Sebring, Nurburgring, Spa, all the classics. There’s a lot of races out there I’d like to do and hopefully my ability improves and I can get to those races.”

While he calls the Rolex Series home, Dempsey hasn’t hidden his dreams of also stepping up to the prototype ranks one day, to tackle races such as the Twelve Hours Sebring in a Mazda-powered LMP machine.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us before we get there,” he said. “But it’s good to have goals so you can start looking to reach those. This year is really just about consistency once again and have strong finishes.”

And that’s what Dempsey Racing hopes to achieve come 3:30 p.m. on Sunday. Getting both of its cars to the finish line will be the primary objective in a season-long bid for the GT championship.

Listen In To JLowe

Our friends at JLowe Racing have provided SPEEDtv.com with an embedded audio player for the Rolex 24 that will allow fans to listen into live pit-to-car/car-to-pit radio transmissions throughout the entire race.

Look for our ROLEX 24: Race Blog story on Saturday to access the player.

Chips Ahoy

The 1986 Rolex 24 had what must be the largest congregation of drivers named ‘Chip’ in the race’s long history…three to be exact.

Chip Robinson, Chip Mead…and Chip Ganassi.
A Herculean effort by AJR will see the storied Porsche team not only make Saturday's race, but look for them to show some serious speed in their heavily repaired chassis. (John Dagys)

Ganassi is well known as a team owner, and even as an IndyCar driver in the 1980s, but his resume as a sportscar driver is much less publicized. Not only did he race at Le Mans in 1987 with the Sauber-Mercedes team, the Chipster also took part in the 1986 Rolex 24, driving Phil Conte’s March-Buick.

The beastly Buick, one of the most powerful engines in the history of the IMSA GTP series, propelled the March chassis to a number of poles and fastest laps under Conte’s care, but when it came to race wins, the production-based V6 had a nasty habit of expelling its internal components well before the checkered flag.

The 1000-plus horsepower Buick turbo V-6s were the hand grenades of the era. Car owners likened taking the green flag to pulling the grenade’s pin. True to form, Ganassi’s RC Cola-liveried March-Buick finished 33rd with a failed engine, and its sister car, the #46, finished 63rd with a failed gearbox.

Despite the shortened race, Ganassi’s car, co-driven by Ivan Capelli, Whitney Ganz, Bob Lobenberg and John Paul Jr., almost made it to half distance.

Almost.

The first thing that came to Chip's mind was how fast the Buick’s were on the big track. “Two hundred and four miles per hour on the straights in qualifying,” he said with a huge grin, “it was a bullet as long as it lasted…which wasn’t long.”

A fellow IndyCar driver introduced Ganassi to the team, and soon after, his bags were packed for Daytona.

“John Paul Jr. was a friend of mine – he was one of the drivers and said they were looking for someone. Ivan Capelli was there; he was a March driver at the time -- Robin Herd brought him, and he was also about to become the Leyton House March F1 driver. We also had Whitney Ganz and Bob Lobenberg.”

While the car survived into the early morning, it was a rude wake-up call Ganassi received that stands out the most to him after all these years.

“It’s about one or two in the morning, and they came and woke me up. In those days there were very few drivers thinking about fitness and all that; back then, they woke you up, you put a dry t-short on, you pulled your suit up, drank a quick cup of coffee, and off you went. I remember it vividly. I had maybe three minutes to spare. So I get in the car, take off down pit lane, and back then, they used to have a sign board that showed your speed as you approached Turn 1 each lap…and it flashes ‘199’ on my first lap.

“So I’m thinking to myself, ‘Jesus Christ, I was just asleep ten minutes ago and now I’m doing 199 mph into Turn 1!’ I’ll never forget that. Then Ganz got in the car and ‘mulchified’ the gearbox…and we were finished.”

Ganassi then shared a hilarious tale about one of his Rolex 24 co-drivers that isn’t fit for publication, but if you take into account that one of them was continually 'self-medicating' behind the pits, it’s amazing how such an odd assembly of pilots joined together to form such an effective unit.

“When I look back on that race, it was a great group of guys, a great team owner, and we were would have been really good as teammates, but with that car/engine package, we had one arm tied behind our backs. With a [Porsche] 962, it would have been a formidable group.”

Ask J.J.: The Answers

J.J. O’Malley, GRAND-AM's Manager of Communications, took the time to field three of his favorite questions submitted by you on Thursday about the history of the Rolex 24:

What is the biggest change in performance from the first Rolex 24 to today?

David Stalworth
Los Angeles

I feel it's gone from brute force to aerodynamics. It must have been awesome to see the GT40s, Chaparrals and Porsche 917s in action. My first Rolex 24 was also the first race for the Porsche 962 - in 1984. Over the next six years Nissan, Jaguar and Toyota joined Porsche to make GTP a real battleground, but the factories seemed to take each other out in the early Nineties. Then it was back to rebuilding with the World Sports Cars - that had trouble finishing races. Now, with the Daytona Prototypes, the emphasis isn't on overall speed as much as putting on a great race for the fans.

Just think, last year the Donohue and Montoya cars were closer together at the finish than they were 24 hours earlier on the starting grid.

Who have been your favorite drivers or team people to interview over the years?

Don Davis
Peoria, IL

Al Holbert was always one of my favorite people. Bob Snodgrass of Brumos was always very enthusiastic and would call me with his "winning lineup" months ahead of each race. Brian Redman was the first driver I ever interviewed when I knew absolutely nothing about racing, and he put up with me patiently. Derek Bell a real gentleman. Bob and Butch Leitzinger. Kevin Doran. Hurley. A long list, a lot of memories.

What's the fastest and slowest ever Daytona 24 hour race?

Eric Lovell
Buffalo, New York

The quickest was 1992 when Masahiro Hasemi, Kazuyoshi Hoshino and Toshio Suzuki won for Nissan at a speed of 112.897 mph. That was only a fraction faster than TWR's 1990 victory. Mario and Jacky Ickx averaged 122.620 mph in 1972, but that was only six hours long.

The slowest race was the rain-marred 2004 race, 77.927 mph, but everyone was talking about Tony Stewart breaking down with about 17 minutes remaining. Ironically, Bell Motorsports only had two or three laps before that car would have cooked its engine that year.

Watch the 39th Annual Rolex 24 at Daytona on SPEED™!

Page 1 of 2
Prev
12
Next
MPruett's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marshall Pruett

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.