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: Ganassi’s Betting On BMW
Chip Ganassi's championship-winning cars have new BMW engines for 2010, replacing the familiar Lexus units. Team manager Mike Hulls tells us how they plan to maintain their winning ways.
Marshall Pruett  |  Posted January 27, 2010   Daytona Beach, FL
The famous BMW roundel logo adorns the No.01 TELMEX Dinan-Prepared BMW Riley for the first time since the Ganassi Racing team entered the Rolex Series with Lexus power. (GRAND-AM)
After years of leading the charge by Lexus in the GRAND-AM Rolex Daytona Prototype Series, 2004, 2006 and 2008 DP champions Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates made the surprising switch to Dinan-Prepared BMW power for 2010, ushering in a new challenge for the team.

Led by Mike Hull, who also serves as the architect of Ganassi’s IndyCar operation, the master strategist shared the inner workings of how they plan to continue the team’s winning ways with little interruption. As Hull reveals, the transition from Lexus to BMW was made after careful consideration.

“The relationship we had with Lexus is the kind of relationship we had with Toyota Motor Sales, the Toyota dealers and all the Toyota family in the United States since we were in CART together starting in 1999. It goes back that far. They decided they wanted to go in a different direction -- away from sports car racing, at least temporarily -- beginning this season.

“So trying to build a relationship with someone else is what we're doing now with the BMW Dinan program. We think that the people there represent our culture. Their attention to detail, their enthusiasm, their desire to improve; all the ingredients are there. So that's what we're doing for 2010, we’re moving forward with this BMW engine package, trying to continue what we’ve done in the series so far.”

Hull says that rather than begin their search to replace Lexus with a powertrain assessment, they chose to look at the people behind the various engines that were available to them.

“We're all about the people. The people themselves that work on the project for us are the primary consideration. At TRD, there still continues to be and always has been a core group of people that work extremely hard on the product. And that's what we have with the Dinan group. That's why we think this is a good choice because we have a group of people that have a very good product, it's a production-based engine series, that's what they work on, and that's what their everyday business is. And together we like the fact that we found each other and we want to try to improve each other's product. I think to be successful in anything that you do -- in life, in business, and in racing -- you do it working together. That's truly the definition of success. You can have short-term success with ego, but you’ll have long-term success with a partnership.”

The Ganassi team came away from the ‘Roar Before the 24’ test earlier this month feeling satisfied with the BMW’s performance, but as you might expect, they generated another long list of areas to optimize.

“First of all, I don't know that you're ever where you want to be. You're always trying to make it better. We came away from the test and said, ‘This is what we need to do next.’ It's a matter of defining more precisely how to use the engine package in combination with the chassis package to race better. That’s how we've looked at things. You can ask for more power, and the BMW has it, but until you’ve perfected every aspect of the car and engine combination, we’ll still have work to do.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find a championship organization with less interest in their past achievements. One of the hallmarks of the Ganassi team, says Hull, is to use humility and hunger as a motivator, rather than aggression and attitude. The same philosophy has been applied to integrating the somewhat unproven BMW into a winning program.

“We use a mindset of taking what we have today and making it better for the next time we arrive at the race track. That's the key to the whole thing for us. I used the word ego a few minutes ago, that's extremely important, you have to eliminate that. That's how we look at it. We have eight drivers telling us how to make our product better. They're surrounded by a core group of strong-willed, free-spirited firebreathers called managers, engineers, mechanics, truck drivers, statisticians, and we have an owner that is as strong as all the rest of us are combined.
Built and tuned by BMW specialist Steve Dinan, the Ganassi team doesn't expect the switch from a factory-supported engine to one produced by an independent firm to diminish their competitiveness. (GRAND-AM)

"We take ego and try to eliminate that from the process and try to be unselfish when you create answers. That's what we'll do with Dinan. We’ll step back, be honest with each other, and keep it simple like that. That’s how we will start winning together.”

Ganassi’s Riley-Lexus program was highly refined by the time their relationship concluded, and with the Dinan-Prepared BMW in the midst of a strong development program, Hull expects to run a parallel development program for their Rileys. As the BMW takes a step forward, look for the team to push their chassis in the same direction.

“When you have vendor driven items or partnership driven items like with Dinan, those people are trying to improve their product and guess what? They affect the performance of your car. What they've done is they’ve come in with what they think is the best thing that they can do for you. But guess what that does? That makes you have to reevaluate where you are with the mechanical part of the setup, where you are with the aero part of the set up, where you are with race craft. It's all those coming together.

“With the Dinan BMW side of things, their engine has strong points and weak points similar in fact to what we did with the Lexus engine. And we will work to make the weak point strong and the strong point stronger. There are some differences. Is one better than the other? The performance evaluation will be determined 24 hours after the race starts…”

Hull was quick to praise Ganassi’s regular stable of drivers, citing their intimate knowledge of the team, the event, and the ‘it’s like 24 one-hour races, not one 24-hour race’ approach Hull employs at Daytona. But it was the newest member of the Rolex 24 team, an IndyCar nemesis, that had him beaming.

“The problem you have with long-distance or endurance style racing is in the Grand Am series it’s just 24 sprint races. If you assume that you fuel your car or you’re in the pits approximately once per hour the mindset is that you sprint race 24 times. You do that with a series of drivers, whether you single, double or triple stint drivers, depending on the circumstance. You've got guys that get in the car and try to get the most out of the car in 24 segments. And when you have drivers like that you have to make them understand the very simple concept that if they cause a problem on the racetrack it reduces your ability to stay at the front. So there is a time when they need to go fast and there’s a time when they need to pull back the reins. And it's great to race with all of our regular guys, and someone new like Justin Wilson with us. What a talented guy he is.”

Wilson, a regular Rolex 24 competitor with Michael Shank Racing, spent the 2009 IndyCar season making life tough for the two Target IndyCars. Rather than deal with the same harassment for 24 hours this weekend, Hull figured it would be smarter to bring the Wilson on board.

“He kicked our tails a few times last year. The reason that we were so interested in having him drive our car here is, first of all, we did have an opportunity and, secondly, we witnessed firsthand the ability that he has. We saw the ability – and the ability does not just mean being the fastest guy on the race track but to be a fast guy under pressure to win a race. How many guys have you seen under pressure but have a lot of talent that can't get the job done? Here's a guy that can match those things together.”

• Tune into SPEED’s live coverage of the race (All Times Eastern):
Saturday, January 30: 3:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m., (Live)
Sunday, January 31: 7 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., (Live)

• Join SPEEDtv.com from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. for a live online chat from trackside with drivers, TV hosts, and a cast of characters as they stream into our compound. Bob Varsha and David Hobbs will be the first guests through the gates shortly after 8 p.m.

• Follow the weather forecast HERE.

Keep up with all of SPEEDtv.com's Rolex 24 coverage published so far this week:

ROLEX 24: GT Preview
Part two of our Rolex 24 preview, where 30 entries from six manufacturers will be vying for GT victory in one of the most competitive classes seen in years.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/rolex-24-gt-preview/

ROLEX 24: DP Preview
Part one of our 2010 Rolex 24 preview features the Daytona Prototype category, where changes in drivers, engines and a forecast of rain will make for an unpredictable race.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/rolex-24-daytona-prototype-preview/

ROLEX 24: Elford's Porsche Leads Heritage Expo
Vic Elford will be the Grand Marshal at next weekend's Rolex 24 At Daytona. Fittingly, the Porsche 907 he drove to victory at Daytona in 1968 will also be featured.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/rolex-24-elfords-porsche-leads-heritage-expo/

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