www.porscheroadandrace.com Martin Raffauf’s 2018 Daytona Notebook Published: 2nd February 2018 By: Martin Raffauf Online version: https://www.porscheroadandrace.com/martin-raffaufs-2018-daytona-notebook/ Rolex 24 at Daytona, 27/28 January 2018: Martin Raffauf’s 2018 Daytona Notebook takes a comprehensive look at the whole Daytona race week. Martin has been going to Daytona in one form or another for 47 years, so one could say he is something of an expert on the race. Editor The Daytona 24 Hours was first held in 1962. Well actually, the 24 Hour first ran in 1966, the first four races run being called the Continental and running three hours in 1962 and 1963, and 2000km in 1964. Dan Gurney won the inaugural event, followed by Pedro Rodriguez, and then Pedro and Phil Hill for the 2000km in 1964. In 1966, the race was www.porscheroadandrace.com lengthened to 24 hours, copying Le Mans. The first 24-hour event was won by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby in a Ford GT40 entered by Carroll Shelby (they also won the 1965 2000km event). www.porscheroadandrace.com In the historic display area we found this guy, the 1973 Porsche Carrera RS 2.7 of Peter Gregg and Hurley Haywood, which was said to be the winning www.porscheroadandrace.com car from the 1973 race The race has continued to the current day, and is the only major 24-hour race in the United States. The track has changed slightly over the years, as it started as a 3.81-mile circuit comprised of 99% of the NASCAR banked oval, with an infield road course section. Over the years, the infield section has been modified slightly, and a chicane added on the back straight, so now the circuit length (road course) is 3.56 miles. It’s a very difficult race to win, the 31-degree NASCAR banking puts a big load on both suspensions, tyres, and drivers. In years gone by, they would sometimes start upwards of 80 cars in the race. Traffic was always an issue. They only start up to 60 cars now (due to circuit and garage area rework there are only 60 pits now). Lights have been added around the circuit, so it is not as dark at night as it was in days gone by. However, Daytona, due to the time of year it is run, races over 50% of the event in darkness (unlike Le Mans). I once asked the late Bob Wollek, which was the harder race, Le Mans or the Daytona 24 hour. He immediately answered, no question, Daytona. He indicated the banking was tough on the drivers, car and tyres, but worst of all was the traffic. There is much more traffic to deal with than at Le Mans due to the much shorter circuit length. Even with only 55 cars, it is said a top prototype may pass up to 20 cars per lap, so it is still a busy place. www.porscheroadandrace.com Another visitor to the historic area was Preston Henn’s 962-104, the 1985 winner driven by Foyt, Wollek, Al Unser and Boutsen I first attended the 24-hour in 1971 where the race was won by Pedro Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver in a Gulf 917. I have been working in some fashion at every one since, and have watched the characteristics of the race change markedly over the last 15 years or so. In the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s, the race was a true endurance test. Cars were not as strong then as they are today and frequently broke and it was always a test to run as fast as possible but to not break anything. The cars of today are technically much improved and totally over designed. The BoP (Balance of Performance) limits the damage that can be done by over driving (air restrictions, boost limits etc.). The cars are driven almost flat out for the whole www.porscheroadandrace.com 24 hours. In recent history, the race in all three classes, has usually come down to who had the quickest car in the last two hours or so. The 2018 race looked to be very similar. IMSA has done a very good job over the last three years after the buy-out of ALMS by the Grand-Am series, in creating a very competitive series. The rules are similar to Le Mans and the FIA/ACO with a few marked differences. For 2018 there are three classes, Prototype, GTLM and GTD. The DPi prototype cars are the same basic chassis as Le Mans LMP2 cars, but with much more flexibility in engine choices and manufacturer selected bodywork options. There are quasi-factory efforts from Cadillac, Mazda, Acura (Honda) and Nissan. FIA/ACO LMP2 cars with the spec Gibson engine are also eligible and run in the same class. Rolex 24 at Daytona, 27/28 January 2018: The lead cars come around the Daytona banking for the start of the race www.porscheroadandrace.com GTLM basically consists of factory entered GT cars from Corvette, Porsche, BMW, Ford and Ferrari. These cars are the same as the FIA/ACO GT Pro class, albeit with some BoP changes specific to IMSA. The GTD class is a privateer-based class, but using FIA GT3 based cars (a big departure from the ACO), again with BoP (Balance of Performance) changes from the FIA. These cars are ostensibly private entries but get ‘factory support.’ There are Porsches, Audis, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Lexus, Acura NSXs, BMWs and Mercedes. The driver line-up for 2018 in all classes was outstanding. No less than former IMSA champions, Indy 500 winners, Formula 1 race winners, and even current Formula 1 drivers, Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were present. The GTLM field includes probably some of the best GT drivers on the planet. From a Porsche perspective, there were only five entries this year, which has got to be an all-time low. I recall earlier races where Porsches made up almost half the grid. This year there were two factory-entered GTLM RSRs, again run by the CORE Motorsports team in the USA. In addition, we had three GTD class RSRs. From a driver standpoint, the Porsche squad is bolstered somewhat this year due to the demise of the LMP1 program last year. Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber return to the IMSA season (along with some other events). The news in GTD, is the appearance of Christina Nielson in a Porsche, the reigning IMSA GTD champion of the past two years in a Ferrari 488. www.porscheroadandrace.com Rolex 24 at Daytona, 27/28 January 2018: #67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook/Ryan Briscoe/Scott Dixon – courtesy of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing All cars entered in the Daytona 24 now attend a 3-day test session at the beginning of January which is called ‘the Roar’ (before the 24). This is basically a 3-day open test, which is very beneficial to the teams (especially those coming from Europe). IMSA uses test data from these sessions to set the BoP parameters for the race. Historically, teams have tried to ‘sandbag’ to show lesser performance to try and impact the BoP settings. Due to advancement in engine management and the IMSA wind tunnel testing (for Prototype and GTLM classes), this is proving to be much more difficult. All cars use a specified Bosch built ECU, which means IMSA always has readily available information, so the ‘baggers’ are caught quickly. As an added pressure on the teams, IMSA has decreed that there would be a qualifying session for garage and pit spaces at the test session. So, this puts added pressure to show what you have, prior to any BoP changes, or get stuck with a bad pit or garage. www.porscheroadandrace.com Last year’s race was the first for the new IMSA DPi cars and as such it was kind of haphazard, as none of the cars had any real running history. This year, these cars are well sorted. Even the new Penske run Acuras, as well as the Joest run Mazda Dpi, have had massive amounts of testing towards the end of last year. Rolex 24 at Daytona, 27/28 January 2018: #77 Team Joest Mazda DPi of Oliver Jarvis/Tristan Nunez/Rene Rast In GTLM, Porsche has had one year under their belts with the new (in 2017) mid-engine RSR. The BMW squad has brand new cars the M8 GTLM, run once again by the Rahal- Letterman-Lannigan team. Chip Ganassi is still running the Ford GTs, and the Corvettes are unchanged. The lone Ferrari in GTLM is once again under the guidance of Giuseppe Risi and his team. www.porscheroadandrace.com GTD has the widest range of car types, including Ferrari 488, Porsche RSR, Acura NSX, Lamborghini Huracan, Audi R8, Lexus, BMW and Mercedes. These are basically all restricted FIA GT3 cars. Rolex 24 at Daytona, 27/28 January 2018: #911 Porsche 911 RSR of Patrick Pilet/Nick Tandy/Frederick Makowiecki leads a pack of GTLM and GTD cars during the race The ROAR The ROAR was run on January 5-7, 2018 but the weather was unseasonably cold in the USA, even in Florida. Temperatures were just below freezing (32ºF, 0ºC) at nights and the days were dry but cold with highs of only 40-55ºF. The qualifying session on 7 January yielded the warmest temperatures of the event, at 60ºF. www.porscheroadandrace.com The GTD class fastest time was taken by Mirko Bortolotti in a Lamborghini Huracan. Patrick Long was third in the 911 RSR he would share with Christina Nielsen, the reigning GTD champion.