By Brian Bielanski, Editor
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (RacingWire) – The Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway provides drivers with unique challenges that are unlike any other endurance race.
The race's January date means more than 13 hours will be contested in the dark, by far the longest night time test in endurance racing. The date also means cold weather will play a factor as teams will have to deal with temperatures in the lower 40's, likely the coldest conditions they will face all season.
Like many things these days, technology is helping make the nighttime hours a bit easier to negotiate for drivers. In the last decade the Speedway has installed high powered lighting, lessening the effects of running at night. But it hasn't eliminated all the problems.
“There are a lot shadows where you can't see the edge of the road,” said defending Rolex 24 champion David Donohue. “Where that comes into play is the infield kink, the dogleg which a lot of guys call it. You can turn into it fine but you really can't see the exit.”
“The other place that's fairly blind is the chicane (the bus stop) on the back stretch,” said Donohue. “When you get on the brakes you really don't see what you're turning for. You're relying on the markers on the fence to give you a guide as to how far you are from the corner. Even when you turn in, you are only vaguely seeing what you're shooting for. It's not until you are arriving there that you really get a complete picture. Where that can catch people out is if there is dirt. The dirtiest part of the track is back there by the chicane. That's where people have a problem going in because we're going in at nearly 200 mph. So when we make a mistake it's a big one.”
There's a new tire for the Rolex Series this year. Continental Tires are now the spec tire for the series. You might expect a new tire to be somewhat of a wild card but the drivers don't seem too concerned.
“This tire so far has been performing very well in the cold,” said two time Rolex 24 class winner and three time Rolex Series champ Andy Lally. “If it gets hot that's when it's going to be a challenge. That will be new for us because this is a new compound that we haven't tested in anything hot.”
As a spectator, sunrise at Daytona is spectacular if the weather is good. Seeing the sun come up over the turn three wall is a sight to behold. That is, of course, if you aren't driving a car at 180 mph. Drivers have differing views on sunrise... but all say now that the race ends at 3:30pm (it used to end much earlier) sunrise no longer gives that “we're almost done” sense of relief.
Three-time and defending Rolex Series DP Champion and eight-time Rolex 24 winner Scott Pruett says, “sunrise used to be a little more pleasurable when the race ran from 12 to 12. Now, sunrise isn't quite what it used to be. Still when you get to sunrise it's pretty awesome. The night time driving can be sort of treacherous, cause a lot of problems for a lot of people and they always say it's darkest before dawn. When you get that sunrise coming, a little bit of sunshine coming out of the sky, everybody has this adrenalin rush. There's this new found enthusiasm about getting it on and going racing. It's still a long ways but there's nothing sweeter.
“If you're doing it on the road you're like, 'oh, that's kind of nice, it's beautiful, the sun is coming up',” said two-time Indy 500 winner and three-time IndyCar champ Dario Franchitti. “If you are doing it here you're so focused on what you're trying to achieve and what's going on and everything coming at you, you generally think, 'god that sun's a pain in the butt'.”
“It's bright,” said Graham Rahal. “It's truly impossible to see. In the old days it signified you had made it to the finish because you only had a few hours left but now-a-days, being a 3:30 start, you've got a long ways to go. “
According to 2006 Rolex 24 GT winner Spencer Pumpelly, “it's actually a great feeling. It's one of the best stints you can drive all night. The night time is just full of madness and mayhem. It's just survival to get to the daylight. As soon as the daylight comes up and you start to see things you couldn't see for the past eight, nine hours. It's eye opening, It's a relief. There's still a lot of racing to do, especially with the 3:30 finish. But I tell you man, it's a great feeling to see the sun come up and be in the car.”
“Sunrise is deceptively pleasant,” said David Donohue. “The race used to start earlier in the day and you'd say 'awe yes daybreak, we're almost there!'. Now sunrise comes and you think 'awe daybreak... crap we've got a lot of racing left to go'. It means you really get to see how bad the track is. There's so much debris out there because so much racing has gone on and so much drama has gone on. You can't see the debris, and how the line has narrowed because of the debris, until daybreak. It's sort of a false breath of hope that the race is almost over when really the race is only just beginning at daybreak, That's when the racing really starts. You gotta make it to that point then you can go like hell."
