2015 Rolex 24

Wow.





Best Ferrari could do was 4th in GTD (18th overall) behind a Viper and 2 Porsche 911s. GTLM dominated by Corvettes and BMW Z4s.

 

Sucks, but it just seems like the Ferraris don't have the durability that the other cars do.

 

Ford first overall, Corvette wins GT Lemans and Viper wins GTD. A great 24 for the home teams.

 

...and just like that FOX jumps into women's college hoops....!

 

Finished. That says a lot. Happy owner here😊.

 

The car is not factory supported. Very impressive. I owned an '08. Amazing reliable car. I put it through the, 'Tail of the Dragon'. 3-6 RPM THE ENTIRE time. Just way too much car for an old guy. 😉

 

great pics as always Bill! thanks for sharing

 

fantastic pics. thanks
such cool cars makes me wish I was there (or that I tuned in for even few minutes)
is that jag new or vintage? looks like old one from 80's
can someone give brief description of the different classes? so confusing and one of the reasons I avoid racing

 

that Jag is vintage, it won the race in 1990, and is going up for auction in a month or so at Amelia Island (RM Auction)

there are 4 classes:

Prototype, which is a mix of the Daytona Prototype and P2 from WEC/ACO
Prototype Challenge, which is a spec series (old ALMS series)-this is a pro/am class
GTLM, which is the same spec as GTE in WEC/ACO (previously GT2 then GT with ALMS)-this is the full factory program class from Corvette, Porsche, BMW, and sorta Ferrari
GTD, which is hard to categorize, it's close-ish to GT3 specs but not quite. it will be a full GT3 spec class in 2016. this is also a pro/am class.

 

Not sure that's correct. With the sliding tether and a long enough tether, you can easily move side-to-side; I know I can. On the other hand, sitting low/back in a GT car, with a HALO seat, window nets, in a car where rear-quarter vis is limited anyway, it's hard to see period. (most GTD cars have mirrors and a rear-view camera; GTLM all have cameras).

FWIW I saw this incident live, from up on high in Turn 1, plus the replays. The Ferrari should have easily seen the Aston coming, my bet is he was focused on getting turned and going and wasn't looking. Same thing as Malucelli last year at Sebring. In most cases, it's not that you can't see, it's that you're not looking...

As for the event, there seemed to be noticeably more people this year; it was hard to navigate the infield paddock at all. One sure sign is that our team had 2 golf carts "stolen" (yes, the keys were not in them); our logistics guy found an old couple driving one of them who played dumb.... Saturday AM was crap weather to race in but the rest of the weekend was perfect.

 

lol...gotta love Daytona.

 

+1,000! Thanks, Bill.

 

An interesting race and by all appearances NASCAR kept it's mitts off (for once) and let
things play out as they should without all the interference.

There are still a lot of references to the "Lucky Dog" aspect and we should hope that the
close finishes throughout were not a result of officialdom keeping things artificially close
to provide a melancholy finish.

What was ironic near the end was with regard to the Taylor team having to pit for the
driver change just as Jordan Taylor was poised to challenge Scott Dixon for the win
at the last yellow just as the announcers were going on about how Taylor Racing
was/is invited to attend the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

After that episode, the invite to Le Mans may be revoked. What an incredible cock-up.

Overall not bad. The DP cars still do nothing for me. The new P2 Ligiers at least were
interesting but as predicted, were relegated to second class status from the start. GT was
entertaining, too bad there was so much attrition.

BHW

 

Thanks for explanation but why does series need such a complex set of classes. Its major turn off to me

 

partially because of the merger of Grand Am and ALMS; they had to figure out how to keep as many teams involved as possible, which meant a lot of classes. IMO there should be two-Prototype and GT (preferably P2 and GTLM), and if they want to keep pro/am classes make them sub-classes of P2 and GTLM. WEC does something similar with GTE-PRO and GTE-AM.

 

yes, a much cleaner and less heavy handed race. no red flags (thank God!), it seems like fewer yellows (not sure on that), and less nonsense from race control.

I would like to see the wave by rules go away, as letting half the field get a lap back every time the yellow comes out seems counter to the spirit of endurance racing. but otherwise, things seem improved.

what happened to the 60? I never got a clear understanding of what put them so far behind.

 

Would love a street car class also. Prototype, gt, street. Laf vs p1 vs 918. Im in

 

if you mean truly road legal, that would be a disaster...even supercars aren't up to speed, or safety, standards for something like they Daytona 24.

if you mean supercar based, it probably won't happen...FIA GT1 tried it and costs were insane. I don't think you could talk any manufacturer into it.

 

Not sure what happened to the Michael Shank Racing Honda/Ligier other than they fell out right near the end.

As per usual, the TV commentators only seem concerned with who is running in the top three
through the classes and since the top three for overall was an all DP affair, we didn't get much
of what became of the pole winning car.

Oh well, its a good looking car none the less.

BHW

 

I despised the first generation DP cars with their ridiculously wide and ugly greenhouses, but I can accept the current generation. I do admit that the P2 cars are sexier, but there aren't enough of them.

Interesting that Ford, GM and Chrysler each had a winning car in the three non-spec classes. (Yes, I know that the Viper was not actively factory-supported, but it's still a Dodge.)

 

my issue with the DPs isn't their looks, it's their construction; tube frame race cars have no place in modern prototype racing IMO.

 

That was a good race. I watched a good 7 hours of it fast forwarded some. It had some good action, ill take that every race weekend. I just wish this was more popular.

 

I think I heard that they were in an accident overnight. I think the amount of cautions hurt them as well. It sounded like their car take a lot longer to get the tires up to temp than the DPs.