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Written by Stephen Dobie
The sun has risen again at Daytona, which means the Rolex 24 is approaching its home straight. It"s, um, seven-hour long home straight. It"s easy to think, with two thirds of the race gone, that teams are over the hardest part. Far from it. The final few hours of a twice-round-the-clock race are often its trickiest.More gearbox woes for the GTJust ask Ford about how hard the final hours can be. The GT"s much-anticipated motorsport return has been dogged by issues, with both cars suffering a handful of electronic and brake-based issues at the very beginning of the race, effectively ending their chances of victory right from the off.Since then, though, the cars have been strong, putting in the kind of pace that has the team worrying about looming Balance of Performance judgements, despite its cars propping up the class. Go figure.Around 7am EST, car number 67 suffered another gearbox issue, caused, they reckon, by the Rolex"s long periods of slow going under the yellow flag. More major than any issues thus far, it requires a three-hour transmission change, which is ongoing.Is there much point, you might rightly ask, given that"s about half the race"s remaining duration? TG spoke to Dave Pericak, boss of Ford Performance. "My guys said it"ll take three hours. I said change it". It"s practice for them, and we get to run for a few more hours after it"s fixed."The DeltaWing is out. Sad faceLittle sooner had we mentioned the DeltaWing"s entrance to the garage to fix crash damage, and it was hauled from the race completely. It really does seem cursed this thing - no sooner had it led for the bulk of the first two hours, with British racer Katherine Legge putting in lap after smooth lap, it suffered damage after its driver change and had to retire, completing 119 laps and racing for less than four hours.
Date written: 31 Jan 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 1961
The sun has risen again at Daytona, which means the Rolex 24 is approaching its home straight. It"s, um, seven-hour long home straight. It"s easy to think, with two thirds of the race gone, that teams are over the hardest part. Far from it. The final few hours of a twice-round-the-clock race are often its trickiest.More gearbox woes for the GTJust ask Ford about how hard the final hours can be. The GT"s much-anticipated motorsport return has been dogged by issues, with both cars suffering a handful of electronic and brake-based issues at the very beginning of the race, effectively ending their chances of victory right from the off.Since then, though, the cars have been strong, putting in the kind of pace that has the team worrying about looming Balance of Performance judgements, despite its cars propping up the class. Go figure.Around 7am EST, car number 67 suffered another gearbox issue, caused, they reckon, by the Rolex"s long periods of slow going under the yellow flag. More major than any issues thus far, it requires a three-hour transmission change, which is ongoing.Is there much point, you might rightly ask, given that"s about half the race"s remaining duration? TG spoke to Dave Pericak, boss of Ford Performance. "My guys said it"ll take three hours. I said change it". It"s practice for them, and we get to run for a few more hours after it"s fixed."The DeltaWing is out. Sad faceLittle sooner had we mentioned the DeltaWing"s entrance to the garage to fix crash damage, and it was hauled from the race completely. It really does seem cursed this thing - no sooner had it led for the bulk of the first two hours, with British racer Katherine Legge putting in lap after smooth lap, it suffered damage after its driver change and had to retire, completing 119 laps and racing for less than four hours.
Date written: 31 Jan 2016
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 1961
