Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From The Toronto Star:
Mar. 5, 2005. 01:00 AM
GT1 Competition Heats Up
Mexican joust starts my busy race year
[font=Times, Times New Roman, Serif, MS Serif]This is my debut column for the Toronto Star Wheels section, and I must admit to being slightly intimidated by the idea.
Reciting race-driving exploits to journalists like Wheels columnist Norris McDonald is one thing, but to actually write about the happenings in my racing world — well, we will try to make it good fun.
As you read this, my wife Lynda and I are in Mexico City preparing for NASCAR's first points race outside of the United States for the Busch Grand National Series. The Telcel Motorola Mexico 200 rolls here tomorrow at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (Rodríguez brothers motorsport circuit).
Conveniently (for me), it's a 4.48 km road course, although I wasn't sure I would get an opportunity to race. Dale Earnhardt Inc., my usual NASCAR employer, decided it could only prepare cars for its regular Busch Series drivers, Martin Truex and Paul Menard.
With an already hectic schedule, it's a huge undertaking for the NASCAR teams to venture 1,600 km from the U.S. border to Mexico City, making the logistics of running a third, part-time entry simply too difficult.
For the Mexico City event, NASCAR has doubled the Busch Series usual prize fund, which is good news for competitors. Even better news, Joe Nemechek, who is a Nextel Cup competitor and also a Busch Series team owner, has hired me to race his Number 87 Chevy Monte Carlo for this race.
Joe was intending to race the car himself until I called him after the Daytona 500. I do have some history with the Nemechek team, having won three Busch Series races at Watkins Glen with them.
I subtly reminded Joe that the Mexico City track is not the usual left-turn-only oval — it has more right turns than lefts. He laughed and we talked about a deal, or rather I talked and he eventually relented.
My sports car racing plans for 2005 will again be with Corvette Racing, as we begin our GT1 Championship title defence in the American Le Mans Series. Johnny O'Connell has decided he'll share a racing seat with me for yet another season, with Max Papis joining us for the longer endurance races: Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans.
Johnny and I have been teammates since 2001. At our season-ending banquet, he announced that, "Ron and I have been peeing in the same seat now for four seasons." That should answer any questions about issues facing a well-hydrated driver during an endurance race.
The winter months don't allow for much time off. Between appearances at auto shows to help launch the new Corvette, we have also been busy testing and developing the new Corvette C6-R racing car, in preparation for our season opener on March 19 — the 12 Hours of Sebring.
For the 2005 season, we have a new-model Corvette and have had some very productive track testing at Sebring. All the functions of the cars' performance are recorded and studied by our team's engineering staff.
Typically with our test days — five so far that also included two Cadillacs and one Pontiac GTO — we have the track to ourselves (GM Racing pays for that at a rate of $10,000 U.S. a day). We run the Corvettes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a short lunch break.
Our engineers will have a test plan, with parts and pieces to try, as well as time set aside for tire testing with Michelin. Each test run is generally eight to 10 laps, about 20 minutes, followed by a quick debrief and then out again with another performance change to evaluate.
The test driving is divided primarily between Johnny and myself. Each of us will spend a couple of hours behind the wheel evaluating the various chassis changes or new tires.
The treasured duty is tire testing. You are on the track every eight to 10 laps, with a new set of sticky Michelins, followed by a quick debrief and then out again with another new set.
Racing tires perform at their best when new, which allows the driver to be extremely aggressive for those eight or so laps. Driving fast, particularly in corners is what you live for. There isn't a race driver on the planet who doesn't like tire testing.
Following the testing days, our team will evaluate all the data and prepare our two GT1 Corvettes with the best combination of chassis and aerodynamic findings for the upcoming races.
Michelin will also provide the best combination of tire compounds, based on the testing. Race conditions vary widely in round-the-clock endurance races, and a tire's performance window is very narrow, as they are extremely temperature sensitive. Michelin will try to have different tires for every 10 to 15 F of temperature change. And when you race from sun-up to sundown, you could easily find as much as 50 degrees of change.
With the new Aston Martin DB9, a new Maserati MC12, together with the Ferrari 550, Saleen S7 and Dodge Vipers, this should be the most competitive season yet for the GT1 class and the toughest for our Compuware Corvette team.
We will have plenty to talk about down the road.[/font]
Mar. 5, 2005. 01:00 AM
GT1 Competition Heats Up
Mexican joust starts my busy race year
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]RICHARD PRINCE PHOTO[/font]
[font=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Ron Fellows will race this C6-R Corvette in the 2005 ALMS series.[/font]
[font=Times, Times New Roman, Serif, MS Serif]This is my debut column for the Toronto Star Wheels section, and I must admit to being slightly intimidated by the idea.
Reciting race-driving exploits to journalists like Wheels columnist Norris McDonald is one thing, but to actually write about the happenings in my racing world — well, we will try to make it good fun.
As you read this, my wife Lynda and I are in Mexico City preparing for NASCAR's first points race outside of the United States for the Busch Grand National Series. The Telcel Motorola Mexico 200 rolls here tomorrow at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez (Rodríguez brothers motorsport circuit).
Conveniently (for me), it's a 4.48 km road course, although I wasn't sure I would get an opportunity to race. Dale Earnhardt Inc., my usual NASCAR employer, decided it could only prepare cars for its regular Busch Series drivers, Martin Truex and Paul Menard.
With an already hectic schedule, it's a huge undertaking for the NASCAR teams to venture 1,600 km from the U.S. border to Mexico City, making the logistics of running a third, part-time entry simply too difficult.
For the Mexico City event, NASCAR has doubled the Busch Series usual prize fund, which is good news for competitors. Even better news, Joe Nemechek, who is a Nextel Cup competitor and also a Busch Series team owner, has hired me to race his Number 87 Chevy Monte Carlo for this race.
Joe was intending to race the car himself until I called him after the Daytona 500. I do have some history with the Nemechek team, having won three Busch Series races at Watkins Glen with them.
I subtly reminded Joe that the Mexico City track is not the usual left-turn-only oval — it has more right turns than lefts. He laughed and we talked about a deal, or rather I talked and he eventually relented.
My sports car racing plans for 2005 will again be with Corvette Racing, as we begin our GT1 Championship title defence in the American Le Mans Series. Johnny O'Connell has decided he'll share a racing seat with me for yet another season, with Max Papis joining us for the longer endurance races: Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans.
Johnny and I have been teammates since 2001. At our season-ending banquet, he announced that, "Ron and I have been peeing in the same seat now for four seasons." That should answer any questions about issues facing a well-hydrated driver during an endurance race.
The winter months don't allow for much time off. Between appearances at auto shows to help launch the new Corvette, we have also been busy testing and developing the new Corvette C6-R racing car, in preparation for our season opener on March 19 — the 12 Hours of Sebring.
For the 2005 season, we have a new-model Corvette and have had some very productive track testing at Sebring. All the functions of the cars' performance are recorded and studied by our team's engineering staff.
Typically with our test days — five so far that also included two Cadillacs and one Pontiac GTO — we have the track to ourselves (GM Racing pays for that at a rate of $10,000 U.S. a day). We run the Corvettes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with a short lunch break.
Our engineers will have a test plan, with parts and pieces to try, as well as time set aside for tire testing with Michelin. Each test run is generally eight to 10 laps, about 20 minutes, followed by a quick debrief and then out again with another performance change to evaluate.
The test driving is divided primarily between Johnny and myself. Each of us will spend a couple of hours behind the wheel evaluating the various chassis changes or new tires.
The treasured duty is tire testing. You are on the track every eight to 10 laps, with a new set of sticky Michelins, followed by a quick debrief and then out again with another new set.
Racing tires perform at their best when new, which allows the driver to be extremely aggressive for those eight or so laps. Driving fast, particularly in corners is what you live for. There isn't a race driver on the planet who doesn't like tire testing.
Following the testing days, our team will evaluate all the data and prepare our two GT1 Corvettes with the best combination of chassis and aerodynamic findings for the upcoming races.
Michelin will also provide the best combination of tire compounds, based on the testing. Race conditions vary widely in round-the-clock endurance races, and a tire's performance window is very narrow, as they are extremely temperature sensitive. Michelin will try to have different tires for every 10 to 15 F of temperature change. And when you race from sun-up to sundown, you could easily find as much as 50 degrees of change.
With the new Aston Martin DB9, a new Maserati MC12, together with the Ferrari 550, Saleen S7 and Dodge Vipers, this should be the most competitive season yet for the GT1 class and the toughest for our Compuware Corvette team.
We will have plenty to talk about down the road.[/font]
