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<b>(14:08 April 18, 2003)
<div align="center">Fellows on Le Mans: Corvette Racing prepares for the 24 Hour classic</b></div>
<i>Corvette C5-R driver Ron Fellows gives us an inside look at Corvette Racing's Le Mans preparation.
This is the first in an occasional series of columns Corvette C5-R driver Ron Fellows will write for autoweek.com, leading up to and including Le Mans. Look for another Fellows column after the official test at Le Mans in early May.
</i>
Corvette Racing's 2003 Le Mans preparation started this week. I've been pretty busy since Tuesday. I'm involved with a karting championship in Canada, and attended a press conference just north of Toronto, where we announced a new race venue. I then got on an airplane and flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan. From Grand Rapids, I drove to Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, where the team would test its updated C5-R race cars on Wednesday and Thursday.
It's the second and final time we'll run our new cars before next month's Le Mans open test. We had a solid three-day test at Homestead, but the weather interfered a bit. We needed this local test to fine-tune a couple of things.
Primarily, our new six-speed sequential shifter needed a massage; through the course of the Homestead test, the linkage wouldn't allow us to properly downshift, so the guys had to tweak it. We ran trouble-free for the entire test. Also, Goodyear wanted to finish some tire construction and compound work that we were unable to complete at Homestead because of the rain. Gingerman is not a bad place to test for street-circuit grip levels, but it doesn't create the kind of cornering forces we generally experience. It's like a kart track: not very fast. But we tire tested here before and it gives us some idea of the direction to take. Plus, most of the compound stuff we worked on was for after Le Mans. There are a couple of things we'll be able to use for the 24 Hours, but primarily they'll be applied later in the year.
We focused on rear tires, although we tried a few different front constructions. Based on the rules, the cars don't produce a great deal of downforce. However, they do have quite a bit of power—a little over 600 hp and about the same amount of torque.
Rear-tire wear has been a bit of a factor for us, but Goodyear made good progress for Sebring. We now feel pretty confident about the tires.
Of course, the other benefit of the test was that all of the drivers got to spend some time in the new cars. In terms of the chassis, it's an evolution and not a revolution. Basically, it's lighter and stiffer. That helps because we can improve the weight distribution. We're trying to get a little more rear weight, so by reducing the overall weight of the car, we can place ballast toward the rear. We can also keep the weight lower. From a driver's perspective, the car feels more nimble, reacts quicker and stops better. We did a few subtle changes with the aerodynamics, particularly underneath. We're trying to improve our straight-line speed but not at the expense of downforce for cornering. We haven't done any back-to-backs with the old and new cars on the same day, but the Homestead test data provided some interesting information. With the new Automobile Club Ouest air restrictors, we're quite a bit slower in a straight line at Homestead, but we're almost as fast over the whole lap, even with probably 50 less horsepower. Engine builders Katech are working hard to overcome the loss, and they’ve clawed back a lot of power. The new car is almost 8 mph slower on Homestead's short straights, but the braking and cornering improvements mean the lap times aren't that far off, which is pretty incredible.
Because of the gains we've made, I'm confident for Le Mans. The Prodrive Ferraris are probably our biggest rivals right now. At Sebring, Johnny O'Connell, Franck Freon and I got behind early and were a bit fortunate that the Ferraris (and the other Corvette driven by Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins and Oliver Gavin) had trouble, but that's why they call it an endurance race. Our Le Mans preparation required quite a big commitment by Pratt & Miller, GM Racing and Corvette. To be honest, I think the new car's Le Mans debut is a direct result of the challenge we anticipate and somewhat fear. We expect a tough, tough battle with the Ferraris. They were quicker than us last year, but not as reliable. I hope we've made enough gains to be able to keep up with them, whatever their ultimate strength may be. Right now, that's straight-line speed.
Overall, I think the ACO's equivalency formula works very well. It's the ultimate sort of restrictor-plate racing, with big displacement engines and not a lot of air for them to use. As for driving at Le Mans, it probably only takes four to six laps to get back in the groove. There are a lot of high-speed approaches, and that's usually where you need to focus. As well as these cars stop, that's the key. There are five places on the track where we reach the highest speed we do anywhere, in excess of 190 mph. So it takes a little bit of adjustment there, and you're also dealing with a track that seems like a tunnel in a lot of the maximum speed areas. You're on public roads. Trucks have worn grooves into the Mulsanne straight. With the big, wide tires we use, the car tends to dart around. You learn where to move from one side of the track to the other; little subtleties. Then there's not much grass and there's a big guardrail and trees. It's initially a little intimidating that way, but it's also part of the excitement that is Le Mans.
As tough as we expect Prodrive to be, my focus is on winning the race. I wouldn't call second place a failure, but it would certainly be a disappointment. One of the things this team has learned to do is win. And again, it's part of the evolution of where we've come from as a group. We worked out of a pickup truck and a trailer at Sebring back in ’98 when we tested the first car. There were four guys and one laptop; that's it. From there, we went to being happy with just finishing a long race to expecting to be very competitive and expecting to win. Expecting to win is not arrogance, but confidence. We're not resting on any previous laurels; we're moving forward as a team all the time. And that's where part of that expectation comes from. There's a level of knowledge within the team and those expectations we have are also based on our record. When you're the defending race winner at a prestigious event like Le Mans, it's a pretty neat feeling. We don't take that lightly and we're not about to give that up without a fight.
Until the race, though, I've got plenty to do. I'm headed home tonight, with two workouts planned for Friday. On Sunday night I'm off to Sears Point in California, where I'll test a DEI Winston Cup car on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I'll have a few days to relax at home before heading off to the Circuit de la Sarthe. Talk to you soon.
<b>(14:08 April 18, 2003)
<div align="center">Fellows on Le Mans: Corvette Racing prepares for the 24 Hour classic</b></div>
<i>Corvette C5-R driver Ron Fellows gives us an inside look at Corvette Racing's Le Mans preparation.
This is the first in an occasional series of columns Corvette C5-R driver Ron Fellows will write for autoweek.com, leading up to and including Le Mans. Look for another Fellows column after the official test at Le Mans in early May.
</i>
Corvette Racing's 2003 Le Mans preparation started this week. I've been pretty busy since Tuesday. I'm involved with a karting championship in Canada, and attended a press conference just north of Toronto, where we announced a new race venue. I then got on an airplane and flew to Grand Rapids, Michigan. From Grand Rapids, I drove to Gingerman Raceway in South Haven, where the team would test its updated C5-R race cars on Wednesday and Thursday.
It's the second and final time we'll run our new cars before next month's Le Mans open test. We had a solid three-day test at Homestead, but the weather interfered a bit. We needed this local test to fine-tune a couple of things.
Primarily, our new six-speed sequential shifter needed a massage; through the course of the Homestead test, the linkage wouldn't allow us to properly downshift, so the guys had to tweak it. We ran trouble-free for the entire test. Also, Goodyear wanted to finish some tire construction and compound work that we were unable to complete at Homestead because of the rain. Gingerman is not a bad place to test for street-circuit grip levels, but it doesn't create the kind of cornering forces we generally experience. It's like a kart track: not very fast. But we tire tested here before and it gives us some idea of the direction to take. Plus, most of the compound stuff we worked on was for after Le Mans. There are a couple of things we'll be able to use for the 24 Hours, but primarily they'll be applied later in the year.
We focused on rear tires, although we tried a few different front constructions. Based on the rules, the cars don't produce a great deal of downforce. However, they do have quite a bit of power—a little over 600 hp and about the same amount of torque.
Rear-tire wear has been a bit of a factor for us, but Goodyear made good progress for Sebring. We now feel pretty confident about the tires.
Of course, the other benefit of the test was that all of the drivers got to spend some time in the new cars. In terms of the chassis, it's an evolution and not a revolution. Basically, it's lighter and stiffer. That helps because we can improve the weight distribution. We're trying to get a little more rear weight, so by reducing the overall weight of the car, we can place ballast toward the rear. We can also keep the weight lower. From a driver's perspective, the car feels more nimble, reacts quicker and stops better. We did a few subtle changes with the aerodynamics, particularly underneath. We're trying to improve our straight-line speed but not at the expense of downforce for cornering. We haven't done any back-to-backs with the old and new cars on the same day, but the Homestead test data provided some interesting information. With the new Automobile Club Ouest air restrictors, we're quite a bit slower in a straight line at Homestead, but we're almost as fast over the whole lap, even with probably 50 less horsepower. Engine builders Katech are working hard to overcome the loss, and they’ve clawed back a lot of power. The new car is almost 8 mph slower on Homestead's short straights, but the braking and cornering improvements mean the lap times aren't that far off, which is pretty incredible.
Because of the gains we've made, I'm confident for Le Mans. The Prodrive Ferraris are probably our biggest rivals right now. At Sebring, Johnny O'Connell, Franck Freon and I got behind early and were a bit fortunate that the Ferraris (and the other Corvette driven by Andy Pilgrim, Kelly Collins and Oliver Gavin) had trouble, but that's why they call it an endurance race. Our Le Mans preparation required quite a big commitment by Pratt & Miller, GM Racing and Corvette. To be honest, I think the new car's Le Mans debut is a direct result of the challenge we anticipate and somewhat fear. We expect a tough, tough battle with the Ferraris. They were quicker than us last year, but not as reliable. I hope we've made enough gains to be able to keep up with them, whatever their ultimate strength may be. Right now, that's straight-line speed.
Overall, I think the ACO's equivalency formula works very well. It's the ultimate sort of restrictor-plate racing, with big displacement engines and not a lot of air for them to use. As for driving at Le Mans, it probably only takes four to six laps to get back in the groove. There are a lot of high-speed approaches, and that's usually where you need to focus. As well as these cars stop, that's the key. There are five places on the track where we reach the highest speed we do anywhere, in excess of 190 mph. So it takes a little bit of adjustment there, and you're also dealing with a track that seems like a tunnel in a lot of the maximum speed areas. You're on public roads. Trucks have worn grooves into the Mulsanne straight. With the big, wide tires we use, the car tends to dart around. You learn where to move from one side of the track to the other; little subtleties. Then there's not much grass and there's a big guardrail and trees. It's initially a little intimidating that way, but it's also part of the excitement that is Le Mans.
As tough as we expect Prodrive to be, my focus is on winning the race. I wouldn't call second place a failure, but it would certainly be a disappointment. One of the things this team has learned to do is win. And again, it's part of the evolution of where we've come from as a group. We worked out of a pickup truck and a trailer at Sebring back in ’98 when we tested the first car. There were four guys and one laptop; that's it. From there, we went to being happy with just finishing a long race to expecting to be very competitive and expecting to win. Expecting to win is not arrogance, but confidence. We're not resting on any previous laurels; we're moving forward as a team all the time. And that's where part of that expectation comes from. There's a level of knowledge within the team and those expectations we have are also based on our record. When you're the defending race winner at a prestigious event like Le Mans, it's a pretty neat feeling. We don't take that lightly and we're not about to give that up without a fight.
Until the race, though, I've got plenty to do. I'm headed home tonight, with two workouts planned for Friday. On Sunday night I'm off to Sears Point in California, where I'll test a DEI Winston Cup car on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then I'll have a few days to relax at home before heading off to the Circuit de la Sarthe. Talk to you soon.
All the best we'll be rooting for you! Maybe you can invite us into the pits!
