PRESS RELEASE - Lowe concludes Roar weekend optimistic
January 9, 2012
Lowe concludes Roar weekend optimistic
Monday, 9 January 2012
Dr. Jim Lowe leaves Daytona with an optimistic feeling after completing the official three-day Roar before the 24 practice weekend in preparation for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona. Lowe joins Brian and Burt Frisselle behind the wheel of the 77 Doran Racing Ford Dallarra lead by Kevin Doran for the 2012 Grand-Am North American Endurance Championship.
Lowe faced two challenges this weekend. First, to get acclimated with the Dallara chassis. Second, like all the teams running the older Prototypes, he and his teammates had to struggle to find speed.
Meeting the first challenge was accomplished over the three-day weekend by having plenty of seat time. Lowe having competed in the Rolex 24 with StarWorks Motorsports in 2011 used his past experience driving the Ford Riley to make handling comparisons. ?The Dallara felt more like an open-wheel car from my Skip Barber days. The Riley chassis is more forgiving than the Dallara, and there is a small window to recognize understeer and oversteer. But once I figured it out, I definitely enjoyed the car more. On my first day it felt like a Skip Barber car on steroids, but on my last day, I really felt comfortable with the car.?
The second challenge caused frustration for everyone in the Doran Racing garage. Brian Frisselle drove the Ford Dallarra last season with the identical aero package, setup, and engine, and the car ran 1:40s, averaging 127mph during the 2011 Roar practice weekend. This past weekend, the car was struggling in the 1:44s with a top speed of 123. The car was consistently 2 seconds off the leader. At first it was believed the ?parachute? added to the rear wing was the cause for the drag, but one test lap without the panel showed it made no difference. Perhaps changing the gearbox would solve the problem. The first practice session on Sunday showed a small gain. Next, a complete engine swap. Final numbers in the last practice session showed a 2 second gain with a top speed of 124.994. A big improvement from Friday, yet the crew were already focused on further tests once returning to the shop in Ohio.
?This was a successful weekend. Nobody worked harder than our crew this weekend and certainly on the last day. The crew replaced the transmission then the whole engine all in the space of a morning. We got some good running times this afternoon. I did my fastest time and my fastest time in traffic which is a good way to prepare for the endurance race. The car is running much better and both Brian and Burt were doing their usual fast laps and overall we left the test in much better spirits and more excited than from where we were yesterday. The new engine certainly had more grunt to it which didn?t show in the readings but it showed in the lap times. Once the car is back in Ohio they will spend time working on it and I?ll spend the next ten days staying mentally prepared for the enduro.?
Lowe will return to Daytona International Speedway with Kevin Doran and the Doran Racing team on Saturday, January 28th for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona which starts at 3:00pm.
Be sure to follow Dr. Jim Lowe on Facebook and Twitter as the World?s Fastest Neurosurgeon competes in the 2012 Grand-Am North American Endurance Championship with Doran Racing.
January 9, 2012
Lowe concludes Roar weekend optimistic
Monday, 9 January 2012
Dr. Jim Lowe leaves Daytona with an optimistic feeling after completing the official three-day Roar before the 24 practice weekend in preparation for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona. Lowe joins Brian and Burt Frisselle behind the wheel of the 77 Doran Racing Ford Dallarra lead by Kevin Doran for the 2012 Grand-Am North American Endurance Championship.
Lowe faced two challenges this weekend. First, to get acclimated with the Dallara chassis. Second, like all the teams running the older Prototypes, he and his teammates had to struggle to find speed.
Meeting the first challenge was accomplished over the three-day weekend by having plenty of seat time. Lowe having competed in the Rolex 24 with StarWorks Motorsports in 2011 used his past experience driving the Ford Riley to make handling comparisons. ?The Dallara felt more like an open-wheel car from my Skip Barber days. The Riley chassis is more forgiving than the Dallara, and there is a small window to recognize understeer and oversteer. But once I figured it out, I definitely enjoyed the car more. On my first day it felt like a Skip Barber car on steroids, but on my last day, I really felt comfortable with the car.?
The second challenge caused frustration for everyone in the Doran Racing garage. Brian Frisselle drove the Ford Dallarra last season with the identical aero package, setup, and engine, and the car ran 1:40s, averaging 127mph during the 2011 Roar practice weekend. This past weekend, the car was struggling in the 1:44s with a top speed of 123. The car was consistently 2 seconds off the leader. At first it was believed the ?parachute? added to the rear wing was the cause for the drag, but one test lap without the panel showed it made no difference. Perhaps changing the gearbox would solve the problem. The first practice session on Sunday showed a small gain. Next, a complete engine swap. Final numbers in the last practice session showed a 2 second gain with a top speed of 124.994. A big improvement from Friday, yet the crew were already focused on further tests once returning to the shop in Ohio.
?This was a successful weekend. Nobody worked harder than our crew this weekend and certainly on the last day. The crew replaced the transmission then the whole engine all in the space of a morning. We got some good running times this afternoon. I did my fastest time and my fastest time in traffic which is a good way to prepare for the endurance race. The car is running much better and both Brian and Burt were doing their usual fast laps and overall we left the test in much better spirits and more excited than from where we were yesterday. The new engine certainly had more grunt to it which didn?t show in the readings but it showed in the lap times. Once the car is back in Ohio they will spend time working on it and I?ll spend the next ten days staying mentally prepared for the enduro.?
Lowe will return to Daytona International Speedway with Kevin Doran and the Doran Racing team on Saturday, January 28th for the 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona which starts at 3:00pm.
Be sure to follow Dr. Jim Lowe on Facebook and Twitter as the World?s Fastest Neurosurgeon competes in the 2012 Grand-Am North American Endurance Championship with Doran Racing.
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