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Rolex 24 Wednesday Notebook

Wednesday, 25 January 2017
Marshall Pruett (words and images)
BACK UP AFTER ALL


The Corvette Racing team altered its plans to rebuild the No. 4 C7.R after it caught fire on Jan. 8 during the final day of testing at the Roar Before the 24. The initial routine mapped out by the defending Rolex 24 GTLM class winners had the burned No. 4 being completely repaired after a high-pressure fuel injection line malfunctioned and sprayed the flammable liquid onto the V8 engine's exhaust.


Once the No. 4 made its way back to the team's shop in Michigan, a new course of action was chosen where the team's spare car would be prepped to race this weekend. The spare, which underwent approximately 300 miles of testing and turned its most recent laps during last year's Goodwood Festival, will return to its position as a spare following Daytona as the primary No. 4 will be rebuilt in time for the Mobil 1 Twelve hours of Sebring in March.


UNEXPECTED SWITCH
The Visit Florida Racing team is coming into race week with very little sleep after experiencing late-night dramas that set the WEC-spec Riley/Multimatic Mk 30 P2 program back. With the clock approaching midnight last Saturday, the team attempted to warm up its fresh Gibson V8 race engine, which lasted less than a minute before the motor went off after it ingested something hard through one of the inlet trumpets.

Halted before a complete engine failure took place, the team was forced to make a dash down to Rebellion Racing's temporary base in Florida to retrieve the Gibson V8 it used in testing through the Roar. That motor, sent to Rebellion as part of a contingency plan if the Swiss team's race motor did not arrive in time, was driven back to the VFR shop and plugged into the No. 90 machine.
Owing to the short turnaround time involved, the damaged motor will not be ready for the race, leaving VFR to use its pre-season testing engine. Upgrades to that motor, including the drive-by-wire system, will be completed by Gibson at the track and will not require the motor to be removed.


FUN TO COME?
Peter Baron's Starworks Motorsport team is waiting to finalize its PC lineup. The newly bright pink and yellow entries are easy to spot, and depending on how a few things fall today, the driving roster could see the addition of a familiar name to the program.


GROUP SHOT
IMSA assembled its annual group photo on pit lane this morning. On top of getting a glimpse of a few new liveries, it also gave the series a chance to demonstrate the size and diversity contained within the four WeatherTech Championship classes.

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I sincerely thank Marshall Pruett for his contribution.

If you want to read several days of what's been going on, including
more than one teams over-nighter, (groan) click here:

https://www.tamparacing.com/forums/au...ml#post9386736