Posted: September 24 2004 at 11:37am | IP Logged

Lap at Daytona with Lou Gigliotti LG Motorsports
http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/

Daytona, The 250 mile race that we won in July 2002, was 1000 times longer than a drag race run. That should put road racing and drag racing in perspective.

Having said that, I will go through a full lap at Daytona Rolex course. This would be a qualifying lap. We use 1st gear in qualifying. (not a regular 1st, this one go up to 95 miles per hr.)
We use a 3.33 gear and rev to 8200 rpms.

As we enter turn 1 we approach in 5th gear at 193mph with the high drag/high down force, new C5 body. Speed would have been 200mph with the original yellow C5 body that we had before.

Entering turn 1, Down shift from 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and go through turn 1 in 2nd. Then just after the exit of 1, shift up to 3rd. There is a set of esses next. Then short shift up to 4th to get over the bumps in the esses. If you try to take the bump in a lower gear, you will spin the tires, and upset the car.
The next turn is turn4, a 180 right hander. In qualifying we use 1st gear here. Brake late, and Trail brake into this corner. It is a fairly long turn, so you can get your trail braking done in plenty of time to balance the car and come out of this corner early with power on. The exit is wide, and has an access road on the left. you can use the access road to accelerate on with your left side tires after some rubber has been laid down. This allows much earlier full throttle.

Turn 5 is a left hand kink. should be flat out, with new tires, and a good set up, and no mistakes. If you go wide here you will be on the grass. And if the grass is wet, you will keep going until you hit the gardrail, so beware.
The kink leads to a decreasing radius right hand turn, that is usually very very slippery. For some reason the kind of asphalt texture gives this part of the track less grip.
So since you cannot corner as fast, with the lesser grip, I just brake later than normal and only concentrate on keeping the car under control enough to hit the entry apex. Then I "tiptoe" through the right hander. You have to be patient here because if you go back to the full throttle too soon, you will run out of road, (decreasing radius), and have to lift momentarily to keep the car on the track.
It is these kinds of lifts that hurt lap times.

Note: you never want to have to pull off the throttle once you have pushed it down. It is better to wait, so you can accelerate in one motion. If you have to lift at the exit, you have either apexed too soon or applied power too soon. Figure out which one it is, and correct it.

Next is the left hand turn that leads on to the banking for the first time. The transition onto the banking is not too bad. No issues here. The left hand corner leading onto the banking is very important. This corner seems to open up, but you still have to maintain the proper line or you will have to correct the car before you reach the banking. At any rate, you need to put the power down as soon as possible to start the straight away early. This is the 2nd most important corner on the whole track. If you have to wait for full throttle, you have just shortened your effective straight away.

The banking is easy to drive at first, but as you reach "Nascar 2" we are hitting about 165 mph. there is a bump on the bottom of the banking at the exit of nascar 2, so you want to stay at least one lane up. If you don't you will have to work to keep the car off the wall, if your car cannot ride the bumps well. Also as the race progresses, this bump will take it's toll on both the car and the driver. It is exactly where the 4th/5th shift is, and it can mess up the shift.

The banking requires two things. Stiffer springs than you would run for the infield and stiffer shocks so the car won't float at 190mph. The springs need to be stiff enough to keep the car off the road . You can drag for qualifying, but not for the race. At first this sounds easy, but in Nascar 3 and 4 banking, we let the car drag in qualifying, but have to raise the car, and the spring rates because neither the car or the driver could last if it was set up in qualifying mode. It takes too much work to hold the car in qualifying trim. With the car in Race trim, it will drive better on the banking, but it will have less grip on the infield.

So we exit nascar 2 on to the Famed Daytona back straight. Our 735 hp tube frame C5 bodied race car hits 185 on the back straight before we have to brake down to about 110mph to enter the "bus Stop"/chicane. This is a left/right filck, to a short straight, (not very long) to a right/left flick back on to the oval at Nascar 3. The track was changed slightly for the 2003 Rolex in this area, but again there was a bump at the exit of the Bus Stop that we ran in July. This really upset the car. It was necessary to eliminate this unstable condition with the shock/spring choice for the race, but again, in Qualifying, we just hold on, and "fly" literally.

Then to Nascar 3 and 4. We hit Nascar 3 at about 140, and accelerate all the way through 3 and 4. We exit Nascar 4 at about 185mph. Letting the car drift out, giving it a free run up to the wall to avoid scrubbing any speed off. then keep the car straight against the wall, and down to apex on theTri-Oval. This get the speed over 190 by the start finish line.

Now, as you approach the start line, the track curves, and banks slightly. The first time I went to Daytona, The car I was driving was so unstable, that this slight curve was very scary. We had to work on the car to get the aero right so we didn't have to lift. Now, with our car, it is a no brainer. Flat at 193 by the time we brake going into turn 1.

This was a 250 mile race that we won in July 4th of 2002. It is about 10% of the distance run in a 24 hr race, so It is a piece of cake.

That is a full lap at Daytona. Traffic encountered on the banking is a concern. With 725 hp, we had the fastest car on the straight. It only got hairy if 2 cars were already side by side racing on the banking. We had to go 3 wide, and trust them to see us.
In a race at Daytona, it is not uncommon to rub at 190 mph getting through traffic. A fast Porsche will only be 165 through the banking, and 180 on the straights. The prototypes were much faster than us in the infield and under braking, but we blew them away on the straights and the banking. So sometimes we would let them by in the infield, only to have to pass them on the straight. If it was close, we would let them go by again under braking into turn 1, to not hold them up. They were faster overall than our class car.

The banking is fun. You have to look out the TOP of the windshield because that is where the track is in the banking. It also presses you down in the seat. You have to try to look way ahead to see if there is a crash. Again, that would be out the top of the windshield. You also do not want to ride too low on the banking because if you drop a wheel off onto the apron, you will have to work hard to save it.

Darkness:

Today there are many more lights there than years ago. Now, you can still see without good headlights. But you can see better with great headlights, and if you can see better, You can go faster. Especially the Kink, You need lights, and balls to go flat out at night through the kink!

In a 24 hr race, there is no reason to go flat out, because if you do, you won't finish the race. The key to winning a 24 hr race is to set a pace, and don't exceed it. Short shift all the time, and use the least number of gears, and the least number shifts that you can. Save the brakes, trans, engine and tires. put the car on 90% mode. In this years race in July, I cut a tire at the start finish line at 190+ mph. I managed to NOT hit the wall, and my son Louis and the team changed the tire in 10 seconds. They won the race for me. We won by only 10 seconds. (So I told Louis I would pay his tuition at Purdue ).

Also, in a 24 hr race, no matter who says what, there are very few drivers who stay awake long enough to be ready to run at 4:00 am. So the team must be strict on the rules for the drivers to sleep when they can, and don't waste their energy.

So Daytona is a great track. I have my name written there as the winner of the "Paul Revere 250" on July 4th, 2002 right next to Bobby Allison. It is an honor that I will be very proud of for many years to come.

Thanks, I hope you enjoyed the lap. It only took 1:50.3 seconds. And we set a new record that race.

Lou Gigliotti LGM