2015 Rolex 24 at Daytona Pit Notes

NUTS & BOLTS
WHO’S RACING:
Tudor United SportsCar Challenge (P, PC, GTD & GTLM) – January 25-26, 2014
Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge – January 24, 2014
TRACK:
Daytona International Speedway - 3.56-mile, 12-turn stadium road course
LENGTH:
Tudor Championship - 24 hour endurance race
(First leg of the North American Endurance Championship)
Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series – 2.5 hour time limit
TIRE SETS:
• Tudor Championship -P teams will be allowed 36 sets of tires for the 24 Hour race (including dry
and wet tires); PC teams, 26 sets; and GTD teams will receive 25 sets.
•
-There is no set limit for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.
WHICH TIRE ARE THEY USING:
**Continental Tire has designated, Golds, as the dry tire to be raced at all stadium road courses in 2014. If
teams move to wet tires, the P and PC classes will move to, Blacks, while the GTD class will be on, Golds.
P
Golds – the same tire compound used at Daytona will also be used at Indy.
Delta Wing
Blacks – because it’s the only car on this configuration, it will race on, Blacks, year round.
PC
Golds – the same tire compound used at Daytona will also be used at Indy and Kansas.
GTD
Golds – the same tire compound used at Daytona will also be used at Indy.
CTSCC – this tire compound will be used at all other tracks this year.
PIT WINDOW:
A fuel stint for the P class is approximately 22 laps. Look for teams to double stint on a set of tires during the
24-hour event (day and/or night) depending on pit strategy, track position, and other variables. These are just
approximations and does not account for fuel mileage, weather or caution flag laps.
TRACK CHARACTERISTICS:
Since it’s repaving in late 2010, Daytona International Speedway has a smooth surface. This produces
relatively little wear and because of the low wear, produces relatively high tread temperatures. There are also
relatively “high loads” the tires must endure due to the high banked corners and vehicle speeds that are
unique to this track.
FYI
•
The Masses - Continental Tire will bring 85 people to the Rolex 24 at Daytona to help process tires.
During an average race weekend Continental’s staff is approximately 20-25.
•
By The Numbers - It takes 17 trailers to transport the 12,000 tires to the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Of
the 7,200 dry and 4,800 wet tires, not all will be used but like the post office, Continental is prepared
to deliver rain or shine. This is about four times the number of tires for any other race weekend.
•
How Many? - Continental will use three processing lines to mount and dismount tires throughout the
week. From start to finish, the Continental Tire trackside services crew can dismount, mount, and
balance a tire in approximately two minutes. The team expects to process over 5,500 tires over the
course of the race week activities.
•
Speeding Ticket - At peak demand, the Continental Tire trackside service crew will process 200+
tires per hour.
•
4.9 Miles - If Continental Tire lined up the 12,000 tires they will bring to Daytona end to end, the tires
would span the distance of approximately 4.9 miles. That’s 24.5 Empire State Buildings; or
approximately 1 and 1/3 times around the Daytona International Speedway road course; or the traffic
backup on any given day on the 405 in California.
•
Around The World - Over the last three years, P and GTD cars have completed 93,884 laps on
Continental tires at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. That’s 334,227 total race miles which amounts to
13.42 times around the Earth’s equator.
•
From New York to LA - In contrast, the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge has completed
15,775 over the last three Daytona races for a total of 56,159 race miles on Continental tires. That’s
10 round trips to/from New York, NY to Los Angeles, CA.
•
For What You Do - Within their ExtremeContactTM line of tires, Continental Tire has a tire for both
on and off-track, providing tires for what you do. On-track, Continental’s ExtremeContactTM Dry
Race tires are driven more miles in a 24-hour period than the average person drives in a month.
Last year’s P teams drove an average of 539 miles over the 24-hour race period (Ganassi, the race
winner, drove 2,524 miles). In comparison, off-track, the average person drives approximately 230
miles in a week and roughly 1,000 miles in a month. And Continental’s ExtremeContactTM DW and
DWS tires are the perfect summer and all-season tires, respectively, to provide you the extreme grip
and comfort to get you to the track or anywhere else you need to be.
WHAT’S NEW
•
New Addition – Continental Tire will hold a grand opening ceremony for their new tire plant in
Sumter, SC on January 28, 2014. Continental broke ground on the $500 million project on March
28, 2012 and expect to reach full production level in 2021. A few facts about the plant:
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In the initial phase stretching out until 2017, nearly five million passenger and light truck
tires will be produced annually.
In 2021, when the full production level will be reached, the annual production capacity is
expected to be up to eight million tires per year.
The new site comprises 500 acres and an approximately 1 million-square-foot production
facility.
Continental is creating roughly 1,600 new jobs with the new plant.
The Sumter plant is in addition to Continental’s plant in Mt. Vernon, IL and their corporate
offices in Fort Mill, SC.
GET SOCIAL
•
#tiresrule - Continental Tire will be using #tiresrule as their official hash tag for the 2014 IMSA
season. Join in the conversation with us on Twitter @continentaltire.
•
Twitter Guest - Ryan Dalziel, driver of the No. 1 Tequila Patron ESM HPD ARX-03b in the P
class, will be guest tweeting for Continental Tire during the Rolex 24 at Daytona week. Look for
his tweets with #RDalziel. Dalziel will provide insight into his 24-hour journey, answer questions
and insert his own flavor for what is sure to be a dynamic week of social interaction.
•
Follow Along:
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Ryan Eversley (@RyanEversley) – a leader in the social media space within the IMSA
paddock, Eversley provides great insight as well as humor. He’s extremely interactive with
fans and does not shy away from a great Twitter debate. Check out his Vines as well!
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Ozz Negri (@OzzNegri) – Ozz is a bi-lingual tweeter. Whether you speak English and/or
Portuguese, you’ll enjoy Ozz’s insight into his life on and off-off track. Plenty of racing with a
peppering of triathlon/biking/running.
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CORE autosport (@COREautosport) – CORE autosport is fielding teams in both the PC
and GTLM classes in 2014. Look for plenty of race updates and behind-the-scenes photos
from this account. You will be able to stay up to date with all that happens over the course of
a race weekend.

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