Team Nasamax - Friday
Maiden Race Approaches
The shadows are everywhere at Sebring on Friday morning compliments of a blazing sun. Clouds? What clouds? While last night nature provided quite a spectacle with orange lightning off in the distance, none of the cooling rain arrived but the sun’s departure did bring the temperatures down enough to give this team a taste of what is to come.

After his run in night practice, Robbie Stirling said he believed the engine had picked up close to 50 horsepower. This delightful circumstance could be a prelude to what the team expects by the time Le Mans rolls around.

Friday was a day to switch engines to the race unit. Rather than go out again and lose changeover time, the plan drawn up earlier in the week was to use the day to set up for a maiden race performance, and an enduring one, on Saturday.

John McNeil commented on the rest of the car wrapped around the Cosworth engine: “We have no complaints at all with the Reynard chassis. Once we get back the horsepower we will of course be better off, but the car certainly seems to be getting off the corners quickly.”

John McNeil monitored the filling of the pit-fueling rig, in full uniform and balaclava (below).

Simon Danton is one of the Cosworth team lending technical support to the Nasamax effort.

We talked with him about the status of the fuel utilization issues and the impact the humidity is having on achieving even greater results first time out.

“The few days we have been set up as a group, or as Team Nasamax, we have collected quite a bit of valuable information that will help us at the Le Mans 24 Hours. Unfortunately we cannot apply all that we have learned at the present moment. We know what we want to do and we will work on getting the engine ready for Le Mans.

“There really isn’t anything we can do to ‘fool’ the engine into thinking it is colder than it is. Air density is air density. But we do know what we can do to offset the humidity somewhat. We just can’t do everything we need to right now, here at this first race.

“In Europe, in the colder temperatures, we are pretty much on the mark in terms of the power. We could do with a cool day at Le Mans anyway, but we will do everything we can to recover the power loss that we have experienced in this weather.

“In Europe, we ran at the Bugatti circuit and were within a second of the Peugeot powered Courage team, who have years of experience with gasoline powered cars. In terms of the potential power output of the engine, we are pretty much on the mark. However we need to burn more bio-ethanol to get the power of conventional fuel because there is less energy in the ethanol than in gasoline.”

As the ACO - l'Automobile Club de l'Ouest - continues to monitor this entirely new fuel source and its successful application in racing, a move to a larger fuel cell is one consideration this team would like to gain.

“To run the same pit stop strategy as everyone else, we will need to have a larger fuel capacity. We know that we are at a disadvantage at this race, we always did, but the ACO review may be to our benefit eventually.”

“And the benefit to everyone for using bio-ethanol fuels are what we call a closed cycle, compared to gasoline. The CO2 that we produce is absorbed by the crops being used to create more fuel. And you can make this fuel from pretty much anything that is grown, wood or crops. I suspect there are quite a few growers who would take a look at this program and have quite an interest in it!”

While the effort to burn bio-ethanol is completely new, the Nasamax team brought together an experienced bunch of seasoned racing veterans. John McNeil: “All the people in this team have worked with us over the years. We have a nice group and we are coming together very well indeed.”

The weatherman is calling for rain, a 70% chance is forecast. Bryan Herta will start the race followed by Robbie Stirling and then Romain Dumas. Hopefully, the worst of the weather – a dramatic Friday evening storm – will have passed by come race morning: the maiden race of the Team Nasamax Reynard Cosworth.

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