Team Nasamax - Thursday (post Qualifying)
Looking Forward To The Night
An Englishman would probably readily agree that you can never have too much sun and Florida is certainly the region to ensure there is enough for all. But the sun that gently shone down and grew the crops that allowed the creation of the bio-ethanol fuel powering the Team Nasamax Reynard, has also been the source for some heated concern. Specifically, the impact the Florida sun is having on the only baseline data at hand for this pioneering team.

John McNeil, Technical and Renewables Consultant: “We had such good results from Le Mans, where it was so cold, but our approach to Sebring has been to test, test, test under race conditions. This is also a car that is running an engine that was made to run in Champ Cars. The changes that have been made to it to run on bio-ethanol mean it is essentially an all-new engine in terms of fuel and air mixture and so on.

“When we tested at Le Mans we ran in temperatures of minus 2 and minus 4 degrees Celsius. Here, we are running at 31 degrees Celsius. We have an engine running on a dyno in California, set up with the same temperature and humidity. Cosworth's commitment to the project is further reflected with the four engineers flown in by the factory to support the Sebring race programme. Everybody at Cosworth is as excited about this project as we are. At the factory the guys working with us are stopped about every twenty steps by someone eager to find out what the project is all about!”

The team is campaigning a Reynard 01Q-01 chassis and the choice seems to be well suited for the arduous task of bringing a 205 proof sweet smelling fuel to power a top class racecar in world class motorsport. Team Nasamax driver Robbie Stirling:

“The Nasamax prototype drives in the same way as other sports prototypes, apart from smelling nicer and being considerably quieter!”

Tweam Nasamax refueller Keith Connolly must be the happiest refueller in Sebring. The car's fuel has a scent which remids those who have smelt it of a heady mix of tequila and very strong plum brandy, a pleasant change indeed from the noxious stench of high octane gasoline which fuels the rest of the field.

The qualifying session saw Romain Dumas post a best time of 1:57.980, good enough for 18th on the grid and 13th in class. Romain summed up the session: “Before the session today we tried to find the solutions to our problems with the temperature and humidity. So for us to qualify well was not so important. All of our time here for this event has been geared to gathering the information we need to make this project a future success.”

Dumas’ teammate Bryan Herta did not run in the short qualifying session but he too has expectations of future success ahead for this team.

“Every time we run this car we are learning more about the fuel and the engine and this installation. For this early in the program everyone is quite happy about the reliability. Obviously there are speed improvements that need to come in the future but once we have run a little bit, and the ACO has more information about this package, we may run with a bigger restrictor and a larger fuel capacity.

“I think the ACO made absolutely the right move in the beginning to say let’s be very conservative and not do the wrong thing. It is a new technology and fuel source so the team is happy to run in 2003 within the existing regulations. As we learn more, and the ACO learns more, the car will become more competitive.

“But those goals are in the future. For now we are looking to run 12 hours. Wherever we finish it will be a good result for this program because it is so new.”

Herta’s background is in open wheel racing and the drive he had last year for Panoz was his first in a prototype. The Reynard LMP900, however, has allowed him to revisit his roots in a sense.

“This car has the engine, gearbox, rear suspension and turbo housing off the ’99 Reynard I drove in Champ cars. The Cosworth engine was the best choice for trying this new fuel.”

Bringing this project to Sebring required collecting talented individuals and organizations together. In addition to the top-line drivers and significant engine support being provided by Cosworth, the team's other technical partner, Astek is also playing a major role.

Astek is a research and development company that specializes in renewable and sustainable ‘green’ technologies. They have already developed technology relating to the use of alternative fuels in power stations and are helping to transfer that experience directly to the task at hand.

Astek technology is being applied by Team Nasamax in the area of safety as well. Their Nitrogen Blanketing System (NBS), similar to the system used in the commercial airline industry is fitted for the first time to a racecar. One more example of the innovative approach Team Nasamax is taking to bring environmental issues to the sport of motor racing.

After the qualifying session, John McNeil reported that “Cosworth has made a change to the engine in that last session, something for us to try, and now we know which way to go.”

And the forecast is for more sun tomorrow! But tonight brings practice in the dark and perhaps, a blessed reduction in the heat and humidity when the sun goes down. We’ll cover that session late on Friday, with all the end of practice news.

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