Team Nasamax – Wednesday Testing
”Data, Data, Data”
That was the response from Romain Dumas (right) when asked what was on the agenda for Wednesday practice. The beautifully turned out Reynard looked quick, if not on the ultimate pace, but the story behind the scenes is deeply impressive.

If you’re going to approach any problem from a completely new direction you need time and resources. Approaching a world class motor race with a completely new technology means that the time constraints become particularly challenging. With track time a finite resource, you need all the back-up you can find to work towards a solution to the inevitable problems.

It’s here that the most impressive aspect of the Team Nasamax approach to the 2003 12 Hours of Sebring comes into play.

High air temperature and humidity caused a power loss for the Cosworth XDE engine yesterday. With Cosworth right behind the Nasamax project though, the resources are there to find a solution: while the team were grinding out ever quicker practice laps, Cosworth engineers were hard at work, testing an identical turbocharged 2.65 litre 8 cylinder engine - on a temperature and humidity controlled ‘dyno’ in California.

If all goes to plan the data gathered from the West Coast will reach Florida overnight in time for changes to be made before tomorrow’s qualifying sessions. Bryan Herta (below) may have that role - qualifying.

It’s still a steep learning curve for the whole team though, as conventional wisdom in many areas has to be dispensed with.

“There are acres of data for conventionally fuelled race cars but the dramatically different characteristics of bio-ethanol changes all of that,” says Technical and Renewables Consultant, John McNeil (left).

“We are doing something very new, very cutting edge and we intend to do it whilst remaining competitive,” adds McNeil.

The ACO, organisers of the world famous Le Mans 24 Hour race, are keeping a close eye on the Team Nasamax project. The suitability of renewable, green fuels for motorsport use is an important part of their future strategy and the bio-ethanol fuelled Reynard is showing very impressive signs of providing a giant leap in the right direction.

On track meanwhile, the Team Nasamax drivers are learning more and more about the Reynard’s characteristics, with all three drivers getting time in the car today.

Robbie Stirling (right - and testing this afternoon, below) found the big Reynard prototype “a great chassis, very predictable and it rides the bumps really well, they’re just not an issue for us. Our set-up is not at all bad.”

Frenchman Romain Dumas was also happy with the ‘feel’ of the car. “This car has a lot more to come when we have a solution for the loss of power. I hope we can move forward tomorrow.”

Bryan Herta too was getting down to learning more about the front end of the Reynard, his Champ Car experience having left him with a very good working knowledge of the (Champ car evolved) rear end.

With an engineering ‘fix’ on the way – thanks to such resources connected with this unique project - things are looking very good indeed for the Clean, Green Team Nasamax.

www.nasamax.com