“This is our fourth season with the NSX, and it is by far the
trickiest place we go to, to get a balance that we think is
competitive,” Shank said. “We work on it a lot. We tested
there for a few days in February to work on different combination
to try to get that car over those bumps. It’s just not
one thing. It’s a combination of weight distribution, shock
dampening, and tires. That’s a moving target and really
tricky. It’s where we struggle the most, but we are pretty
determined to get it fi xed.”
Shank explained what makes Sebring Raceway such a
challenge. “You have two really fast turns that mean everything
in lap time,” Shank said. “You have this big track that
is 3.74-miles long, but truly all that really matters is how
fast you get through Turn 1 and Turn 17. It’s a unique combination
of high-speed, high shock travel, fast shock travel
and having an aero balance on the car. You have all this
aero load shoving the car into the bumps… it’s been tricky
getting that balance right.”
That is where race engineers come into the equation,
such as MSR’s Ryan McCarthy.
“There are a few things that make Sebring probably one
of the most challenging tracks in the world to set up a car
for and then also for the drivers to compete in,” McCarthy
explained. “Teams come from Europe with the WEC race.
Sebring is about as different from a European track as you
can possibly get for those guys.
“The track is a very iconic and historic place, but it’s been
there for a long time. It’s very, very bumpy and very high
speed. The bumps are in the highest speed corners. Bumps
in the middle of the corners and bumps before the corners,
braking is very diffi cult. Drivers have to be consistent down
to a few inches one way or another. They would hit a bump
on one lap that they didn’t hit on another lap. That would
either screw up the braking or make the braking not as
effi cient as it probably was the previous lap before they hit
that bump.
“Track conditions are the number one challenge we have.
With that comes reliability. The car just takes a beating.
All of the components have to be in top form with all of the
miles we do and all the abuse they take over the 12 hours.
Luckily, our NSX is very solid and we’ve never had an issue
with anything at Sebring.
There is much strategy that goes into the Twelve Hours of
Sebring. It also requires a great deal of planning. “The most
important aspect is it’s really a 12-hour sprint race,” McCarthy
said. “It’s not so much an endurance race as it is a very
extended sprint race.
“We are going fl at-out the whole time. It’s pretty intense,
more so than it used to be when car reliability was an issue
and you would cruise around and wait for cars to break.
Now, it’s on from the green fl ag.”
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