Dave Caracci, retired VP from Robert Bosch, has returned to his first love – racing. In this multi-part series, Caracci takes us behind the scenes on the road with Prime Time Racing, where he serves as Logistics Engineer. Stay tuned for more notes from Caracci’s race team travel journal.
What Goes Around Comes Around
by Dave Caracci
In 1962, my dad took me to see my very first sports car race. It was the 12-hour endurance race in Sebring, Fla., and I was 14. A rich Mexican named Pedro, driving a factory backed Ferrari won. My dad took me to Sebring 12 hours, every year after that until I was old enough to drive myself.
Between 1963 and 1966 three Americans, acting as individual “ Privateers ” decided to build cars themselves, here in the U.S., to end the Ferrari dominance. They were called privateers because they raced without the big dollar backing of the car manufacturers.
The privateers , Carroll Shelby, Jim Hall, Dan Gurney and a few others, started putting big American street car motors into sports cars, to compete against the exotic European race cars. Each year, my dad and I watched as the Shelby Cobras, the Gurney Ford Lotus and the Jim Hall Chevy Chaparral chased the factory Ferraris and Porsches around Sebring for 12 hours. To us and the 56,000 other spectators, those privateers were America. In 1966 Jim Halls Chaparral finally whipped ‘em, winning the Sebring 12 hours.
By 1970, I had grown up and started racing myself. I’d also met a young man named Brent O’Neill, who was 14, and he came with me as my friend and assistant to every single race I ever ran, until I decided to stop racing full time in 1976. Brent, who now owns and operates a successful auto racing shop in South Florida, has been one of my best friends ever since.
Last fall, Brent invited me to be a member of Prime Time Group racing team. With a home base in Hollywood , Fla. , the team would campaign a Dodge VIPER in the 2008 American Lemans Series. So here I am, 32 years later, helping Brent at the races, instead of him helping me. What goes around comes around.
Owned and driven by Joel Feinberg ( Ft. Lauderdale ) and co-driven by Chris Hall ( Daytona Beach ), the Prime Time Viper was built at Brent’s shop, Performance Technologies Inc., in Hollywood , Fla. Through out the fall of 2007 the Viper was prepared by Prime Time Car Chief Frank Parzyck. The car was finished in late February and other than two days of testing at a Savannah race track, the car had never raced until Sebring.
The Prime Time crew consists of nearly 20 people (mostly volunteers from the Florida area who love the sport) and there is so much interface and job sharing between the team members that when discussing the car and the operation or the team, people’s names don’t seem to enter the conversation, but instead the effort is a general “we.” We are fast, we are late, we have a brake issue, we need to get to tech, we should go to dinner, it is 11pm and we are worn out. Even though each of us has an assignment or area of responsibility, Brent and Joel’s team seem to know that it is a “we” — all of us and each of us at the same moment.
But most of us do have a responsibility or specialty. Mine is logistics engineer.
When Brent gave me my responsibility, I didn’t even know what a logistics engineer does at a race in 2008. But, what I’m doing is a blast. Simply put, I track data during the race to calculate and brainstorm pit strategies with the team manager (Brent), car chief (Frank), the drivers and a ‘real’ engineer named Eric. We calculate such things as when we should stop for fuel, when we should stop for tires, how to combine and plan those stops to coincide with driver changes. Can we stop for all or some of the above during a yellow caution lap while the competition is going slowly behind a pace car in order to not lose much distance? Or, do we pit when our competitor pits? And if so, which competitor is the most important? Which competitor is gaining on us? Who are we gaining on? Just like racing a sailboat, where we do the input and the final decision is up to the captain, Brent makes the final decision and he or Frank relay the plan via radio to the driver.
To collect the data, we have some awesome tools, all in what I would describe as a data center on top of our pit tool cart. Joel bought a tool cart that carries all the car tools, and has a five person padded bench seat, with desk, on top of the tool cart. We have to use a ladder/steps to climb up to our seat and desk. There is a canvas roof over our heads (so my head won’t get sun burned) and five computer monitors. The five monitors can display any data we choose and the data is all “real time” transmitted directly from race headquarters.
We can see:
What position we and our competitors are in.
How far ahead or behind we and every other car is.
How fast we are going every lap.
How fast our competition is going every lap.
When each competitor pits, for how long and what they did while in the pit.
And a whole bunch of data as needed.
A few of the monitors can show the Speed channel coverage of the race, allowing the team and guests to watch the TV coverage as they stand behind our pit cart.
At left: Caracci (center) on the pit tool cart with other crew members.
Another awesome tool is the head set Brent has me wear. With that head set, I can hear everyone on the crew if they talk on a radio. I can hear/talk to Brent and Frank and I hear everything the driver says to either of them. The same headset scans race control and anytime race control talks to each other on the radio, I am the one on our team who hears it. At anyone time, I may hear the TV helicopter report an accident on a turn, the pit marshals call for a penalty on us or another car, the safety car and most importantly I hear the race chairman as he tells the pits to open or close or the race starter to wave a yellow or green flag. As anything I hear fits into or affects our race and pit strategy, I report and discuss what I heard with Brent, Frank or Eric.
So, enough explanations, now for the race report you all asked for:
We have been here since Monday. Practicing, testing, and qualifying: Sebring is not just a 12 hour race, but a four-day survival test of car and team. If, you’re not running Saturday morning at 10:05 race start, you don’t count!
It is Saturday morning and is just like it was in the 1960s when my dad brought me here, we are an American Privateer team racing an American Sports Car race prepared in a private race shop in South Florida. And, like the 1960’s, the competition is four Ferraris, six Porsches and a myriad of other Grand Touring cars prepared or back by the car manufacturers. We are the little guys with a brand new car and conventional wisdom is that we will not be running at 10 pm when the race ends!
From here on I am writing in the “we,” because the team (including the car) really acts as one.
Race strategy:
Knowing that you can’t win a race if you are not on the track when it ends, we limit the engine shift points so the engine never runs over 95 percent of its capability. This will help the Viper last and save fuel and reduce brake wear. No matter how slow we are compared to the other cars, we will go our set speed of around 2 minutes 9 seconds a lap and save the car. The car can go under 2:05, but Joel and Chris will hold it at about 2:09 or 2:10
We know that we and everyone else will have to stop once to replace the front brake pads, which takes about five minutes. If we push too hard and use too much brake, we may have to stop twice losing another five minutes. So, we want to be easy on the brakes as well as the engine. 2:09 to 2:10 lap times.
At this engine speed, we will need fuel every 40 to 55 minutes along with tires. That can be done in a pit stop lasting about one minute. Changing drivers takes over two minutes, so we will change drivers every 2nd stop, saving a minute plus on the fuel/tire stops in between.
We are all in our fire suits, Joel is in the car, there are Helicopters, TV guys and 36 cars (our 15 car class plus three other classes of car – all bigger and faster) and at 10:05am Saturday morning, the Prime Time Racing Group Viper rolls across the starting line !
Joel does a great job staying out of trouble in the horrific traffic of the first ten laps, turning lap times between 2:08 and 2:0996. This is an amazing consistency, on a 3.7 mile track with 17 corners every lap and 35 other race cars all around him. We still plan to pit for fuel and tires around lap 24 but at lap 12 two cars crash, bringing out the yellow flag and the pace car. We pit under the yellow for a “splash and go” – fuel only, no driver, no tires. My data shows that from the time Joel entered pit lane, stopped for 15 gallons of fuel and exited pit lane took 56 seconds.
At lap 17 the leading Ferrari in our class laps us. He is flying, but will he be here at 10pm tonight?
With fuel in the car at the yellow, we readjust our scheduled stop to lap 41, but at lap 28, our lap times drop from 2:09 to 2:15 and Joel calls in for a driver change. Unexpected by all of us, the Florida heat has taken its toll on Joel and he can’t keep u the pace.
At lap 31 (ten laps ahead of schedule) we pit under the green flag, changing drivers, tires and taking on 13.5 gallons of fuel. We get lapped during the 2min. 49 second stop. We are now down two laps, But Chris is fresh and in the car turning laps between 2:08 and 2:10.
The lead cars in our class are still turning 2:02s and by lap 46, they have lapped us three times
We are scheduled to stop for tires and fuel at lap 56, with a driver change at lap 81, but at lap 50, our lap times suddenly drop from 2:08 to 2:15 and Chris calls in for help. Just like Joel, the heat has taken a toll on Chris and he needs a driver change.
At lap 51, we again must pit under the green and the Prime Time crew puts 17 gallons of fuel and tires on the car while the drivers change. Time from pit entrance to pit exit is just over two minutes, but as Joel exits the pit, I get a call from the from the Race Chairman that we exited pit lane too fast (there is a pit speed limit for the safety of the crews) We have to call Joel back in for a “stop and go” penalty!
We are less than two hours into the race and already down by 5 laps. But, we are 11th out of 15.
The same scenario goes on for a several hours, with the car running perfectly, the drivers dealing as best they can with the heat, but having to change before schedule and the Prime Time crew doing trouble free refuel/tire stops. Eric uses my data and calculates that we are getting .8 of a lap per gallon of fuel. IT IS HOT. But that is COOL, because this is an endurance race. By lap 94, four hours into the race (2PM), we are six laps behind the leading Ferrari and in 8th place, as other teams wear out the equipment or drivers take chances and crash.
Again Joel and Chris continue the laps (2:08 – 2:095) for hours. From my perspective it is a blast, sitting on top of my little data collection center helping Brent and Frank plan. Lunch arrives, diet cokes arrive, people stop by to visit and ask questions while Chris and Joel keep running 2:09.
At lap 150, 5 ½ hours into the race (3:30pm) my radio suddenly reports that the 2nd place Porsche tried to pass the lead Ferrari and they took each other out! Not half way through the race and they are history. How dumb is that? The Prime Time Viper moves into 6th, 9 laps behind 1st and 4 laps behind 5th, with a whole bunch of GT2 cars chasing us down from behind. We are suddenly living in interesting times.
Of course, life does not come without its little problems and as Joel exits the next pit stop, the Vipers instrument display goes dead. Joel calls in and Eric working through Brent tells him to shut the ignition off while going down a straight then restart the car.
For those of us that have had to reboot a lap top, ever done it at 150 mph?
Eric’s idea works and the instruments come back on. Whew.
At six hours into the race most of the cars start pitting to put on new brake pads. A brake pad stop takes five minutes. At green flag speed, that puts us in the pits for 2 ½ laps, so Brent refuses to call the change until a yellow flag. The brake company engineer warns of brake pad failure, but Brent hangs in there, waiting for a yellow flag. “Take it easy on the brakes”, he tells both drivers.
By 3:30 pm , the sun has fallen to an angle that drops the heat so the drivers can stay in the car longer.
The Andretti team creates a timing and scoring issue with the officials, creating a 19 lap yellow. We pit for an 8 gallon splash and go. With the lower sun and the yellow laps, Joel drives 36 laps and his last lap is a 2:09.970. Amazing stamina.
We pit at 4:03 pm for fuel and to put Chris back in the car as Joel has driven an hour and 36 minutes. The stop takes 2 minutes 11 seconds from pit entrance to pit exit. No tire change and still no new brakes.
It is really cooling down. Eric calculates that the fuel consumption is dropping. Instead of getting .8 laps per gallon, we have moved into the 1 lap per gallon range. Being an engine guy originally, I speculate it is the cool air making the car run more efficiently, but who knows?
Chris is holding up well, running 2:079 to 2:085 laps and he stays in the car long enough to finally take maximum advantage of our fuel and tire calculations. We run the tires 62 laps and when we finally bring Chris in for a change, the car takes 231/2 gallons. It only holds 25 gallons.
There are 3 factory Porsches and 2 factory Ferraris running WAY ahead of us, but the Prime Time Viper keeps on ticking and at 5:38pm , my data monitor suddenly shows the fastest Ferrari slowing rapidly, running 2:20 lap times and dropping. As a Brazilian co-worker I knew would say “the car, she is not feeling very well.”
On lap 192, 5:52 pm Brent pulls Joel in for fuel, a driver change and new brake pads. They have lasted 710 miles for 7 hours 52 minutes. We now are only 4 hours 8 minutes from the finish line. The pit stop, including new front brakes takes 5 minutes 22 seconds and as Chris leaves the pits. Brent radios him to kick the engine speed up to 5,800 which is 97 percent of capacity. We know we have enough brakes to make it and the cool air has brought the mileage up.
The sick Ferrari drops out. We are in 5th.
On lap 216 Joel comes on the radio. Something is wrong with the power steering. It is making noise (I would too after 800 race miles) and it is difficult to turn to the right. Sebring is 3.7 miles each lap with 17 corners and 9 are to the right! This power steering issue is not good. No turning back now guys, so Brent says just keep driving. He figures the power steering fluid is leaking. With 17 turns every 2 minutes trying to turn the tires that are about 14 inches wide gives the power steering a real work out. Frank installed an oil cooler on the power steering, but it must not be able to keep up with the heat and now with a leak, most of the fluid is probably gone. We can add fluid. But, who wants to bring the car in and pull the hood just to add fluid. We’ll have to tough it out for a while.
Just before dark, the GT 40 collides with us in a turn. We win. The Ford GT is out, but the race chairman tells me over the radio that we are dragging something. After a few laps, the car comes in and the crew pulls the hood off for some body damage control. Brent refills the power steering with fluid and the Viper heads off to do battle at night.
Darkness sets in around 7:42 and the left headlight does not work. The rules say we only need one headlight, so the guys keep driving. At night, every cars times drop, probably because of the poor vision. But, Joel and Chris are still running 2:10.42 to 2:11.29, with one head light.
The car keeps making laps in the dark of night. The power steering keeps making noises and the one headlight never comes back on, but the fuel use keeps dropping. We have improved from .8 laps a gallon to 1.2, so we begin to stretch the fuel stops out a bit.
At 9:03 pm Joel pits and Chris gets in. New tires, more fuel and he’s off. We calculate that Chris can finish the last 57 minutes of the race and still have 3 gallons of fuel left. Brent decides to go for it, no more pit stops.
Brent and I have been here before. You can not believe all the things you can hear going wrong in the last hour to the finish line. But, you just hang in there.
At 9:45, my monitors show that we can not catch the Ferrari ahead of us and the Porsche behind us can not catch us unless the car breaks. Brent radios Chris to ease back on the car and bring her home for a top five finish in one of the Worlds three biggest sports car races. Chris runs 2:14 lap times for the last 15 minutes to save the car.
At 9:59:59pm I count 21 people wearing Prime Time Racing Group fire suits standing out on the pit wall straight, waving at Chris, as he and the car drive by to the finish. The fire works start and we have done what folks with conventional wisdom knew could not be done.
The Prime Time Racing Group Viper not only finished the Sebring 12 hours but we also took 5th in Grand Touring and placed the highest of any American car in GT2.And, Joel received the “ PRIVATEER CUP ” for being the highest finishing non-factory team.
In 12 hours the Viper had run 1087 miles or the equivalent of the Daytona 500, immediately followed by the Indy 500, with 87 miles left to drive home!
We took all our tools back to the semi, patted the car a bunch of times and drank a few of beers. Around 1pm I decided to sleep a few hours in my truck and head for home just before sun up.
I hugged Brent, said a bunch of farewells and as I walked back to my truck, across the Sebring paddock there was that warm tropical breeze I grew up with as a kid and I thought: “American privateer verses the European factories just like the early 1960s with my dad. I sure wish he had been here to see this.” I stopped, turned to look at the quarter moon and there was one bright star, all alone, looking down at us. I then realized that my dad had indeed been watching the entire event with me. How cool is that?
Remember, what goes around comes around.
Dave Caracci, the retired V.P of Robert Bosch Corp, was born in and grew up in Miami Beach. He currently lives in Daytona Beach, Fla.
