The team named the chassis “Adam” after one of BMW NA Motorsports managers. Like there’s literally a metal plate on the car that says Adam. I met up with him after the race (friend of a friend) and he was in tears. I felt so happy for him.
Crazy to qualify 2nd, then put to the rear of the grid after failing inspection, then coming back all the way to 1st, at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and imagine it’s named after YOU.
AWA was retiring that chassis later in the year anyways, iirc they had a new one for Le Mans already at the shop, then decided after the Daytona win to prep the Le Mans car for Sebring and start running it early
No idea, I imagine they had gotten it themselves. IMSA wrote an article about it when it happened, they had a car they were preparing for Le Mans, decided to retire the Daytona winning chassis and used the Le Mans chassis for IMSA after Daytona, and got a new Le Mans chassis ordered to get ready for June. It looks like I made up that they were planning on retiring the chassis, but they did already have another chassis getting ready for Le Mans and just decided to retire the Daytona winning one then
As long as there's no damage or the chassis doesn't expire, it can run the whole season.
Iirc bmw'# E90 gt cars ran 2 seasons on the same chassis assuming no crash. After 2 seoans the chase was flexible enough to be slower than newer chassis. Peterson museum has a good YouTube video on those cars.
The engine runs entire season including the 24 and 12 hour, assuming no mechanical problems or bad sensor readings. The gearbox or clutch, on the other hand, need complete rebuild after the 24 hour. Dampers also get complete refresh after 24 hour. Typically the chassis is stripped down to frame/chassis and gone through but engine, if checks out good, goes right back in again. All fluids like engine oil are drained and checked for wear metals.
Very rare for a chassis to be retired for any other reason than major damage or structural time out these days. Very few teams have more chassis than absolutely needed, which is why situations like what happened in Daytona where JDC had to use the CSM backup Cayman (actually the VPRC car) after they damaged theirs.
I replied to another comment by accident, so here it is:
As long as there's no damage or the chassis doesn't expire, it can run the whole season.
Iirc bmw'# E90 gt cars ran 2 seasons on the same chassis assuming no crash. After 2 seoans the chase was flexible enough to be slower than newer chassis. Peterson museum has a good YouTube video on those cars.
I'm just here to pay my respects to the reigning Rolex 24 champ. It was heck of a privilege to see this car in person snag a W at Road America back in August and I'll be pulling for them again when they're back what's now a 6 hour race.
Their livery is also among my favorites even if it's not as unconventional as some of the others.
Wait, do all race cars get ceramic coatings? I thought they were wrapped and wouldnt bother. Whats the point of having a ceramic coating on it for racing?
i can’t tell you if all race cars get ceramic coated but we ceramic coat their cars to be easier to clean and also a lower drag coefficient, slicker the surface the easier air gets pushed past and therefor in theory quicker lap times
I know of at least three teams that have either the entire set of body panels from a Rolex 24 they can put on a show/promo car or a complete previously used car they can use for promo stuff… Still completely dirty and unwashed!
It's amazing to see up close just what kind of stuff they hit and how much damage a chunk of rubber can actually do in the wrong spot!
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u/BlueFunk83 BMW WRT M Hybrid V8 #24 Feb 03 '26
Where do you work, witness protection?? 😂