ALMS News Thursday, 21st September 2006

Reliability key for B-K return.

After a heavy crash at Lime Rock sidelined the team for four races, the B-K Motorsports Courage C65 will return to the American Le Mans Series at Road Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans.

The team has chosen one of the toughest races on the calendar to make its return, but armed with a freshly rebuilt car, a redesigned cooling system, engines supplied by SpeedSource Engineering and a recent shakedown, drivers and team members are optimistic for an strong showing in LMP2 at the series' cornerstone event.

"We don't have the speed of the Penske Porsches and Intersport," team manager Marcus Haselgrove said. "What we do have is the strength, reliability and talent within the team to keep the car running in the longer races. We have a better chance here than at the sprint events."

Last year the team and car made their debuts at the Grand Prix of Atlanta, finishing second in class. The result was the same at Petit Le Mans, where the characteristic reliability of the rotary engine lived up to its billing.

"Being able to go back to a track where we have a lot history is a big deal," said Guy Cosmo, who will team with Jamie Bach for the race. "We have an established baseline there. Plus it's one of the best road-racing tracks in the world. We love driving around the place. It makes it great to show back up and have it at a place where we had our first introduction."

Both Cosmo and Bach spent considerable time in the car during a shakedown test at Road America ahead of the race. The test was used to allow the drivers to get back behind the wheel of the car, as well as validating all components and making sure the new cooling system functioned correctly.

One of the issues in the early part of the season dealt with engine overheating. But that was remedied thanks to crew chief Andrew Armistead and Van Dyne Engineering, a specialist water pump manufacturer that designs a variety of open-wheel systems.

"It's a little relief knowing we have that reliability as long as we run consistently and run trouble-free," Cosmo said. "We don't have any concern that we'll have any engine or cooling issues. It's one less thing to worry about."