I think it was electrical problems

 

It was indeed an electrical problem, but just a freak deal. It was one of those 1 in million deals. It was really a shame because the car was running great. The issue was one of those "NO WAY" it can't be just that!!! Beyond this faux paus the team and Mazda were really pleased with the team's and car's performance. There are further developments coming, with DI later down the season. Overall it was great to join the team at LBGP; look for a report and pics on MazdaNews.Com soon.

The team and Mazda appreciate all the support they're getting from enthusiast of the piston kind, but mostly from RE people who really have been tops in supporting BK, in spite of the switch in powerplants.

-Bern

 

Freak accident indeed! From DailySportsCar.com (still free!)

"The Lola-Mazda, which had been as high as third overall, has a heartbreaking slow crawl into the pits, apparently out of fuel. Ah, no it wasn’t. The IMSA mandated transponder fell off of its mount and tripped the master switch."

That just aint right, I tell ya!

 

that was bad luck, plain and simple

but we saw the potential of the car, THAT THING IS FAST!!!

if the team keeps improving that car is going to be a front runner, just a little sad it was not rotary power but a big tumps up to the team for the improve performance

 

It was even wierder and strange than just that. The box fell loose and struck the bracket that runs along the bottom of the cockpit floor into the rear firewall to the main power cut-off. Interestingly enough, the majority of this same bracket was shielded, but the box fell and hit the only small exposed area available of the bracket and moved it to OFF.

The guys discovered this by jiggling any and everything around the cockpit and the car sprang to life. Unfortunately, this was after changing the ECU, PCU, and others pieces out, and 10 laps later.... talking to the boys this was something that will not happen again.

-Bern

 

thats very bad luck.... , I guess this course suited the Turbo4 too. Low end torque coming out of tight hairpin.
________
Headshop

 

Son of a... that sucks! When I heard freak accident I was thinking like a coke bottle flying into the intake or something. A transponder falling loose and shutting the car off just sucks. That's not even a reliability issue anymore. That was just crap. Next weekend here in Houston they'd better get it together!

 

if they keep improving like this you are going to have fumn next week RG

 

Heartbreaking news.. Sounds like things are coming together though, so keep up the good work guys. We may have an awesome race car soon.

 

Sounds like a banana in the tail pipe freakish!! It felt good to see them not only hanging with the big guns but whippin' some *** too. The car looked very fast when Speedtv did give the team some coverage. Hopin' to actually see more than 2 minutes of coverage in Houston. Someone needs to cement that transponder down!!

 

from dead last 23rd to 3rd overall, Ben and the car were rippin!!! from trackside in the pits, that s'"@t was mad dope yo!

Ben was so disappointed when he got out of the car.

-Bern

 

I can't wait until the 24 hours this summer. Audi vs Peugeot. Peugeot just raced in their first race with the new diesel car at Monza and they're off to a strong start. This is going to be exciting.

http://www.planetlemans.com/cmsv2/in...=2556&Itemid=2

 

They are make strides in the car - but I'd still like to see a lap by lap comparison to the front runners. They were only a half second to a full second per lap behind the leaders in P2 when comparing the best laps.

Tim

 

Thank god for zoom lenses!




Images from SpeedArena

 

thats just beutiful!

 

^^ Nice pix.

Looks like we're pretty much back of the prototype pack again-at least in this mornings practice. And that was with Devs too.

 

Morning times...

1 7 P2 1 Timo Bernhard Fin 35 0.000 0.000 1:03.187 1:02.791 96.47 25 6 6:39.703 26:25.020 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing Michelin --

2 26 P2 2 Bryan Herta Fin 35 0.103 0.103 1:02.894 1:02.894 96.32 40 5 10:20.672 26:19.667 Acura ARX-01A Andretti Green Racing Michelin --

3 6 P2 3 Sascha Maassen Fin 28 0.432 0.329 1:04.896 1:03.223 95.82 36 6 13:52.560 34:30.786 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing Michelin --

4 9 P2 4 Stefan Johansson Fin 37 0.922 0.490 1:03.926 1:03.713 95.08 5 6 1:08.251 28:31.900 Acura ARX-01A Highcroft Racing Michelin --

5 16 P2 5 Andy Wallace Fin 34 1.097 0.175 1:05.931 1:03.888 94.82 24 6 7:09.606 27:19.652 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team Michelin --

6 1 P1 1 Rinaldo Capello Fin 32 1.149 0.052 1:04.019 1:03.940 94.74 29 7 6:27.130 29:22.915 Audi R10/TDI Audi Sport North America Michelin --

7 15 P2 6 Adrian Fernandez Fin 28 1.162 0.013 1:07.438 1:03.953 94.72 35 6 7:40.724 33:23.452 Lola B06/43 Acura Lowe`s Fernandez Racing Michelin --

8 20 P2 7 Chris Dyson Fin 34 1.339 0.177 1:04.130 1:04.130 94.46 43 6 6:19.110 28:16.152 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team Michelin --

9 2 P1 2 Emanuele Pirro Pit 26 1.647 0.308 1:22.304 1:04.438 94.01 3 5 6:25.016 35:44.150 Audi R10/TDI Audi Sport North America Michelin --

10 8 P2 8 Ben Devlin Pit 33 2.921 1.274 1:07.945 1:05.712 92.19 35 6 6:20.021 25:41.006 Lola B07/40 Mazda B-K Motorsports Kumho --


-Bern

 

I just dont care for qualifying and practice, all they need to do is finish trouble free

 

They're probably playing it safe so they can keep it one piece...a good thing. Intersport is either struggling or doing the same thing.

 

there faster in the in qualifying , but so is every body else

 

1 9 P2 1 David Brabham Fin 14 0.000 0.000 1:01.824 1:01.824 97.98 14 2 4:01.131 40:49.226 Acura ARX-01A Highcroft Racing Michelin --

2 1 P1 1 Allan McNish Pit 11 0.006 0.006 1:21.162 1:01.830 97.97 4 2 1:44.202 38:17.411 Audi R10/TDI Audi Sport North America Michelin --

3 7 P2 2 Romain Dumas Run 14 0.052 0.046 1:03.002 1:01.876 97.90 8 2 1:54.480 39:13.171 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing Michelin --

4 6 P2 3 Ryan Briscoe Pit 15 0.163 0.111 1:09.284 1:01.987 97.73 4 3 25.106 38:51.237 Porsche RS Spyder Penske Racing Michelin --

5 26 P2 4 Bryan Herta Fin 12 0.507 0.344 1:02.491 1:02.331 97.19 4 0 0.000 0.000 Acura ARX-01A Andretti Green Racing Michelin --

6 2 P1 2 Marco Werner Pit 13 0.717 0.210 1:21.974 1:02.541 96.86 5 2 3:09.230 39:44.937 Audi R10/TDI Audi Sport North America Michelin --

7 15 P2 5 Adrian Fernandez Pit 15 1.111 0.394 1:03.253 1:02.935 96.25 7 1 2:16.270 2:16.270 Lola B06/43 Acura Lowe`s Fernandez Racing Michelin --

8 20 P2 6 Guy Smith Pit 13 1.278 0.167 1:03.537 1:03.102 96.00 5 1 2:32.129 2:32.129 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team Michelin --

9 16 P2 7 Butch Leitzinger Pit 6 1.742 0.464 1:03.741 1:03.566 95.30 4 0 0.000 0.000 Porsche RS Spyder Dyson Racing Team Michelin --

10 8 P2 8 Ben Devlin Pit 13 2.004 0.262 1:05.117 1:03.828 94.91 5 1 1:31.527 1:31.527 Lola B07/40 Mazda B-K Motorsports Kumho --

-Bern

 

They're roughly within a second and a half of the 4-9 positions which is fine at this stage. Now they just need to run a clean race and get the car to the finish line.

 

who is going to watch the race tomorrow?

 

I was at qualifying today and will be at the race this weekend. It's a fun time. The car is fast. They are only 2 seconds off the leader but that's not bad. That's just alot of cars at roughly the same speed. The top 3 are all within 1/2 of 1/10th of a second from each other! During qualifying Mazda had a wheel issue too! It should be pretty good.

It's funny watching Audi go by. You are watching a race and all these screaming race cars are going by. Then suddenly an Audi goes by and it's like someone put the race on mute. It's actually quite amusing.

 

According to the ALMS website the race won't be televised until the 29th. Un_ucking believable!!! That's CBS for you. We ought to all send them an email thanking them for their "awesome" coverage of the race.