Come 8:00am on the morning of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Kyle Kirkwood, driver for Vasser Sullivan Racing, will already be an hour and a half into his work day. The inexperienced flag will not wave for nearly six extra hours. It is the identical state of affairs for the 230-plus drivers participating within the fabled 24-hour race that runs throughout Saturday and Sunday: a 24-hour race, plus the remainder of “race day.”
However for Kirkwood, it is really races, plural. He’ll be piloting each the Lexus crew’s No. 14 GTD Professional and No. 12 GTD entries throughout the enduro.
Coming into his sixth season in endurance racing, and fifth Rolex 24, Kirkwood’s logged loads of time behind the wheels of each Lexus’ automobiles in IMSA races, even clinching a few wins with the crew. In the course of the Roar Earlier than the 24, Kirkwood informed Motorsport.com he was prepared for this yr’s problem, despite the fact that he solely received the decision to take the wheel — sorry, wheels — a couple of weeks in the past.
Twin driving comes with loads of bonus problems, notably o
“I imply, once you’re informed two weeks earlier than, there is no preparation that may go into it. So that you simply must be prepared. It’s good to be prepared for something that this world can throw at you.” He says that driving would be the straightforward half. The toughest components? Protecting monitor of drive time, and staying hydrated.
Managing the clock
Drive time turns into difficult once you’re transferring between two automobiles. Drivers within the IMSA collection are topic to run a minimal period of time over an endurance race. For Rolex, particularly, these minimal drive occasions are two hours for the Grand Touring Daytona Professional (GTD Professional) and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) lessons, and 4.5 hours for the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) lessons.
However there is a caveat: a driver can solely be behind the wheel for a most of 4 hours in any six-hour interval — and people hours comply with the motive force, not the automobile. Strategically, the sooner a crew can get their drivers to fulfill minimal occasions throughout a race, the better it’s to keep away from driving penalties if something occurs.
And the entire great thing about an endurance race just like the Rolex 24 is that chaos is sure to indicate up. If, say, Kirkwood have been to get sick and solely completes the drive time in one of many two Lexuses he is driving, the opposite automobile shall be disqualified. “It’s totally, crucial that I keep effectively sufficient to get via the minimal drive time,” he stated. “In order that’s actually the brute of the primary 12 hours for me.”
The #12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Kyle Kirkwood will drive
Picture by: Andreas Beil
Which automobile is which?
Additionally difficult for Kirkwood’s two-car monte: ensuring he is in the appropriate automobile on the proper second. The 2 Lexus RC Fs he is driving appear to be twins: the No. 14 has crimson accents for GTD Professional, and the No. 12 has inexperienced accents for GTD. However the total paint scheme — highlighter yellow over black — the interiors, and the silhouettes are the identical.
Here is one situation Kirkwood’s already working to forestall: “You could possibly be coming in sooner or later and neglect which automobile you [are in], and also you pull into the incorrect pit field,” he says. “So I am already harping on the crew to let me know, as a result of I take advantage of actually the identical insert — all the things on the sprint is similar. You’ll be able to’t inform that you just’re in a unique automobile.
“The one factor which you can inform [is] completely different is that you just’re speaking to a unique engineer. So it is essential for me to know — even after doing two hours, six hours, no matter, no matter it has been — that they’re reminding me which automobile I am in and which automobile I am on the point of get in.”
Downtime is not a very long time
When Kirkwood lastly has the possibility to get out of the automobile, scheduling will enable him a couple of hours of break time, however it dwindles rapidly. Roughly half-hour are spent getting out of the automobile and debriefing together with his engineer in regards to the run. They’re going to discuss via precisely what occurred, and what’s arising for the subsequent stint.
Self-care comes after: consuming, rehydrating. The hydration half is the important thing. With temperatures in Daytona anticipated to remain below 70 levels (ambient), the automobiles ought to keep cooler within the cockpit. Something hotter than that and maintaining his physique in correct working order will get laborious.
“It is sizzling contained in the automobile,” says Kirkwood. “You are at a excessive sustained coronary heart charge for an extended time period. It’s totally exerting once you’re in one in every of these automobiles — and once you’re doing it twice, you must just remember to’re continually feeling your self.”
After he refuels, Kirkwood has a while to calm down. He at all times begins with a bathe.
The #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Kyle Kirkwood will pilot
Picture by: IMSA
“I take a bathe after each single stint. It’s simply good to reset, go lay in mattress, lay on the sofa — no matter it could be. However you solely actually have about an hour of downtime after you add up all these issues, as a result of you need to be again on the stand an hour earlier than you get again within the automobile.
Kirkwood’s additionally making an attempt to stay Zen about what’s occurring out on the monitor.
“I did a very good job of having the ability to wind down after a stint [last year] and have full belief within the drivers which might be within the automobile,” he remembers. “I believe that is most likely what will get guys essentially the most — as a result of you’ve gotten any individual else driving a automobile that you just’re driving. You are curious to the place we will find yourself, if something’s occurred, if we’re main, if we’re not main. These form of [thoughts] simply preserve going via your thoughts, proper? Having the ability to shut that off and have full belief in your crew and your drivers is definitely what means that you can calm down between your stints.”
Nighttime means nothing
Because the hours shut in on midnight, with the automobiles operating below the lights of Daytona Worldwide Speedway, the adrenaline retains Kirkwood transferring. Regardless of the excessive speeds and alter in lighting, he says he’ll simply neglect what time it’s as he stays locked into the duty at hand.
“It is extra simply maintaining your focus [as] the massive factor, and understanding that you just most likely are getting drained, despite the fact that you do not discover that you just’re getting drained,” says Kirkwood. “Some some reactionary stuff would possibly decelerate now that you have gone a very long time with out some relaxation.”
Whereas the Rolex clock standing beside the pit lane, simply earlier than the exit, continues counting down, Kirkwood would possibly try and catch a wink of sleep throughout a break. It’s tough, even within the early hours of Sunday morning. If he is ready to catch a nap, it would come within the 2:00am to six:00am window, simply earlier than dawn.
“As quickly as the sunshine comes up, you are feeling such as you’re on the dwelling stretch — despite the fact that there’s a very long time to go when the sunshine comes up,” says Kirkwood. “That is form of when all people will get within the race mode and issues begin to occur on the race monitor. So that you get a little bit bit extra amped up once you begin to see some daylight within the morning.”
The ultimate push
Because the solar rises, Kirkwood may have cleared the primary 12 hours of the race and stayed awake for twenty-four hours already (minus a couple of potential minutes of shuteye). His schedule might require one other stint in a single or each of the Lexus RC Fs. With the assistance of his engineers he’s efficiently stored monitor of what automobile he’s in, and he’s stored up on his hydration. The crew shall be centered on pushing throughout these ultimate hours to take the checkered flag at 1:40pm, whereas having accomplished essentially the most distance.
When the Lexuses make their ultimate cease within the pits, it would have been 31 hours since Kirkwood final had an actual evening’s sleep. If both (or each) of his Vasser Sullivan Racing automobiles win their respective class, he’ll be a part of celebrations, photographs, and post-race interviews for an additional couple hours. The Rolex clock might have zeroed-out, however Kirkwood’s clock continues ticking.
After which, when Kirkwood’s lastly completed at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, he’ll catch a flight for California, the place he’ll be doing IndyCar testing as the motive force for Andretti World’s No. 27 automobile. Possibly then, he says, he would possibly lastly get some relaxation.
On this article
Lalita Chemello
IMSA
Kyle Kirkwood
Vasser Sullivan Racing
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