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Category: Latest News

Created on Wednesday, 29 May 2013 08:32

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THE BASICS

Who’s Racing:

Rolex Series – June 1, 2013

Track:

Raceway at Belle Isle Park - 2.36-mile, 13-turn temporary street course

Length:

Rolex Series - 2 hour timed race

See For Yourself:

Raceway at Belle Isle Park is the lone street course that the GRAND-AM Series will visit in 2013.  To some, racing on a “green” track with the Indy Car Series might seem to be a disadvantage when it comes to tires.  But not when you are on Continental’s.  Hear what teammates Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney along with Jordan Taylor, Bill Auberlen, and Joao Barbosa have to say about Belle Isle.  Watch now: Belle Isle Preview.

Tire Sets:

DP, GT and GX teams will all be allowed 6 sets of tires for the race (including slicks and rain tires).  A team that has a Truman/Aiken driver, or “young gun” driver, will be allow one extra set. 

Where Else Does This Compound Race:

DP-I –this tire compound is used at Austin, Barber, Road Atlanta, Belle Isle, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Road America, Laguna Seca and Lime Rock. GT-R – this tire compound is used at Daytona, Austin, Road Atlanta, Belle Isle, Mid-Ohio, Road America, Laguna Seca, and Lime Rock.

Pit Window:

The pit window (fuel run) for the weekend is approximately 35-38 laps for DP and GT.  Both the DP and GT cars will go through approximately three to four sets of tires.  These are just approximations and does not account for fuel mileage, weather or caution flag laps.

Track Characteristics:

The track will initially be very dirty and dusty (also known as green) but should pick up speed as it gets cleaned off and rubber begins to build up.  The Indy Car Series is on a different tire but that doesn’t bother the Rolex Series.  In fact, the Continental tires tend to get “grippier” as there is more rubber laid down on the track from the Indy cars and Rolex Series cars.  The track is partially asphalt and partially concrete and is extremely bumpy.  The combination of asphalt and concrete should not present any problems as far as tire wear.

DID YOU KNOW

• Prepared rain or shine – Continental will bring approximately 1,500 tires to Belle Isle (1,000 slick and 500 rain tires).  The weather looks okay for Friday but you may see some rain tires during Saturday’s race.

• National Tire Safety Week – June 2-8 is National Tire Safety Week and Continental Tire reminds you to take five minutes a month to check your tire pressures (Use the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended inflation pressure.) when they are cold to help optimize vehicle safety and fuel economy. A survey by the Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA), the national trade association for tire manufacturers, found only about one in six vehicles have four properly inflated tires.   And did you know, properly inflated tires can improve vehicle fuel efficiency by 3.3 percent and save motorists about 12 cents per gallon (www.fueleconomy.gov).

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  Fast Furious 6 – Continental Tire has unveiled its newest promotion, “All Roads Lead to This,” in conjunction with Universal Pictures release of Fast Furious 6.   Now through June 10, consumers who purchase four (4) Continental Tire passenger or light truck tires for a total of $499 or more will receive a $100 Adidas gift card.

  In addition to the promotion, Continental tires can be seen throughout the sixth installment of the series.  Continental’s ExtremeContact line of tires can be seen on-screen in Fast Furious 6 on Dodge Charger vehicles, most notably Dom Toretto’s (Vin Diesel).  From the same family, the ExtremeContact R tire is the tire used in the GRAND-AM Series.  This promotion marks the third time Continental tires have been featured in the Fast Furious franchise.

RACE REWIND

Last year marked the first time GRAND-AM visited Raceway at Belle Isle Park and Joao Barbosa took top honors in DP competition with Darren Law in the No. 9 Corvette.  Here’s what he had to say after the race:

“You could definitely feel the tires going away a little bit but we had to push since we were in the worst position, we were in the back of the field.  I had to push to make up some time.  We had a great car and the tires we had were really good for the car we had and tires were no issue at all.  The last few laps I could definitely feel the temperature dropping a little bit and the car was sliding a little bit more but until that point the car was just great and the tires were great.  Even with some incidents and a lot of debris on the track, we had no issues at all, it was a good tire to drive on this weekend.”

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