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Category: Latest News

Created on Tuesday, 15 September 2015 15:15

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Nuts & Bolts

Who’s Racing:

Tudor United SportsCar Championship (P, PC, GTD & GTLM) – September 19, 2015 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge – September 18, 2015

Track:

Circuit of the Americas (COTA) – 4.048-mile, 14-turn road course

Length:

 Tudor Championship – 2:40 hour race Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Series – 2:30 hour time limit

Tire Sets:

Tudor Championship -P teams will be allowed 10 sets of tires for the race (including dry and wet tires); PC teams 7 sets; and GTD teams will receive 8 sets.  

There is no set limit for the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge.

 WHICH TIRE ARE THEY USING:

**Continental Tire has designated, Blacks, as the dry tire to be raced at COTA for Prototypes, PC and GTD teams. If teams move to wet tires, the P and PC classes will move to, Blacks, while the GTD class will stay on, Golds.

P    Blacks – the same tire compound used at Sebring, Long Beach, Laguna Seca, Detroit, and Mosport. Delta Wing     Blacks – because it’s the only car on this configuration, it will race on, Blacks, year round. PC    Blacks – the same tire compound used at Sebring, Laguna Seca, Detroit, Mosport, Lime Rock, VIR, COTA, and Road Atlanta GTD    Blacks – the same tire compound used at Sebring, Laguna Seca, Detroit, Watkins Glen, Lime Rock, VIR, COTA, and Road Atlanta CTSCC     This tire compound will be used at all other tracks this year.

 Pit Window:

The estimated pit window for this race is 35-40 laps for all classes. These are just approximations and does not account for fuel mileage, weather or caution flag laps.

Track Characteristics:

COTA has a good mix of right and left-handers; elevation changes; esses; a blind, downhill kink; and passing zones. The teams that have a balanced car will have an advantage. It’s important to wear tires evenly and have enough brakes at the end to charge, especially in the passing zones. COTA is an excellent track for spectators and for TV coverage due to all the passing zones.

FYI

• How many? –Continental Tire will bring roughly 2,584 tires to COTA. This includes rain and slick tires.

• Continental Expanding Sumter Facility – The technology company, Continental, has broken ground on the expansion of its Sumter facility, which will increase tire production capacity from approximately four million units planned for 2016 to approximately eight million units and will more than double the current 700 jobs within the facility. Total employment is projected to reach 1,600. Tires produced at the Sumter plant will help meet the increasing demand for Continental and General brand tires from both aftermarket business and automotive manufacturers. Get the full story here.

• Billy Johnson on COTA – Check out this week’s Continental Tire IMSA Driver Spotlight: Billy Johnson on SportsCar365.com. Johnson gives some great insight into the characteristics of COTA and what it takes for the Ford GT350R-C to stay at the front of the field.

• The Taylor Brothers Take to the Pitch – Professional athletes can be viewed as bigger than life to those of us “regular” folk. But when a professional athlete steps out of their arena, they become one of us. Yes, it’s true, they are fans too. As the official tire of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and Major League Soccer (MLS), Continental Tire has had the opportunity to turn some of the world’s top athletes into fans. Following a trip to Road America by Chicago Fire stars, Sean Johnson and Lovel Palmer, the two invited newfound friends, Ricky and Jordan Taylor, to their game in Orlando against Orlando City SC. The brothers weathered a heck of a storm and for one night, they too became fans. Find out about the Taylor’s soccer experience here.

  See more at www.continentaltire.com

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