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| Automatic Racing Getting Ready to Defend their Koni Challenge Championships in -08 |
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Story and photos by David Haueter
Many Koni Challenge teams attended the recent test days at Daytona, but Automatic Racing had their first test in preparation for '08 back in November at Sebring. The team was back on the track only five weeks since winning the Koni Challenge driver and team championships with their BMW M3's in 07. We got an inside look at the work that goes on behind the scenes at a test day, and I also spent some time driving three of the team M3's.
Automatic Racing had the most consistent and reliable cars in the GS class in 2007, which ultimately won them the championship. They'll be racing the same M3's in 2008, but are dealing with rule changes since last season that will be affecting all Koni Challlenge teams. In order to promote parity and cost containment, Grand Am is initiating rules that require the use of Bosch engine management systems for 2008 (most BMW M3's have been using Motec), as well as the use of Koni shocks by 2009.
Automatic Racing is switching over to the Koni's a year early (from Motons) in order to get a head start on 2009, as well as to take advantage of the financial incentives, since prize money will be doubled for cars running Koni shocks this year. At Sebring, Automatic was testing their # 99 car with the Koni's, which will be used with Hypercoil springs on all their M3's in '08, and were also trying out various brake pad compounds. At the time of our test, Bosch hadn't yet delivered an engine management system to the M3 teams, so that wasn't part of the agenda.
Even though the Koni Challenge series doesn't race at Sebring, the historic track is an ideal test venue for Automatic Racing. It's only a ninety minute drive from their headquarters in Orlando; it has a mix of surfaces which are valuable for suspension testing, and its demanding on Brakes. For the test day, Automatic was using only the north half of the circuit, which has good mix of corners, as well as a fairly long straight in Gurney Bend that leads to the hairpin, which requires hard braking from high speed.
The weather was perfect for the test day - sunny and in the low 80's with very low humidity. Automatic Racing crew members were busy in the paddock area when I arrived, setting up data acquisition equipment, prepping the cars and laying out the hardware that would be tested on them during the day. Automatic Racing's Dave Russell briefed me on the M3 cockpits, showing the various buttons, switches and data displays I would need to pay attention to. All four of the team M3's are similar in layout, but each has little things that are different, such as a fuel pump or starter button located in a different spot.
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