The massive 18.5G impact Paul Drayson (London/Gloucestershire, UK) endured at the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) season finale may have rattled the windows but it did not crack the walls at Drayson Racing. The Drayson programme is entered for the two rounds of the inaugural Asian Le Mans Series – scheduled for 31 October and 1 November – putting a premium on preparation and expediency. The team immediately set-upon the car which Drayson and Jonny Cocker (Guisborough, Yorks, UK) will share in Okayama, Japan to make repairs. However, the task is not simple and requires not only the effort put forth in Monterey, California but further labour in Japan to ready it for the two, three-hour events. It also necessitates an international collaboration of the Dale White (Bozeman, MT, USA)-managed team and the whole of its technical partnerships to be track-ready by free practice on October 30th.
Drayson was unhurt in the 11 October incident but the British-based race team’s new Lola Coupé with Judd Power was not so fortunate. The closed-cockpit Le Mans Prototype One (LMP1) suffered substantial damage to the right-side of the car and lesser harm to the left and rear of the highly sophisticated machine. In total, the major parts list required to repair, replace or have needed spares covers two, single-spaced, ledger pages.
Amongst the most critical are:
- complete nose assembly
- front and rear floor assembly
- complete rear end diffuser/wing
- steering motor
- various steering components
- complete right-side exhaust
- complete driveshaft assembly
- full right-hand, suspension components, top and bottom
After two, full days in California of disassembly, diagnosis and repair/replacement with spares on hand, the core technicians of Drayson Racing were able to bring the car to a state of repair necessary to ship it to Japan. Several critical components – primarily in the steering assembly – are required to be shipped directly to Japan. Once all components are on site, one day of additional labour in Asia is expected. Only then will the team be able to move its attention to preparing the car for the event weekend.
Lola Cars and Engine Developments, LTD, parent company of Judd, as well as Japan’s own Kayaba (steering motor), have been indispensible in bringing the Drayson Racing Lola B09/60 to a state of preparedness. The car, which will race as the No. 87 Drayson Racing Lola with Judd Power in Japan, was shipped on Wednesday, 14 October. Final components left England on 21 October.
Quotes
Graham Moore, Head of Engineering: “The car left the pack-up in Laguna Seca looking ‘normal’ but under the panels there is a fair amount of suspension, steering and transmission parts to go on in Japan. It’s a lot of work not just on the car but also the new spares which will need building and fitting. We are confident that we will have the car fully ready for the free practice. It has taken the effort of everyone involved within the team and with all of our partners.”
Source : Drayson Racing