How to drive two cars in Kyle Kirkwood Rolex 24

Come to the driver of Rolex 24 at 8:00 am in Detona, Kyle Kirkwood, Waser Sulivan Racing, already it will be one hour and half in your work day. The green flag will not wave for about six and hours. It is the same position for 230-Plus drivers that participate in the 24-hour race running on Saturday and Sunday: 24-hour race, as well as the rest of “Race Day”.

But for Kirkwood, it is really Raceplural. He will be piloting both the number 14 GTD Pro of the Lexus team. And Number 12 GTD Entries during Enduro.

Dheeraj is coming in his sixth season in racing, and fifth Rolex 24, Kirkwood gave a lot of time behind the wheels of both Lexus cars in the Race, even won something with the team. During the roar before 24, Kirkwood told that Motorsport.com had prepared for this year’s challenge, even if he only received a call to take the wheel – forgive, sorry, Wheels – A few weeks ago.

Dual driving comes with too much bonus complications, especially o

“I mean, when you have been told two weeks ago, there is no preparation that can go into it. So you need to be ready. You need to be ready for anything that this world on you Can throw away the easy part of the driving.

Clock management

When you walk between two cars, the drive time becomes difficult. The drivers in the IMSA series are subject to running the minimum time in the endurance race. For Rolex, especially, those minimum drive time is Grand Touring Dayona Pro (GTD Pro) and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) for two hours for classes and Grand Touring Detaona (GTD) and Le Mans Protype 2 (LMP2) 4.5 hours for. Classes.

But there is a warning: a driver can be behind the wheel for a maximum of four hours in a period of six hours-and they follow the hour driver, not the car. Strategically, first a team can get their drivers to complete the minimum time during a race, if anything happens, it is easy to avoid driving penalty.

And the entire beauty of a patient race like Rolex 24 is bound to show chaos. If, it says, Kirkwood was to be ill and completes the drive time in one of only two lexus, which he is driving, the other car will be disqualified. “It is very, very important that I am enough to get through the minimum drive time,” he said. “So this is really a 12 -hour animal for me.”

Which car is there?

It is also difficult for two-car Monte of Kirkwood: to ensure that it is in the right car at the right time. Two Lexus RC FS he looks like Twins: Number 14 has red accents for GTD Pro, and number 12 has green accents for GTD. But the overall paint scheme – highlighter yellow over black – interiors, and silhouettes are similar.

Here a landscape Kirkwood is already working to stop: “You can come to a point and forget what car you are in (and you are pulling in the wrong pit box,” they say. ” So I am already losing the team to tell me, because I literally use the same insert – everything on the dash can not tell you that you are in a separate car.

“The only thing you can tell (this) is different that you are talking to a separate engineer. So it is important for me to know – two hours, six hours, whatever it is – whatever it is – to remind me Even after – that they remind me in which car and which car I am taking inside. “

Downtime is not a long time

When Kirkwood finally gets a chance to get out of the car, the scheduling will allow her for a few hours of break time, but it quickly decreases. Broadly 30 minutes get out of the car and argue with their engineer about the run. They will talk through what exactly happened, and what is coming for the next term.

After self-care comes: food, rebellion. Hydration part is the key. With the expectation of the temperature of 70 degrees (surroundings) in Detona, cars should remain coolers in the cockpit. Anything more than this is hot and it becomes difficult to keep your body in proper work order.

“It is hot inside the car,” says Kirkwood. “You are at high constant heart rate for a long time. When you are in one of these cars, it grows very much – and when you are doing it twice, you need to make sure you Is that you are constantly feeling yourself.

After being a refugee, Kirkwood has some time to relax. He always starts with a shower.

“I take a shower after every stent. It is just good to reset, lie down in bed, lie down on the couch – whatever it is. But you really have only one hour downtime when you add all those things, because you have to return to the stand one hour before coming back to the car.

Kirkwood is also trying to remain on what is happening on the track.

He said, “I did a good job of being able to get down after a stent (last year) and have full confidence in those drivers in the car,” they remember. “I think it’s probably people are the most – because you have someone else driving a car that you are driving. You are curious about where we are going to end, if anything Has Hai, if we are leading, if we are not the lead), just keep going through our mind I will allow you to rest between your stents. “

Night means nothing

After closing at midnight, Detona continues to carry forward Adrenaline Kirkwood, with cars running under the light of the International Speedway. Despite changes in high speed and light, he says that he will easily forget what time he is because he remains locked in work.

Kirkwood says, “It’s just focusing your attention (AS) big thing, and understanding that you are probably tired, even if you don’t pay attention to you are tired.” That you have gone a long time without some comfort. ,

While the Rolex clock is standing next to the pit lane, just before exiting, the counting continues, Kirkwood may try to catch an eye of sleep during a break. This is difficult, even in the early hours of Sunday morning. If he is able to catch a nap, it can come from the window from 2:00 am to 6:00 pm just before sunrise.

“As soon as the light comes, you think you are at the stretch of the house – even if there is a long time to come up on the light,” Kirkwood says. “This is the way when everyone meets in race mode and things start happening on the race track. So when you start seeing some sunlight in the morning you grow a little more.”

Final push

As soon as the sun rises, Kirkwood has approved the first 12 hours of the race and wake up 24 hours before (some possible minutes of the shoot minus). Their schedule may require another term in one or both Lexus RC FS. With the help of his engineers, he successfully monitors which car he is in, and he is placed on his hygiene. The team will be focused on pushing during those last hours to take a checker flag at 1:40 am during those last hours, while the most distance was covered.

When Lexus makes his last stop in pits, Kirkwood will last 31 hours after the night’s sleep. If either (or both) wins their respective classes of their vasar Sulivan racing cars, it will be part of the ceremony, photo and post-race interview for one and two hours. The Rolex clock may have done zero-out, but Kirkwood’s clock is standing.

And then, when Kirkwood finally performed on the Detona International Speedway, he would hold a flight to California, where he would be testing Indycar as a driver for Andhrati Global’s number 27 car. Perhaps then, he says, he can finally relax something.

24 -hour photos from Detona from Friday