ROLEX 24: Email Your Questions to the Penske Porsche Drivers During the Race

[MPME]

Team Penske and Porsche Cars North America have partnered with SPEEDtv.com to bring Rolex fans a first. While the race is live Saturday and Sunday, fans can email their questions to the team's three drivers -- Indycar star Ryan Briscoe, and ALMS champs Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas, to have your questions answered in a regularly updated Mailbag feature.

As questions come in throughout the entire 24 hour race, we’ll post the answers and update our Mailbag with the most recent content. It’s a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity for sportscar racing fans throughout the globe to reach in connect with three of the top pilots competing in the Rolex 24.

Send your questions to [email protected]

[MPME]

ROLEX 24: Email Your Questions to the Mazda Rolex 24 Mailbag



Have you ever wondered what’s it like to be inside a Rolex 24 racing team? Courtesy of Mazda, SPEEDtv.com will have an embedded reporter on pit lane with Mazda’s numerous Rolex GT teams to bring you the inside scoop as it happens throughout the event.

Veteran racer and journalist Robb Holland will don his firesuit and report from the pits about all of the happenings as Mazda strives for a second consecutive Rolex 24 win.



But don’t think Robb’s reporting will be a one-way street – we’ve established a dedicated email account for you to send Robb questions, and best of all, send him questions to ask of the various Mazda drivers, owners, engineers, and strategists about the Rolex 24 as it happens.

The Q&A emails will be put in a trackside blog that will be regularly updated, so be sure to fire away with whatever you want to know about the team and the race from the pit lane perspective.

Send your emails to: [email protected]

[Kitdy]

Thanks MPME, I was out today but enjoyed reading the chat with Dario. I like the whole in-race email answering thing - what a cool idea and some great coverage from you guys.

Keep up to the good work, and I look forward to the race and your coverage and pictures from it.

[Kitdy]

What engines do the Porsche DPs use? I know they used to run with 4L flat 6s no, but do they use 5L V8s now?

[Zytek_Fan]

What engines do the Porsche DPs use? I know they used to run with 4L flat 6s no, but do they use 5L V8s now?

They all use the flat 6, but I think one Porsche powered DP uses a Cayenne-based V8.

[Kitdy]

They all use the flat 6, but I think one Porsche powered DP uses a Cayenne-based V8.

Thanks for that ZF, I was reading on Wiki about the engines and that they homologated a V8 in late 2007. I guess there are restrict ors for the flat-6s and 5L V8s and such by others to keep it fair as I don't see how else the flat-6s could keep up. Am I right, or there other performance balancers?

[Zytek_Fan]

Thanks for that ZF, I was reading on Wiki about the engines and that they homologated a V8 in late 2007. I guess there are restrict ors for the flat-6s and 5L V8s and such by others to keep it fair as I don't see how else the flat-6s could keep up. Am I right, or there other performance balancers?

The power outputs are similar, but I think the V8s might have a slight edge in torque.
And I think the flat-6s get in their powerbands quicker than the V8s, if that makes any sense.


The Ford, Pontiac, and Lexus powerplants need now explanation.

The Porsche V8 is currently only used in the Coyote-Porsches.
And the BMW V8 is just E39 M5 based, built by Dinan. (probably the best engine in the field in my opinion, it's just let down by poor drivers).


I really think this could be a nice year for Rolex Sportscar. Though it has been made fun of in the past, it really has got itself a nice quality field, and finally the DPs are going faster. And the new owners putting it right before as many nascar races as possible is going to help substantially with expanding the market.