A Daytona Prototype was a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand American Road Racing Association 's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype racing class, specifically Le Mans Prototypes (LMPs). The cars later competed in the merged series of the IMSA SportsCar Championship , from 2014 to 2016, before being phased out and replaced by the Daytona Prototype International class in 2017. They are named after the main series event, the Rolex 24 at Daytona .
31-644: For the 2003 Rolex Sports Car Series season, the Grand American Road Racing Association (GARRA) announced that they would stop support of their two premier open cockpit classes, known as SRP-I and SRP-II. These cars, mostly modified from Le Mans Prototypes , were technologically advanced and could reach high speeds, specifically on the Mulsanne Straight at the 24 Hours of Le Mans . However, these same speeds were found to be extremely dangerous at GARRA's premier track,
62-639: A Picchio-BMW, a Doran-Chevrolet, two Fabcar-Porsches, and a Multimatic-Ford. A second Multimatic-Ford was planned to race, but it never appeared. In qualifying, a Chevrolet Corvette and a Ford Mustang, both from the GTS class, set the fastest two lap times, while the leading Daytona Prototype was the Multimatic-Ford. Grand-Am however reserved "the first three rows of the grid for the Daytona Prototypes, regardless of their qualifying times," to ensure
93-455: A constructor put into sculpting the design. In order to help regulate the field and to help keep it level, GARRA only allows a certain number of chassis to be used. At the same time, each approved chassis is allowed to participate for a period of five years before GARRA reselects their approved chassis. Each chassis fits within GARRA's regulations in regards to dimension, but each approved chassis
124-573: A new generation of Daytona Prototypes, branded Daytona Prototype International (DPi), has been replacing the original tube-framed Daytona Prototypes. These new prototypes will be based on the four ACO homologated LMP2 chassis made by Dallara , Onroak (Ligier) , Oreca , and Riley - Multimatic , with brand specific bodywork and homologated engines. Manufacturers are asked to partner with a privateer team, and each car will sport manufacturer bodywork, corresponding to their brand-identity. These rules are made to both control costs and attract manufacturers to
155-600: A unified road racing championship to be known as United SportsCar Racing , later retitled as the TUDOR United Sports Car Championship. The final Rolex Sports Car Series race was held on September 28, 2013 at Lime Rock Park. Following the failure of the United States Road Racing Championship in 1999, the new Grand American Road Racing Association announced their intentions to adopt a format similar to
186-501: Is the same distance, as it would be if the two classes were running together. This did however make GT races slightly longer than combined events, since GT cars would likely finish several laps behind the winning prototype and thus not cover the full distance. When the GT and DP races were combined, the two classes would use a motorcycle racing-style "wave start," a concept from Roger Edmonson, who had been in motorcycle racing before organising
217-553: Is uniquely different in design. From 2003 to 2007 seven manufacturers had their chassis approved by GARRA: For 2008, new chassis designs were allowed to be submitted, with several companies purchasing the rights from existing entries. Lola Racing Cars , in association with Krohn Racing , purchased Multimatic 's entry for the construction of a new prototype under the name Proto-Auto. Dallara later purchased Doran's entry as well, with assistance from SunTrust Racing . [1] . Cheever Racing purchased Fabcar's license and developed under
248-466: The Coyote name, with assistance from former manufacturer Picchio. The new chassis available from 2008 onward were: GARRA allows for modifications to the bodywork of each Daytona Prototype only in certain areas, most specifically to the rear wing and Gurney flap as well as front dive planes. Various changes have been made to the Daytona Prototypes for the 2012 season: These changes notwithstanding,
279-558: The Daytona International Speedway . The concrete walls of the oval section of the road course that the series runs were dangerous enough on their own, but were also on the parts of the track where cars reached their highest speed. Therefore, GARRA decided that they would need to slow down their competitors in order to make their racing series safer. At the same time, due to the technological advancement of Le Mans Prototypes, GARRA decided that they would also lower
310-647: The FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting verdict in Geneva , Switzerland on June 24, 2010, Continental took over the official tire partner role until the series merged into WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2014. Speed Channel was the near-exclusive broadcaster of the Rolex Sports Car Series and included coverage of the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen and the 24 Hours of Daytona. On August 17, 2013, Fox Sports 1 became
341-587: The Six Hours of Watkins Glen , giving the league a second endurance race alongside the Rolex 24 at Daytona to compete with the ALMS' 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans . GTO and GTU would be renamed GTS and GT for 2001 to better match the classes used by the similar American Le Mans Series . 2003 would see the series go through a radical change, as Daytona Prototypes debuted for the first time to replace both of
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#1732783982309372-593: The 2007 season, a second Porsche engine was approved by Grand Am. The 5.0L V8 unit is not actually constructed by Porsche, but is based on the V8 engine used in the Porsche Cayenne , built by Lozano Bros. Porting. (as of 2014 IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship rules for DP-based prototypes) Debuting in the 2003 season, specifically at the Rolex 24 at Daytona , six Daytona Prototypes initially ran: A Fabcar-Toyota,
403-425: The 24 Hours of Daytona. The tire manufacturers war in Rolex Sports Car Series began in the 2000 season with Michelin , Dunlop , Goodyear , Avon , Pirelli , Hoosier and Yokohama were tire suppliers until 2001 season. Starting in 2002 season, the tire manufacturers war were reduced to just two suppliers as Dunlop and Goodyear were only Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series tire manufacturers until 2004 season. As
434-407: The Daytona Prototypes started at the front of the field. The Daytona Prototypes also failed to even take the overall pole position from heavily restricted SRP prototypes. In the race itself, only two DPs managed to finish, far behind a much lower Grand Touring class car. However, after the teething problems were worked out, the cars began to take overall victories as the season progressed. For 2004,
465-544: The Daytona Prototypes. This meant that the GT class was now the top tier, being joined by the Super Grand Sport (SGS) class moved up from the Grand Am Cup series. This was further streamlined in 2005 with all Grand Touring-style cars being in a single GT class. This formula led to the Rolex Sports Car Series having a large number of competitors at most events, mostly due to the ease of use and low cost of
496-683: The Grand American series with the France family. In this case, the DP cars would take the green flag first, followed, usually 20–30 seconds later (depending on track length) by the GT cars. By starting the cars separately, the organisers hoped for safer starts by having the two classes of cars race separately. Due to the series' affiliation with NASCAR , many Sprint Cup Series drivers occasionally participated in Rolex Series races, particularly
527-566: The LMP2 prototypes from the ALMS as the main prototype class. Between 2006 and 2012, DP cars were permitted to compete in Japan 's Super GT in the secondary GT300 class with outstanding results, one entrant, the Mooncraft Shiden lost out to an RE Amemiya RX-7 (although tied for points) in the drivers' title and again to a MR-S , but took the team title in 2007. From 2017 forward,
558-448: The SRP cars were finally banned, and the number of DPs grew, with 17 appearing at the season opener at Daytona where they managed to take the overall win. By 2006, thanks to the low cost of the design, the number of DPs at some races grew to above thirty entrants, allowing for full fields and close racing. In 2012, Grand-Am released the next generation Daytona Prototypes. Some of these include
589-511: The Sports Racing Prototype classes. Although SRPs would be allowed to continue until the end of 2003, few were seen while the Daytona Prototypes took over the series. The American GT class was also dissolved with the cars being placed into the similar GTS class. In 2004, the faster GTS class was abandoned in order to provide a larger gap between the Daytona Prototypes and GT cars. The GTS cars were as fast (if not faster) than
620-416: The basic chassis structure below the greenhouse remains the same, including suspension details, engine installation, bellhousing, gearbox, electronics, fueling and safety systems. Gen2 cars could be updated to Gen3 specifications. The Gen3 cars are: As well as the chassis, the engines used are also standardized and regulated. Unlike chassis, engines must come from a major production car manufacturer, using
651-513: The block from an engine used on a production car. However, these engines can have their displacements modified in order to equalize the field. For 2007, all engines will also be required to use standardized ECUs in order to better regulate engine performance. The following engines are currently approved by GARRA: Each engine also has specific restrictions on what can be modified beyond stock parts, as well as restrictions on intake and exhaust dimensions, RPM , and various technical details. During
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#1732783982309682-513: The cars in either class while the Grand American Road Racing Association was able to keep the competition equalized. With such high car counts, Grand-Am has had to split GT and DP races at shorter tracks where it is not feasible to put 50 cars on the track at one instance. In each case, the GT cars race on Saturday, and the DP cars race on Sunday. This split format allows drivers to run both races. Each race
713-428: The low cost elements with the speed and safety elements, the designs for Daytona Prototypes were laid down, with constructors having freedom to develop a car however they wished so long as it fit within the smaller dimensions of a Daytona Prototype over a Le Mans Prototype. These smaller dimensions, especially in length, helped to create a more blunt front end to the car that would slow the cars down, regardless of how much
744-611: The new Corvette Daytona Prototype which also marks Chevrolet's return to the DP class and other manufacturers already in the series changed to multiple chassis designs from the chassis producers. GARRA planned to continue using the Daytona Prototype in the foreseeable future, with new chassis designs being allowed into the series in 2008. When the Rolex Sports Car Series merged with the American Le Mans Series, Daytona Prototypes were being raced alongside
775-763: The one used in the USRRC, centering on the 24 Hours of Daytona . This series was seen as an alternative to the former IMSA GT Championship , which had since been replaced by the American Le Mans Series in 1999. The new series would run two classes of Sports Racing Prototypes identical to the rules used in the new FIA Sportscar Championship in Europe, while Grand Touring -style cars would consist of three classes: GTO for larger production-based race cars, GTU for smaller production-based race cars, and AGT for American tube frame cars. The league would also acquire
806-523: The overall cost of their prototypes. To do this, they would use closed cockpit chassis made of tube frames, instead of high cost carbon fiber composites. They would also standardize the amount of technology that could go into a car, as well as not allowing teams to develop their cars over a season, instead being forced to stay with the same basic car. This would stop teams from having to spend money on aerodynamic tweaks and technological experimentation, as well as private track testing. To further restrict cost,
837-528: The series debuted their custom prototype chassis, known as Daytona Prototypes , named after their premiere event, the Rolex 24 at Daytona . The series staged the North American Endurance Championship , featuring three of its premier races at Daytona , Watkins Glen , and Indianapolis . On September 5, 2012, Grand-Am announced that it would be merging the Rolex Sports Car Series with the American Le Mans Series to form
868-438: The series would regulate who could provide chassis and who could provide engines, thus preventing teams from trying a unique chassis or engine that may end up being a failure. Engines specifically would have to be based on a road-legal production unit from a major manufacturer. At the same time, major manufacturers would not be allowed to run Daytona Prototype teams, in order to help keep competition level and costs down. Combining
899-509: The series. These cars compete in the Prototype class, along with ACO-FIA spec LMP2 cars, which feature chassis from the same four manufacturers and a spec Gibson V8 engine. Originally, the hope was for DPi cars to be Le Mans eligible in the LMP2 class, but disagreements between the ACO and IMSA did not allow this to come to fruition. Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series
930-461: The tire manufacturers war were ended after 2004 season, in 2005 Hoosier Racing Tire took over as official single tire partner of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series that lasted through 2007 season. Started in 2008, Pirelli took over the tire partner role of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series that lasted through 2010 season. As Pirelli confirmed of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series departure to Formula One , GP2 Asia Series and GP2 Series in 2011 after
961-404: Was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association . It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed United States Road Racing Championship . Rolex took over as series sponsor in 2002. It ran a mixture of classes of sports prototypes and Grand Touring -style cars. In 2003,