In a joint effort between Michael Shank Racing, Ford Racing and Continental Tire, the 2012 Rolex 24 at Daytona championship team with Colin Braun behind the wheel will aim to set a new track record at the “World Center of Speed” Wednesday (Oct. 9) by eclipsing the 210.364 mph lap laid down Feb. 9, 1987, by NASCAR champion Bill Elliott, who pushed his Ford Thunderbird to the top of the speed charts in qualifying for the Daytona 500. Braun spoke with Ford Racing’s Inside the Oval podcast to discuss the record run.
COLIN BRAUN, driver, Michael Shank Racing Ford EcoBoost DP – THIS IS AN EXCITING TIME TO HEAD DOWN TO DAYTONA AND TRY TO BREAK THE RECORD SET BY BILL ELLIOTT. “Absolutely. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to work with the Ford guys and work on the new engine. It is going to be a really cool day trying to break this record. I am sure it is sort of a bitter sweet day as Bill Elliott holds that record and I know there is a lot of nostalgia and really aura around the fact that he holds that record and he had such a great career himself. It is going to be neat to try to break that record and I think hopefully we can do it. I think we have a good shot at it.”
YOU HAVE A TWIN-TURBO 3.5L V6 ECOBOOST ENGINE, THE FIRST TIME IT IS GOING TO BE USED IN THE NEW TUDOR UNITED SPORTS CAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES. “I know some of the guys here in the Charlotte area that have been working really hard on that EcoBoost engine and they have been doing a lot of work on the dyno and I think they have that engine very well sorted out. It is going to be great to get on track with it and get a chance to feel the power that the engine is going to be making and it is going to be neat driving the Daytona Prototype car with a turbo charged power plant. I haven’t had a chance to do that. It will be a different feel but one I am looking forward to figuring out.”
FORD RACING HAS GONE IN AND ACTUALLY PUT A NEW LOOK ON THIS CAR WITH FORD PRODUCTION CUES AND AERODYNAMIC SUPPORT. IT LOOKS LIKE THIS CAR CAN BE VERY FAST, AND OBVIOUSLY IT NEEDS TO BE FOR YOU TO GO OVER 210 MILES PER HOUR. “It is a good looking car. I have seen some renderings and pictures but I haven’t had a chance to see it up close and in person just yet. It sure looks sexy and sleek though. I think Bernie Marcus and his gang have done a great job of building a lot of brand identity into the body work and the nose area. It is going to be a really cool car to drive and I think the fans will really enjoy being able to see it out there on the race track and be able to pick out the Ford brand pretty quickly.”
YOU ARE NO STRANGER TO DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY. YOU HAVE RUN THERE IN NASCAR AND GRAND-AM AND HAVE BEEN IN THE DP CARS BEFORE. WHAT ABOUT RUNNING A LAP LIKE THIS AND GOING FOR ALL OUT SPEED? HOW DOES THAT CHANGE THINGS? “Well, for us it is about working up through it. Obviously we do not have a lot of experience working with the Daytona Prototype car on an oval, so it is kind of a new thing for us. I know the guys at Ford have been working on their sim models and things like that trying to come up with a general starting setup. Again, we don’t have anything to fall back on or any notes. It is going to be a little slow at the start and we will build up to what we are trying to do and make sure we have a good stable, well balanced car to drive around Daytona at that kind of speed. It is a really quick speed and it will be neat being one of the first guys to go out there and do it. It is going to be a little nerve-wracking the first few runs because no one had done it before but I am looking forward to getting out there and getting after it.”
THIS IS SOMEWHAT OF A SHAKE-DOWN OF THIS CAR AT THE SAME TIME YOU ARE TRYING TO SET THE RECORD ISN’T IT? “Absolutely. I think that just goes to show the confidence that everyone has in the Roush Yates guys building great motors and the EcoBoost platform being a really good place to start from. It is going to be weird driving around the oval and not driving down into the infield there. I have done that so many times in the past in my career in DP cars. You dive off down into turn one and come back on the oval there kind of in the NASCAR turn two and then go through the bus stop. It is going to be weird driving like I used to do in my NASCAR truck and Nationwide days just around the oval. It will be a different feel but I am looking forward do it.”
YOU WANT SPEED BUT YOU BETTER HAVE DOWN FORCE AT OVER 210 MILES PER HOUR. “It is certainly a bit of a balance. Normally when we go to Daytona for the Rolex race we are concerned about speed but we are also concerned about being able to do the kink on the infield flat and concerned about how much down force we can run through the bus stop in the back. It is crucial to have the down force to get through the corners. Here just running the oval it will be all about just trimming out and looking for top speed. We won’t be too concerned with what kind of down force levels we have because the DP cars by nature have quite a bit of down force built into the body work. It will be all about trimming out, just like you hear about at Indianapolis with the Indy cars.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING BACK AT FORD RACING WHERE YOU CUT YOUR TEETH EARLY IN YOUR CAREER? “It is going to be a great opportunity for me. I was very excited when the folks at Ford called me up and said they were doing this program and wanted me to come and drive it. It has been a great relationship that I have had with Ford since the start of my professional career and they have been a great company that have done a lot for me. It is going to be neat to hopefully be able to set this record together. Mike Shank has a really good team and a great group of people and it gives me a lot of confidence jumping behind the wheel of one of his cars.”
WHAT IS THE GAME PLAN TO GET THIS RECORD TOMORROW? “There is a game plan for sure and that is one of the great things about driving for a team like Michael Shank with the resources of Ford Racing. We have a good plan in place and we will run through our test plan and procedures and then hopefully by the end of the day we will have that record in hand.”
