The Pacific F2000 Champion and Win record holder has been a busy man these past few weeks, talking to various teams about his future plans and testing different racecars over the United States.
“Just this last two weeks alone have been absolute madness for me, I think I’ve seen home for only a couple of days in the last 14. Between the Sema show in Vegas, testing at Buttonwillow, Ca, Sebring & Daytona, Fl, I’ve definitely diversified my palette for next years possibilities in the car as well as motels across our country. I can’t wait to have a few days at home at get some solid training done, and maybe work on the social aspect of my life here and there, fully knowing I will be on the road soon again in December.”
The 22 year old jet setter has been searching for his new office testing a 450 horsepower Indy Lights car and a 460 horsepower Pontiac GXP-R GT car. “Both cars were a large step up from the 150 horsepower F2000 cars I’ve been driving so far this year, but it’s a welcomed change. I have yet to go fast enough to scare myself.”
Indy Lights is the feeder series to the Indy Racing League a.k.a. IRL. The schedule shadows that of the Indy Cars with the exception of trans continental races. Indy Lights cars run both on ovals and on road courses, with a top speed of 200 miles per hour at some oval tracks. “These cars are a fair bit heavier than the zetec car, but they make up for the extra weight with a big, loud V8. It’s nice to have wheel spin exiting almost every corner if you want it, that element creates a new challenge to being consistent, especially on bumpy circuits.” The chassis is a Dallara carbon fiber monocoque weighing roughly 1400lbs, with adjustable front and rear sway bars, weight jacker (used for oval racing), and brake bias. It is capable of making about 25% more than it’s weight in usable down force with the massive wings on the car, which is powered by Infinity V8’s with a redline of 8100 rpm, and a 6 speed sequential gear box. “The sequential box is a nice change from the standard H pattern that is used in the F2000 car (and all fully manual street cars). It operates a lot like a motorcycle; the gears are all in a straight line so the up shifts happen by simply pulling back on the gear lever to initiate the gear change. Once the gear has been selected, the spring loaded lever return forward and is ready to be up shifted again with another tug back. The same principle applies for downshifts as well, but in the opposite direction (pushing forward on the lever rather than back) which makes the gear changes a lot faster and easier. If you add up the .5 sec you gain per lap over a 30 lap race distance, the time saved with the sequential box is huge (roughly 15 seconds!). It’s advancements like this that help the modern day race car the performance figures they have today.”
The Daytona 24 Hours is the first race of the 2009 Grand American Rolex series, which is made up of two classes GT (Grand Touring) and DP (Daytona Prototypes) that both race at the same time, adding the traffic element to the race strategy for the endurance racing based series. On top of that, every race is long enough to mandate two drivers to cover the distance, so it’s more of a co-operative effort rather than the usual man and machine plus team that’s more common in other forms of motor sport. The Pontiac GXPR Jeff has been driving is a 460 horsepower LS2 V8, in a tube frame chassis with all carbon fiber body work that weighs a heavier 2600lbs, but has a series mandated ballast pushing the weight to 3000lbs. “The car is actually quite high tech considering; it has a no lift sequential gearbox that allows me to shift up the gears without lifting off the throttle, minimizing the loss of acceleration. It also has adjustable front and rear sway bars, and brake bias (brake usage between front and rear wheels) from inside the cockpit while driving the car, so adjustments can be made to stay on top of any imbalance issues with the chassis.” The GT cars have also been known to get hot (upwards of 130 degrees for over an hour stint in the car), so a helmet fan system, cool suit system, & a push button drink system are also inside the car to help keep the drivers from loosing focus or fatal heat exhaustion.
Both tests went extremely well for the Californian, but only time will tell where you can find him in the future. Fortunately both series have extensive television coverage, so catching Jeff’s races from home will be an option.
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