Cosmo and Spirit of Daytona Continue Development

Porsche-based V8 Fabcar Hits Track at Grand-Am Rolex Series November Test

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (November 16, 2007) -- A new era in Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve competition officially began Wednesday in the first of the two-day November Test Days at Daytona International Speedway as all Rolex Series machines bolted on Pirelli Tires for the first time. Pirelli will be the series standard beginning in 2008 as the Official Tire of the Grand-Am Rolex Series.  With two days of testing now complete, the new Pirelli P-Zero Tire is firmly entrenched in Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 competition and the teams and drivers put in the miles to prove it. In total, the 45 participating teams ran a total of 24,614 miles (6,914 laps) on the new Pirelli P-Zero tires, which is just 288 miles short of a trip around the earth.

Spirit of Daytona Continues Engine Development

Spirit of Daytona is testing with a "Porsche-based" 5.0-liter V-8 engine based on a block from a Cayenne. The team used Guy Cosmo, Marc-Antoine Camirand and Shane Lewis to get the car up to speed this week. The driver lineup for the Rolex 24 and the 2008 season has yet to be determined.

"We have a little different motor program, and I think it's working, and we've learned a lot about aero," team owner Troy Flis said. "This is only the second time that we've got to work on the car. We're trying to learn a lot, because we've got a lot of data on Crawfords, but we don't have a lot of data on the Fabcar. We're trying to gather as much data as possible so we can make better and quicker decisions."

Flis is working with the current Fabcar bodywork, but if the Cheever team shows major improvement with their new bodywork, the team may also go in that direction.

"We want the best package we can get with our budget; whatever makes the most sense for us," Flis said. "We'd like to run all year, but we want to run a limited schedule for sure. And we want to run up front if we run a limited schedule."

Cosmo, Camirand and Lewis all have experience in a variety of sports cars, making the team's job easier.

"We're learning a lot about this car," Cosmo said. "Every time we touch it, we've made it faster."