Maximum excitement is how I would describe the start of my 2009 season at the January Daytona test. At precisely 192.8 mph I ran over some debris just before the braking zone for turn one and had the right rear tyre blow out! The car turned sharp left… skidded along for a bit… then it was facing backwards… then it took off and everything went a bit quiet… then I saw blue sky… then it landed rear wheels first, before crashing down with a thump and eventually coming to a stop safely on that nice new piece of black top that Daytona International Speedway had very kindly laid as part of track improvements for this year. Phew, that certainly got my undivided attention.

I got out of the car and the safety crew was soon at the scene. Then in a, “health and safety gone mad” moment, I was told I couldn’t go back into the car to put the gearbox into neutral, so that the car could be easily winched onto the flatbed truck. Apparently, doing that would be too dangerous! Bloody hell, did they not see what I’d just done! Let me think about this for a moment… backward through the air at 190 mph verses putting the car into neutral. Yup, the world has gont quite mad.

The Rolex 24 at Daytona seems a long time ago now. We finished 8th, a solid result for the #2 Gentleman Jack Childress Howard Motorsports Pontiac-Crawford DP08. Early in the race we lost over 20 laps with an electrical gremlin which was extremely difficult to trace. The fuel pumps eventually stopped running and we were lucky to make it back to pit road. It turned out to be a break and some shorting out buried deep in the wiring harness. The guys managed to locate and temporarily fix the problem by breaking into the loom and sticking a few extra wires in strategic places. When that allowed the engine to run again we decided not to touch anything else for fear it might stop. We completed the rest of the race with alarms going off on the dash the whole time and only the basic systems working correctly. We made it through to the checker though, so well done to all concerned!

The long break has allowed allowed the team to completely rebuild the car and replace the wiring system. Not as easy as it sounds… have you any idea how many wires, sensors and electronic boxes there are on a modern DP car? Let’s just say it’s not the work of a moment.

We ran at Homestead in the official Grand-Am test as we continue to improve our car. The Rolex series is very competitive so you have to keep working hard if you want to be successful. I’m very happy with our progress and can’t wait to get back on track.

I've recently been doing some testing in various cars back home in the UK. And now I’m off to the gym. What, you thought it was all just fun and fast cars?

Andy Wallace

April 2009