A few months ago, the Scott Tucker-owned racing team Level 5 Motorsports prepared for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, a important endurance race in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup series. As with any team, Level 5 geared to win. But surprisingly, the group opted out from the option to qualify for a starting position in the race, instead taking the dead last spot for its 2 Microsoft Office-sponsored LMP2 cars, Nos. 55 and 95.
"Qualifying for a 24-hour race is meaningless," claimed a Level 5 mechanic at the time. "Anything that's not directly related to winning, we're going to opt out of."
It's a fact; in a day-long event, starting off spot isn't the most important element. Nonetheless declining to be eligible is just not to say that the practice linked to driving laps prior to a race isn't vital to success in professional motorsports. Specifically, it's the level of laps you drive.
The training sessions accessible to teams in the days prior to races are a important time to familiarize yourself with an unfamiliar track and maximize the efficiency of driver changes and pit stops. And, for Tucker and Level 5, practice is an possible opportunity to acquire a sense of a different automobile, an aspect they has presented many times in its existence.
Most recently, the team launched its completely new LMP2 cost-capped Honda chassis at the American Le Mans Series Monterey at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway on September. Seventeen. The mere hours of street time the vehicle experienced prior to race were important signs of how the car would perform in the race, another of practice time.
But normally, the Level 5 team continues to be true to its mechanic's word: Practice is nothing if it doesn't make perfect. That's a good reason the group runs two Le Mans Prototype entries in each race-when Tucker started Level 5 Motorsports in 2008, he was only two years into his professional racing career, and he needed practice. But he also wasn't willing to waste time completing meaningless laps around a track against no competitors.
"From the time and energy I spend practicing, it just makes more sense to enter two cars in the races," Tucker said. "Not only that, but it's actually beneficial to run two cars. When you're out there practicing, you're not racing against anybody. When you look at it logically, it's much smarter from a time perspective and infrastructure perspective, not to mention that you get extra racing seat time."
To Tucker, the most valuable practice experiences have been those in actual race situations. Although practice sessions have proven useful to the Level 5 team when it wants to survey a new car's capabilities, the team typically treats each and every mile on the track as an opportunity for a world-class win. That strategy has worked for the team, who now enters the pinnacle of the 2011 season-with the SCCA Runoffs, Petit Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai in China left to go-after two years of continuously increasing success.
When Tucker was Forty-Four when he took the wheel for his first professional race in 2006, his race-only mindset strategy has quickly made up the time he never had to build his career. His success has skyrocketed in just the past 5 years. The results can't be ignored: He's a three-time national champion; 2010 ALMS rookie of the year; two-time T1 division national champion, going for a third this weekend; three-time Ferrari Challenge Series champion; and holder of a record 10 wins in the FC series.
Although Tucker was 44 when he took the wheel for his first professional race in 2006, his race-only mindset strategy has quickly made up the time he never had to build his career. His success has skyrocketed in just the past 5 years. The results can't be ignored: He's a three-time national champion; 2010 ALMS rookie of the year; two-time T1 division national champion, going for a third this weekend; three-time Ferrari Challenge Series champion; and holder of a record 10 wins in the FC series.
"Qualifying for a 24-hour race is meaningless," claimed a Level 5 mechanic at the time. "Anything that's not directly related to winning, we're going to opt out of."
It's a fact; in a day-long event, starting off spot isn't the most important element. Nonetheless declining to be eligible is just not to say that the practice linked to driving laps prior to a race isn't vital to success in professional motorsports. Specifically, it's the level of laps you drive.
The training sessions accessible to teams in the days prior to races are a important time to familiarize yourself with an unfamiliar track and maximize the efficiency of driver changes and pit stops. And, for Tucker and Level 5, practice is an possible opportunity to acquire a sense of a different automobile, an aspect they has presented many times in its existence.
Most recently, the team launched its completely new LMP2 cost-capped Honda chassis at the American Le Mans Series Monterey at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway on September. Seventeen. The mere hours of street time the vehicle experienced prior to race were important signs of how the car would perform in the race, another of practice time.
But normally, the Level 5 team continues to be true to its mechanic's word: Practice is nothing if it doesn't make perfect. That's a good reason the group runs two Le Mans Prototype entries in each race-when Tucker started Level 5 Motorsports in 2008, he was only two years into his professional racing career, and he needed practice. But he also wasn't willing to waste time completing meaningless laps around a track against no competitors.
"From the time and energy I spend practicing, it just makes more sense to enter two cars in the races," Tucker said. "Not only that, but it's actually beneficial to run two cars. When you're out there practicing, you're not racing against anybody. When you look at it logically, it's much smarter from a time perspective and infrastructure perspective, not to mention that you get extra racing seat time."
To Tucker, the most valuable practice experiences have been those in actual race situations. Although practice sessions have proven useful to the Level 5 team when it wants to survey a new car's capabilities, the team typically treats each and every mile on the track as an opportunity for a world-class win. That strategy has worked for the team, who now enters the pinnacle of the 2011 season-with the SCCA Runoffs, Petit Le Mans and the 6 Hours of Zhuhai in China left to go-after two years of continuously increasing success.
When Tucker was Forty-Four when he took the wheel for his first professional race in 2006, his race-only mindset strategy has quickly made up the time he never had to build his career. His success has skyrocketed in just the past 5 years. The results can't be ignored: He's a three-time national champion; 2010 ALMS rookie of the year; two-time T1 division national champion, going for a third this weekend; three-time Ferrari Challenge Series champion; and holder of a record 10 wins in the FC series.
Although Tucker was 44 when he took the wheel for his first professional race in 2006, his race-only mindset strategy has quickly made up the time he never had to build his career. His success has skyrocketed in just the past 5 years. The results can't be ignored: He's a three-time national champion; 2010 ALMS rookie of the year; two-time T1 division national champion, going for a third this weekend; three-time Ferrari Challenge Series champion; and holder of a record 10 wins in the FC series.
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