How Kyle Kirkwood will drive two automobiles within the Rolex 24

Come 8:00am on the morning of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Kyle Kirkwood, driver for Vasser Sullivan Racing, will already be an hour and a half into his work day. The inexperienced flag will not wave for nearly six extra hours.  It is the identical state of affairs for the 230-plus drivers participating within the fabled 24-hour race that runs throughout Saturday and Sunday: a 24-hour race, plus the remainder of “race day.”

However for Kirkwood, it is really races, plural. He’ll be piloting each the Lexus staff’s No. 14 GTD Professional and No. 12 GTD entries throughout the enduro. 

Coming into his sixth season in endurance racing, and fifth Rolex 24, Kirkwood’s logged loads of time behind the wheels of each Lexus’ automobiles in IMSA races, even clinching a few wins with the staff. In the course of the Roar Earlier than the 24, Kirkwood informed Motorsport.com he was prepared for this 12 months’s problem, despite the fact that he solely received the decision to take the wheel — sorry, wheels — a number of weeks in the past.

Twin driving comes with lots of bonus problems, significantly o

“I imply, while you’re informed two weeks earlier than, there isn’t any preparation that may go into it. So that you simply should be prepared. That you must be prepared for something that this world can throw at you.” He says that driving would be the straightforward half. The toughest elements? Retaining observe of drive time, and staying hydrated. 

Managing the clock

Drive time turns into tough while you’re shifting between two automobiles. Drivers within the IMSA sequence are topic to run a minimal period of time over an endurance race. For Rolex, particularly, these minimal drive instances are two hours for the Grand Touring Daytona Professional (GTD Professional) and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) courses, and 4.5 hours for the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) and Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) courses. 

However there is a caveat: a driver can solely be behind the wheel for a most of 4 hours in any six-hour interval — and people hours observe the driving force, not the automotive. Strategically, the sooner a staff can get their drivers to satisfy minimal instances throughout a race, the simpler it’s to keep away from driving penalties if something occurs. 

And the entire fantastic thing about an endurance race just like the Rolex 24 is that chaos is sure to point out up. If, say,  Kirkwood had been to get sick and solely completes the drive time in one of many two Lexuses he is driving, the opposite automotive will probably be disqualified. “It’s totally, essential that I keep properly sufficient to get by means of the minimal drive time,” he stated. “In order that’s actually the brute of the primary 12 hours for me.”

Which automotive is which?

Additionally tough for Kirkwood’s two-car monte: ensuring he is in the best automotive on the proper second. The 2 Lexus RC Fs he is driving appear to be twins: the No. 14 has pink accents for GTD Professional, and the No. 12 has inexperienced accents for GTD. However the total paint scheme — highlighter yellow over black — the interiors, and the silhouettes are the identical. 

Here is one state of affairs Kirkwood’s already working to forestall: “You might be coming in in some unspecified time in the future and overlook which automotive you [are in], and also you pull into the unsuitable pit field,” he says. “So I am already harping on the staff to let me know, as a result of I take advantage of actually the identical insert — every thing on the sprint is similar. You possibly can’t inform that you just’re in a special automotive.

“The one factor that you could inform [is] totally different is that you just’re speaking to a special engineer. So it is necessary for me to know — even after doing two hours, six hours, no matter, no matter it has been — that they’re reminding me which automotive I am in and which automotive I am on the brink of get in.”

Downtime is not a very long time

When Kirkwood lastly has the prospect to get out of the automotive, scheduling will permit him a number of hours of break time, nevertheless it dwindles rapidly. Roughly half-hour are spent getting out of the automotive and debriefing along with his engineer in regards to the run. They will discuss by means of precisely what occurred, and what’s arising for the subsequent stint. 

Self-care comes after: consuming, rehydrating. The hydration half is the important thing. With temperatures in Daytona anticipated to remain beneath 70 levels (ambient), the automobiles ought to keep cooler within the cockpit. Something hotter than that and maintaining his physique in correct working order will get onerous.

“It is sizzling contained in the automotive,” says Kirkwood. “You are at a excessive sustained coronary heart fee for an extended time period. It’s totally exerting while you’re in considered one of these automobiles — and while you’re doing it twice, it’s essential to just be sure you’re continuously feeling your self.”

After he refuels, Kirkwood has a while to calm down. He all the time begins with a bathe. 

The #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 Kyle Kirkwood will pilot

Picture by: IMSA

“I take a bathe after each single stint. It’s simply good to reset, go lay in mattress, lay on the sofa — no matter it is likely to be. However you solely actually have about an hour of downtime after you add up all these issues, as a result of you need to be again on the stand an hour earlier than you get again within the automotive.

Kirkwood’s additionally attempting to stay Zen about what’s taking place out on the observe. 

“I did a great job of having the ability to wind down after a stint [last year] and have full belief within the drivers which might be within the automotive,” he remembers. “I feel that is most likely what will get guys probably the most — as a result of you have got any person else driving a automotive that you just’re driving. You are curious to the place we will find yourself, if something’s occurred, if we’re main, if we’re not main. These type of [thoughts] simply hold going by means of your thoughts, proper? Having the ability to shut that off and have full belief in your staff and your drivers is definitely what means that you can calm down between your stints.”

Nighttime means nothing

Because the hours shut in on midnight, with the automobiles operating beneath the lights of Daytona Worldwide Speedway, the adrenaline retains Kirkwood shifting. Regardless of the excessive speeds and alter in lighting, he says he’ll simply overlook what time it’s as he stays locked into the duty at hand. 

“It is extra simply maintaining your focus [as] the large factor, and understanding that you just most likely are getting drained, despite the fact that you do not discover that you just’re getting drained,” says Kirkwood. “Some some reactionary stuff would possibly decelerate now that you’ve got gone a very long time with out some relaxation.”

Whereas the Rolex clock standing beside the pit lane, simply earlier than the exit, continues counting down, Kirkwood would possibly try to catch a wink of sleep throughout a break. It’s troublesome, even within the early hours of Sunday morning. If he is ready to catch a nap, it’d come within the 2:00am to six:00am window, simply earlier than dawn.

“As quickly as the sunshine comes up, you’re feeling such as you’re on the house stretch — despite the fact that there’s a very long time to go when the sunshine comes up,” says Kirkwood. “That is type of when everyone will get within the race mode and issues begin to occur on the race observe. So that you get just a little bit extra amped up while you begin to see some daylight within the morning.”

The ultimate push

Because the solar rises, Kirkwood could have cleared the primary 12 hours of the race and stayed awake for twenty-four hours already (minus a number of potential minutes of shuteye). His schedule might require one other stint in a single or each of the Lexus RC Fs. With the assistance of his engineers he’s efficiently stored observe of what automotive he’s in, and he’s stored up on his hydration. The staff will probably be centered on pushing throughout these remaining hours to take the checkered flag at 1:40pm, whereas having accomplished probably the most distance. 

When the Lexuses make their remaining cease within the pits, it would have been 31 hours since Kirkwood final had an actual night time’s sleep. If both (or each) of his Vasser Sullivan Racing automobiles win their respective class, he’ll be a part of celebrations, photographs, and post-race interviews for one more couple hours. The Rolex clock might have zeroed-out, however Kirkwood’s clock continues ticking.

After which, when Kirkwood’s lastly carried out at Daytona Worldwide Speedway, he’ll catch a flight for California, the place he’ll be doing IndyCar testing as the driving force for Andretti World’s No. 27 automotive. Possibly then, he says, he would possibly lastly get some relaxation.

Images from the Friday of Daytona 24 Hours