Salt Lake City, UT (January 22, 2012)- When Magnus Racing took their historic first victory at The 50th Running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona just one year ago in front of a worldwide audience, one select group of fans were able to celebrate with the team; those watching the Magnus Racing pitside webcast. Luckily for the Magnus crew and fans, the webcast will once again return for this weekend’s 51st Running of The Rolex 24 At Daytona.
With a very similar look and feel to last year’s stream, the feed will feature a non-stop view of the team’s pit, access to team radio, interactive fan chat, and 24-hour hosting by an assorted cast of Magnus characters. The entire organization has one goal in mind: to provide an inside look at just what it takes to put together a two-car effort during the signature event of the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series season.
Partnering with Livestream, fans will be able to follow, interact, and simply enjoy the experience from green flag to checker.
The stream can be viewed at either magnusracing.com, or livestream.com/magnusracing.
With SPEED covering the entirety of the race, beginning with 15 hours of television coverage at 3-11PM ET on Saturday and 9AM-4PM on Sunday, as well as continuous coverage of all 24 hours on SPEED.com, sportscar fans will truly have a wealth of ways to immerse themselves in this year’s race. The goal of Magnus is to compliment their coverage by showcasing the story of one individual team.
As announced in December, Magnus Racing will bring two cars to this weekend’s race. The team’s signature no. 44 Flex-Box Porsche GT3 Cup will return to defend its title, with full-season drivers John Potter and Andy Lally joined by Daytona regular Richard Lietz and team newcomer Nicolas Armindo. The team will also debut the no. 45 Porsche, with drivers on loan from full-time Continental Tire Sports Challenge competitor Fall-Line Motorsports. The no. 45 will feature a strong roster of experienced drivers, including Continental Challenge champions Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman, sportscar veteran Hugh Plumb, Baltimore Grand Prix winner Al Carter, and Fall-Line Motorsports Team Owner Mark Boden.
The webcast will once again be produced and hosted by Magnus regular Sean Heckman of The Media Barons, who will be joined this year by a number of co-hosts including Fall-Line Motorsports representative Mary Allison, Magnus Racing’s Emily Potter, and of course the team’s drivers, crew, and a number of guests from within the motorsport community.
Of course, no interactive webcast would be complete without a million different ways for fans to walk away with team swag and other prizes, including the return of The Magnus Challenge. The Magnus Challenge is the ultimate fan prize for the most devoted of the Magnus Nation. As a contest in which Magnus personnel give away a secret word every hour for all 24 hours, any fan who can submit all 24 words at the end of the webcast will win a special team prize pack, as well as be granted entry in to the team’s grand-prize drawing where they will become an honorary team member for any race of their choosing. Additionally, countless other contests and games will be run throughout the event.
Beyond providing an interactive experience for fans, Magnus Racing will also raise awareness and interaction for several of the team’s supported charities.
Adorning the hood of the team’s no. 45 entry, the B+ Foundation will feature a special initiative for the race, the B+ Foundation Challenge. With a goal to raise $100,000 during the week of the race, funds will support research and aid toward different forms of childhood cancer, with a mission statement focused on research, awareness, and financial support to impoverished families.
The B+ Foundation will feature a special text message campaign, supporters can text “FIGHT” to 80 000 and make a $10 donation to B+.
Notable to both the no. 44 and no. 45 cars, Magnus Racing will also support the efforts of GRAND-AM stalwart Team Seattle. Founded and run by noted series veteran Don Kitch, Team Seattle was originally created as a way to merge his passions of motorsport and charity work in to a unified program, with a particular emphasis on Seattle Children’s Hospital. Since the program’s beginning, the program has grown significantly. With Team Seattle now running in both the Rolex Series and Continental Tire Challenge, the team has a number of corporate partners and families they’ll be entertaining at the track.
Finally, Magnus Racing will also broadcast in support of noted GRAND-AM official charity Camp Boggy Creek. Founded by the legendary Paul Newman, the mission of Camp Boggy Creek is to enrich the lives of children with serious illness and their families by creating a life-enhancing camp experience that is exciting, empowering, memorable, safe, and medically sound, at no cost to them. There is no charge to come to Camp, the organization relying solely on the generous support of individuals, corporations, foundations and healthcare partners.
For Magnus Racing Team Owner John Potter, the opportunity to bring the webcast back is a great way to continue the team’s commitment to fans.
“It’s great to bring the webcast back,” stated Potter. “Last year we had over 100,000 viewers follow us as we took victory, and we’re hoping for the exact same result this year. SPEED and GRAND-AM have been very gracious to allow us to do this again, and we’re glad they see the value in such a unique product. We’ll be putting many of our resources towards our respective charities, and it’s fantastic that they’re all able to use the resources of Magnus to help grow their message. It’s a major undertaking to put together the stream, and I really appreciate the efforts that everyone in the team is making to make this all happen. I’m especially looking forward to what embarrassing things our hosts say at 4AM. Last year there were some gems.”
Streaming will begin on a “dress rehearsal” basis (ie it may not always work) during Thursday practice, with the proper webcast beginning at 3PM ET on Saturday, January 26.
About Flex-Box
Flex-Box, based out of Hong Kong, is a leading worldwide supplier of new and used shipping, storage and reefer containers. The company manufactures and ships containers to customers all over the world, keeping a year round inventory of containers in China, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and North America.or more information, visit www.flex-box.com.
B+ Foundation Daytona Challenge:
The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation honors the memory of Andrew, a 14-year-old athlete and 'A' student from Wilmington, Delaware. Throughout Andrew's battle with leukemia, his blood type was B+, which became his motto throughout the fight, to "Be Positive." Inspired by Andrew's caring attitude and positive outlook, The Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation was established. In just the past two years, The B+ Foundation has awarded over $1.5 million in research grants and family assistance.
For this week's Rolex 24 at Daytona, B+ is hoping to raise $100,000 from fans and sponsors alike to go towards research and supporting families battling with childhood cancer.
bepositive.org
Camp Boggy Creek:
Founded by the legendary Paul Newman, the mission of Camp Boggy Creek is to enrich the lives of seriously ill children and their families by creating a life-enhancing camp experience that is exciting, empowering, memorable, safe, and medically sound, at no cost to them. We are a year round camp serving seriously ill children throughout Florida. We offer week-long summer sessions for the children and family retreat weekends for the whole family. There is no charge to come to Camp, the organization relying solely on the generous support of individuals, corporations, foundations and healthcare partners.
boggycreek.org
Team Seattle:
Team Seattle is a group of road racing fans, drivers, and sponsors who, along with their friends and family, want to make a difference in the community by combining two passions: a love of motorsports and a commitment to Seattle Children’s Hospital. The organization uses corporate and private sponsorship to underwrite the cost of the race cars so that one hundred percent of the donations go to help the children in the pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Joining both Magnus cars for this year's race, the organization looks to host and entertain several guests in their efforts to continue and expand awareness and fundraising.
teamseattle.com
About Magnus Racing:
Magnus Racing is now in their fourth year of professional sportscar competition. As one of the most well known and respected teams in the paddock, the team is known for not only last year's victory at both The 50th Running of The Rolex 24 at Daytona and the inaugural Brickyard Grand Prix, but also the inaugural GRAND-AM North American Endurance Championship. As the most familial and good-humored team in the series, the team looks to continue its tradition of maintaining a fun and humorous approach to professional racing.
About Fall-Line Motorsports
Located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, Fall-Line Motorsports is a top team in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. With a brand new 35,000 square foot race shop, the team offers full machining, fabrication, assembly, tuning and setup resources. On the track, the team offers service, support and coaching from the club levels all the way to the top ranks in professional sportscar, culminating in the 2010 Continental Series Championship.