SEBRING, Fla. (February 23, 2014)- With the majority of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship paddock taking part in a two-day test in advance of the upcoming 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Magnus Racing wrapped up the two-day event with a number of advances and findings within the different divisions of the team.
Below is a rundown of different elements tested as well as the respective results:
Engineering
Lars Giersing, Chief Engineer, tested a number of different items for evaluation. While not normally a whiskey drinker, he figured he would test out Palm Ridge Reserve made out of a micro-distillery on a small cattle farm near Umatilla, Florida. Running this test in concert with a number of his usual preferred wines, tequilas and, of course, beer Giersing found his results inconclusive.
“We used this test as an opportunity to evaluate a number of liquors,” stated the Denmark native. “Even though Magnus is a very collaborative team, in all honesty, I had no interest in other people’s input as I had to sample everything personally to eliminate the variables. We’re still working on a number of possible developments here so we will continue to ship many different options to my home.”
Hospitality
Following 24 hours of running and operation placed on the litany of team-owned crockpots, grills, microwaves and warmers, Magnus hospitality staff decided to test out a new popcorn maker. Unfortunately, at the three-hour mark the team discovered an “electrical issue” that prevented the popcorn maker from continuing. The electrical issue was in no way a clever use of phrasing to cover up a larger failure. No race team has ever done that, ever.
“This is why we come to test,” stated Lorie Bedell, hospitality director. “We still have some gremlins to figure out, but I’m sure we’ll have it working by the race. The guys have been hard at work getting to the bottom of it and we’ll just dig a little deeper.”
Tires
While the team’s Continental Tires proved faultless as usual, team owner John Potter instead turned his attention to testing the patience of tire technician, Wayne Lollis.
“I don’t know why Potter feels the need to try a Southern accent on me,” stated the North Carolina resident. “He thinks he is funny when he does a southern accent, but all he can really say is the word “tires.” By the way, if you remind me later, I would like to talk to him about how important tires are.”
Drivers
Andy Lally was “tested” a few days prior to the events at Sebring. According to the data, we suggest any female “friends” of Andy may want to get tested as well.
Meanwhile, the team also tested newcomer Marco Seefried’s sense of humor. He passed, and is awesome.
PR
The Magnus PR team tested out their snooze alarm.
It worked.
Transportation
Team truck driver, Kyle Leo, tested a number of routes that could sneak in a return trip to his Georgia home without anyone finding out. Unfortunately, it took over a day to arrive at his Georgia home, demonstrating a clear performance gap to many of the other team’s trucks.
“The series really needs to do something for Volvo trucks like ours,” stated Leo. “The Mack drivers were regaling me with tales of Sunday barbeques, going to see movies and all sorts of things that Volvo teams are unable to do. Right now it’s a tough time to compete with truck drivers like this, I hope officials can do something soon.”
The Car
Oh yeah, it was fine.
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Magnus Racing and the entire TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will return to Sebring in three weeks with the 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring taking place on Saturday, March 15.
Both Magnus Racing and the TUDOR championship will have a number of announcements regarding the event coming soon. Stay tuned to the team’s website, Facebook, and Twitter pages.