DeltaWing flies before gearbox gremlins strike

Daytona Beach, Fla - The low-drag DeltaWing was one of the stars of the first hour at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, running strongly in the top five until first a puncture hampered its progress, and then transmission problems forced it into the garage.

Downshifting into Turn One, it was very slow from sixth to fifth and fifth to fourth. We lost all gears after that

Andy Meyrick on gearbox issues

The DWC13 ran as high as fourth position early on, until a right-rear puncture caused an unscheduled pitstop. It was running back in the top six again when a transmission issue caused starting driver Andy Meyrick to pull over after Turn One, from where the car was towed to the garage.

DeltaWing fast, but unreliable

“It was pretty good while it lasted, huh?” Meyrick told motorsport.com moments after climbing from the stricken car. “Frustrating that we got the puncture, we went a little too aggressive on the pressures, a bit too low and it caught us out with the green track conditions.

“The car was really strong, and we’ll have to see if the transmission problem is fixable or not. We’ll investigate it, and be back out if we can fix it.

“We were quick and consistent. We were a little bit off [the ultimate pace] in clean air, but in traffic the pace was mega and I was able to get my head down and get through it. There was more to come from it, too.

Keeping pace with Ganassi

Meyrick got close to Scott Pruett’s third-placed Ganassi car before his puncture, and was pleased with how the car was able to battle with the big boys at the sharp end of the field.

“It was good racing, and we were really good under braking,” he added. “The Ganassi cars are really good at the end of the straights, and I managed to get past Barbosa [in the Action Express Corvette] and Pruett was really quick in a straightline.

“But we were quicker in different areas, we weren’t just quick in a straight line, we lose a bit in certain corners and gain it back in others.

Of the transmission issue, he reported: “Downshifting into Turn One, it was very slow from sixth to fifth and fifth to fourth. We lost all gears after that, basically. We’ll have to see. Hopefully we can get out and keep learning again. The car is mega!”

The DeltaWing is now out of the race.