CART: Mercedes-Benz Motivation Program
21 March 1998
MONTVALE, N.J.-- The improvements to Mercedes-Benz's CART racing program for 1998 were not limited to the smaller, lighter and more powerful IC108E engine. Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor Engineering -- the race engine-building arm of Mercedes -- also instituted a new engine service agreement with four* teams using the IC108E, which provides better service and helps contain the costs of racing in the FedEx Championship Series -- two considerations of particular importance as the teams prepare for the inaugural Budweiser 500 at Twin Ring Motegi, in Motegi, Japan. "Last season's schedule of 17 races, plus testing, meant that each driver needed seven engines to cover practice and qualifying, racing, testing and spares. And even with seven engines, it was sometimes very difficult to get the engines through the re-build process and returned to the teams fast enough," said Paul Ray, vice president of Ilmor. AThis season, we have two more races and the level of competitiveness in the series is continuing to increase, which means more testing." "We calculated that each driver would need nine or 10 engines to have enough for all the races and testing -- more engines means greater cost, and we still wouldn't have solved the problem of the turnaround time on rebuilds."I Into the Pool The solution Mercedes and Ilmor came up with was to create the Mercedes-Benz Motorsport engine pool, a central supply from which each of the teams would draw their engines. Employing principles similar to those used by banking institutions, Mercedes could ensure an uninterrupted flow of engines to the teams while at the same time requiring a smaller total number of engines to be built. "We realized that on any given weekend, some teams would need their spare engines and others would not," explained Ray. "The engines that weren't needed would just sit uselessly in the transporters. By having a common pool we could be sure to have enough on hand, but avoid the inefficiency of building engines for each individual team to have a full complement of spares."
Out of the Country The Mercedes-Benz Motorsport engine pool plan has proved particularly helpful as the teams prepare for CART's first race in Japan. With only two weeks separating the FedEx Championship Series season opener at Homestead, Fla., and round two at Motegi, Japan, there was very little time for engine rebuilding before the equipment had to be loaded up in Indianapolis for delivery to Tokyo. "Mercedes-Benz engines were 100 percent reliable at Homestead," said Ray. "But one was destroyed in an accident during practice. In the past, it would have been nearly impossible to ship that engine back to Midland (Texas, site of VDS Racing, the Mercedes-Benz engine rebuild facility) and build another one up in time for shipping to Japan. Now, with the engine pool, we know we'll have enough spares for everyone."
*Because of variations in engine mounts between different chassis marques, the Mercedes-Benz Motorsport engine pool includes those teams using 1998 Reynard cars: PacWest Racing, Player's Forsythe Racing, Team Alumax and Hogan Racing.
Sidebar 1:
How Many Engines Does It Take?
Mercedes-Benz and Ilmor Engineering introduced a new engine
service agreement for 1998 to contain costs and improve service to
Mercedes-powered teams as the CART racing and testing schedules
continue to expand.
Engine requirements for an average two-car team on a race
weekend:
Practice and Qualifying engines for each race car and backup car: 4 Practice and Qualifying Spares: 2 Race engines for each race car: 2 Race spares: 1-2 Total: 9-10
Sidebar 2:
Mercedes' Run of Reliability and Performance Continues
With Player's Reynard/Mercedes driver Greg Moore's second place finish at the season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami, Mercedes-Benz has now powered drivers to finishes of first or second in 20 of the last 21 CART events, a record that spans three different racing seasons and three different Mercedes-Benz V8s. First- or second-place finishes vs. number of race appearances by Mercedes-Benz CART engines since the Texaco/Havoline 200 at Road America, Aug. 18, 1996:
Engine - Year 2nd or better finish/RacesIC108C - 1996 3/3
IC108D - 1997 16/17
IC108E - 1998 1/1
Total 20/21
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