Teams from Porsche, Audi and Toyota will not only do battle against each other at the Circuit of The Americas this week, but they will face an additional foe which can play a deciding factor in the result – the weather.
It might be the end of summer in the US but the Austin venue is renowned for being hot and sometimes rain can also throw in an additional challenge.
In 2014 a torrential downpour hit the circuit so hard that the race was red flagged.
The event was interrupted for 55 minutes about an hour and a half into the six-hour journey when standing water became a major issue.
Everything is bigger in Texas – even the weather!
“The humidity and temperature in Austin is always very high and we’re not on a Sunday drive – even though we sometimes race on Sundays,” Porsche’s Brendon Hartley said.
“It can be pretty physically challenging with the heat so it is always a topic when we go to Austin with such high temps and humidity.”
Hartley along with Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard took victory here last year and the New Zealander rates the Austin venue as one of his favorites.
“It’s a cool track. In terms of the new style Formula 1 tracks it is my favorite,” he said.
“The first sector is very high speed but quite technical as well. You have long straights which is always good for LM P1 cars to get them up over 300km/h.
“It was a great track for us last year and we took our most dominant victory with myself Mark and Timo so we’re looking to going back.”
From a driver’s perspective, it is not just the heat that is an issue in the closed cockpit LM P1 cars but the humidity.
Temperatures in excess of 30 degrees celcius (90+ degrees F) are predicted this week with humidity as high as 75 per cent.
“It can be quite difficult with the temperature sometimes. It is not just the heat but the humidity,” Toyota’s Mike Conway said.
“In the cockpit can be quite hard. The last couple of years has been tough and doing double stints is difficult to do in our car.
“The track turned into a lake all of a sudden in 2014 and you saw everyone really suffer. Hopefully we’ll have none of that but then it does make the races interesting.
“I’m looking forward to whatever it throws at us.”
After facing unique conditions in Mexico City with the race held more than 2,200 metres above sea level, drivers will now have to work on another challenge – staying hydrated in Texas.
“You sweat a lot because you have all the fireproof clothes and you dissipate very little heat,” Audi’s Lucas di Grassi said.
“Inside the car is quite warm and you lose a lot of fluids and you have to work hard on staying hydrated. When it is really too hot we alternate the drivers more frequently.
“Sometimes it is not the case because the race starts a bit later at 5:00pm so it can be a little cooler at night.”
Aside from Le Mans, COTA will be the first FIA WEC six-hour race of the year that will race into the night.
“If you are inside the car the transition from day to night is quite smooth,” di Grassi said.
“There is a lot of light around the track but sometimes you have to use different references as brake markers and position the car a little differently.
“You also have to be careful with the cars you are overtaking because our headlights sometimes blinds them.”
“There are a lot of small details that make night racing very different but very interesting.”
Photos by Adrenal Media
