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DENVER, N.C. -- Crawford Race Cars of Denver,
NC, staged the first successful test of its all-new Crawford DP03
Daytona Prototype race car on Tuesday, November 18 at the Carolina
Motorsports Park in Kershaw, S.C.
Former Rolex 24 winner Andy Wallace of
Buckinghamshire, England served as test driver for the first
runs. Wallace, who has a long list of victories in the world’s
major road races, said he was extremely pleased with the new Daytona
Prototype. Wallace commented, “Even though we were only doing the
first system testing I was surprised how fast the car was. It is
extremely easy to drive; you can throw it in any direction and
retrieve it. It’s great fun. I think it will be a top contender not
only in the Rolex 24 next February, but throughout the 2004 Grand Am
Rolex series season.”
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The test came at the Carolina
Motorsports Park road course in Kershaw, SC. The DP03 is an
all-new design, which will accommodate a variety of power
plants. The DP03 uses a broad range of components designed and
built by Crawford Race Cars. Two of the Crawford-built machines
have already been purchased for use in the Grand Am series in
the coming season. |
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This marks the
debut of the second Crawford –designed road racer. The first was
the Crawford SSC2K, one of the prime SRP contenders in the 2002
Grand Am season. The Crawford SSC2K had multiple top-five finishes,
including an overall victory at Virginia International Raceway
piloted by Andy Wallace and Chris Dyson.
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Max Crawford, head
of Crawford Race Cars, said he was ecstatic with the first track
day for the new Daytona Prototype. “We’ve worked for more than
a year and a half on the design of our new DP03 chassis. It
incorporates much of the thinking from our successful SSC2K SRP
car, while maintaining the integrity of the Grand Am concept for
major-league road racing.” |
Like its SRP
predecessor, the DP03 is the work of designer Andy Scriven.
Already, two of the new Crawford’s have been sold. One chassis has
been purchased by Boss Motorsports owner David Brule of Iron
Mountain, Michigan. The other will be run by The Spirit of Daytona
team, a joint effort of Flis Motorsports of Florida, the first
Grand-Am AGT championship team in 2001, and team owner/driver Doug
Goad. Both will use Chevrolet power.
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