Daytona Prototype

A Daytona Prototype is a type of sports prototype racing car developed specifically for the Grand American Road Racing Association's Rolex Sports Car Series as their top class of car, which replaced their main prototype racing class, specifically Le Mans Prototypes (LMPs). The cars later competed in the merged series of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. They are named after the main series event, the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

For the 2003 Rolex Sports Car Series season, the Grand American Road Racing Association (GARRA) announced that they would stop support of their two premier open cockpit classes, known as SRP-I and SRP-II. These cars, mostly modified from Le Mans Prototypes, were technologically advanced and could reach high speeds, specifically on the Mulsanne Straight at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, these same speeds were found to be extremely dangerous at GARRA's premier track, Daytona International Speedway. The concrete walls of the oval section of the road course that the series runs were dangerous enough on their own, but were also on the parts of the track where cars reached their highest speed. Therefore, GARRA decided that they would need to slow down their competitors in order to make their racing series safer.

At the same time, due to the technological advancement of Le Mans prototypes, GARRA decided that they would also lower the overall cost of their prototypes. To do this, they would use closed cockpit chassis made of tube frames, instead of high cost carbon fiber composites. They would also standardize the amount of technology that could go into a car, as well as not allowing teams to develop their cars over a season, instead being forced to stay with the same basic car. This would stop teams from having to spend money on aerodynamic tweaks and technological experimentation, as well as private track testing. To further restrict cost, the series would regulate who could provide chassis and who could provide engines, thus preventing teams from trying a unique chassis or engine that may end up being a failure. Engines specifically would have to be based on a road-legal production unit from a major manufacturer. At the same time, major manufacturers would not be allowed to run Daytona Prototype teams, in order to help keep competition level and costs down.

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