Time-Lapse Video Of How To Build An ALMS Race Car In Under 22 Hours

After their original car was destroyed during Petit Le Mans practice, the Patrón Highcroft ALMS team was forced to rebuild their Acura LMP1 racer overnight. Below, the time-lapse build video, Scott Sharp's Porsche-tagging crash causing the all-nighter and the time-line.

So to put it in simple numbers, the team put together a 4,000-part race car in 21 hours and 45 minutes. Simply brilliant. Here's a few slugs from Patrón Highcroft Racing:

Patrón Highcroft Racing's won their "race" to make the grid and maintain the team's championship assault after taking a bare tub into a complete racecar in less than 24 hours today.

After a horrifying crash for Scott Sharp on Thursday, the tub of the team's Acura ARX-02a was badly damaged and Honda Performance Development flew out a replacement overnight from its headquarters in California.

Beginning the build at 8:00am on Friday morning preparing parts, the Patrón Highcroft squad kicked off when the tub arrived at 9:20am and worked throughout the night to build up a new machine for today's 12th running of the annual Petit Le Mans endurance classic.

The car was ready to roll at 5:45am the following morning - in time for the team to take part in the morning warm-up. Heavy rain overnight actually pushed the warm-up back - allowing the team to take a breath before beginning race day.

The Build:

The Crash:

THE BUILD RECAP / TIME-LINE

Pre-petit work list items: 190

Acura ARX-02a Statistics:
Chassis mechanical parts: 4000
Chassis electrical parts: 250
Engine parts: 100 (excluding internals of engine)
Gearbox parts: 350
Parts with tracked life: 1000 (excluding internals of engine)
Custom hardware (fasteners, o-rings, bearings): 450

Rebuild Statistics:
Parts reused: about 10%

Rebuild Timeline
(times are when tasks were completed, unless otherwise noted)
Thursday
3:43 PM - Accident
4:15 PM - Damaged assessment finished
4:45 PM - Spare part serial numbers allocated for car build
5:00 PM - Finalized arrangements to ship spare tub
6:00 PM - Spare tub picked up by freight service in California
6:45 PM - Damaged car stripped, reusable parts identified
11:00 PM - Replacement parts prepared and arranged for assembly
12:00 AM - Team back to hotel

Friday
7:10 AM - Spare tub arrives at Atlanta airport, met by team members
7:30 AM - Breakfast
8:00 AM - Begin preparation for car build, organize and layout assemblies
9:30 AM - Spare, bare tub arrives at track
11:00 AM - Tub preparation finished
12:00 PM - Lunch
11:30 PM - Fresh engine fitted
1:30 PM - Fresh gearbox fitted
6:00 PM - Dinner
8:00 PM - Four corners fitted on car
9:00 PM - Race spare preparation begins
11:45 PM - Hydraulic/fuel/electronic systems tested

Saturday
1:00 AM - Engine fired
4:30 AM - Car on ground
5:45 AM - Set up finished
6:45 AM - Race strategy meeting
8:15 AM - Warmup / Practice Session

[via Axis Of Oversteer, Patron Highcroft Racing, GrandTouringPrototype.com]

Send an email to Ray Wert, the author of this post, at ray@jalopnik.com.

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