For various reasons—wet conditions, cool temperatures, and aerodynamics—many teams on the grid opted to cover up scoops and vents for the start of the race. Here’s a few examples of tape being used as a vital body part at the 6 Hours of the Glen.
Alex Job Racing’s number 23 car decided to fill in their hood ducts with clear tape, making their adjustment as invisible as it gets. Clearly, it works.
Given what’s written on their hood of their car, they have no excuse for misjudging irritatingly wet and cool conditions.
Alex Job Racing’s other 911 only had one hood duct covered up during the grid walk. (They, too, have no excuse for misjudging the weather, given their livery. Nope. None at all.)
Perhaps #22’s were closed more to keep people from putting bunnies in them. #23 kept both taped up, while #22 opened them up.
[Update: According to Porsche, these hood ducts are for interior cooling. A more likely explanation is that #22’s driver is more hot-natured than #23’s.]
Risi Competizione doesn’t need any frou-frou clear tape to close vents down to a better size for the conditions. Whip out the gaffer tape, boom, done.
It looks like they went down to only one strip of tape when the car finally went out, however. Things were drying out, so it made sense.
Both factory BMW Team RLL cars closed a duct at the bottom of their rear fender flares as well.
Turner Motorsports’ GTD-class BMW Z4M, however, left them open.
As the track and the cars both warm up, some teams may opt to rip the tape off for extra cooling. Before everything warms up, though, it’s wise to close off the intakes you don’t need. Tire management, however, is the name of the game today, with drying conditions, cool temperatures and occasional rain.
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.