ROLEX 24: Hybrid Racing Team owner Rod Everett watches instead of participating

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Hybrid Racing Team owner Rod Everett spent the weekend in Daytona Beach for the 24-hour endurance race as he has the past several years. However, this was the first time he didn't participate. Rather he was an observer of the new Saleen S7R GTS racing car. This car is similar to the one he and his Hybrid team will campaign for the full Grand American Road Racing Championship season beginning with Homestead, Florida, the first weekend of March with driver Chris Bingham and a second driver still to be determined. Interviews continue to take place. A Grand Am GTS championship is being suggested in its first year.

Everett has visited the Saleen factory several times and is quite impressed with the design and packaging of this car. "Our experience has always been with prototype sports racing cars. When we were asked to consider this program, a GT car, I wasn't sure. Seeing the car all apart and being able to examine its individual components instantly changed my mind. This car is technically engineered every bid as much as a prototype. They just happen to make a street car, while the race car is labeled GTS," said Everett. The trip to Daytona was the first time Everett has seen the car assembled as well as analyzed its performance. "While any new car must go through a development period, the S7R is much closer to the top level of GTS at this early stage than I would have expected."

The Hybrid Team's workshop is only 15 miles from the Saleen factory, which clearly is an advantage. Saleen has an open door policy with Hybrid and information will flow willingly between the two organizations to the benefit of further development.

Marketing partners with Hybrid remain the same and continue with considerable enthusiasm (Yokohama Tire Corp., Park Place Ltd., Landmark Motorsport Equipment and AVE). Title partnership opportunities are in negotiations currently while the team forges ahead. "We are not concerned with the lack of major corporate backing at this point. Partly due to the late start of this program and the enormous amount of exposure, the S7R has and will continue to receive through all forms of media, not to mention its overwhelming competitiveness. The right partner is out there. We will be patient," said a team spokesperson.

Hybrid Racing is a Southern California-based racing car team. The racing car is a Saleen S7R GTS sports car with a 7-liter fuel-injected aluminum V8 mid-engine configuration, 6-speed transverse magnesium gearbox (sequential shift), chassis constructed of exotic aerospace material (carbon fiber, Kevlar, chrome moly), body and aerodynamics of carbon fiber with its shape developed through hours in the wind tunnel and rides on 12" x 18" Yokohama racing slicks. Competing in Grand American Road Racing for the GTS championship with drivers Chris Bingham and TBD.

Text Provided By Rod Everett

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.