Imagine my delight when I found out that one of this years leading privateer teams was shacked up in my backyard!! Imagine the further delight when we realized we had an in with their team Engineer and father of Colin Braun, Jeff Braun! I immediately started the process to get a tour arranged.

Luckily, Jeff was flying into Atlanta this very week and we could meet up Wednesday. This was my first visit to a team shop, and I was very excited to say the least.

The Shop:

The shop Krohn is operating out of is the former Panoz factory LMP shop. If you have been to Road Atlanta, look to your right at the ticket booths and you have seen the shop. There used to be a Panoz GTR in the showroom, apparently it didn’t come with the shop.

Upon entering there is a large lobby with L shaped desk. To the left is the showroom, now empty as the Krohn boys really have nothing to put in the window. Hopefully they will roll one of the cars out there for a future race if Grand Am isn’t running that weekend, the first time people see the cars up close I think many are taken back by their small size.

There is a large lunch room, a few spacious offices and a very large conference room in the office area of the shop. You could really tell that the shop used to be run by Panoz as I can see many meetings occurring at these facilities.

Now to the good stuff, on your way out to the shop you travel through a “clean room” of sorts that has stations for shock prep and electronics work. The area is decked out with olive green lista cabinets, very nice, but a strange color choice. (they were included in the building).

The shop itself is rather small, especially considering what used to be housed there. I think once things are all organized (they just moved in this week) it will be more spacious. Off to one side is a small machine shop and metal shaping shop. Over in the far corner is a gearbox shop and a small area to work on composites. Again, the lovely Lista cabinets abound.

The Cars:

Both cars were completely stripped. The car not run at Daytona had just a successful test and was in the process of being prepped to test more. The Daytona car was being rebuilt from the floor up to get the race out of its system. I was shown sidepod panels that were almost worn thru in the wheel well area, and these were originally over 1/4” thick Kevlar!

Jeff showed me several interesting components. One of which was the electric power steering unique to the Riley cars. You can dial in the amount of assist based on your preference and it is transparent in the event of a system failure.

Another was a thermostat that looks a lot like your building’s fire system sprinklers. These were mandated after all the Pontiac fires last year and if engine compartment temperature reaches a certain point, this will engage the new twin bottle fire system that uses a chemical I had not heard of, but we decided it was probably a enviro-friendly halon like agent. This system apparently works well, as the #4 had a fire at Daytona in practice when they blew the engine, and it put it out before it got too heavy.

I also saw many things that were quite innovative but I don’t want to talk about in public. To say these cars are so limited that all teams have to do is drive them is just a silly notion. If anything, the tight rules promote innovation!! One of many was a good, useful way of dealing with their additional 75lbs of weight this year by adding an additional necessary component in lieu of lead.

The Team:

It really looks like an awesome crew that Krohn has assembled. Very few people carried over from TRG. Most of his crew is from the Atlanta area and crewed for teams such as Panoz, Cadillac LMP and GM Corvette! There are also a few from the failed Lambo effort (which apparently is a sore spot with a few).

Watch out for the team this year, I think they will be making quite a splash!

I will definitely be checking up on these guys throughout the year, and have already been invited back to take pictures once they get everything organized.

Do yourself a favor, when you go to a Rolex race, go up to the Krohn guys and say hello, you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you to both Jeffs and all the guys (and gal) at Krohn racing for a wonderful tour and hospitality. I will see you at the shop and the races, and hopefully victory lane!!

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