![Suntrust-riley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Suntrust-riley.jpg)
Riley Technologies LLC is an American
auto racing
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
constructor and team specializing in the design and manufacture of complete race cars, as well as prototype development for racing and manufacturing applications.
In 2001, Bob Riley and son Bill, formerly of
Riley & Scott
Riley & Scott Cars Inc. was an American racing constructor and racing team that primarily provided chassis for various forms of motorsport, but worked primarily in sports car racing. It was founded in 1990 by Bob Riley and Mark Scott.
History
Sp ...
, formed Riley Technologies. The company moved their headquarters to
Mooresville, North Carolina
Mooresville is a large town located in the southwestern section of Iredell County, North Carolina, United States, and is a part of the fast-growing Charlotte metropolitan area. The population was 50,193 at the 2020 United States Census making it ...
in late 2006.
Daytona Prototypes
Riley Technologies was the leading constructor of the
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 ...
chassis for the
Grand-Am
Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series. ...
Rolex Sports Car Series
The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...
. The Riley chassis was dominant in terms of both numbers of cars on the grid and results.
Riley chassis have won seven
24 Hours of Daytona
The 24 Hours of Daytona, also known as the Rolex 24 At Daytona for sponsorship reasons, is a 24-hour sports car endurance race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is run on the Sports Car Course layou ...
races with different engines, the 2005 race was won by the
SunTrust Racing
Wayne Taylor Racing is a sports car racing team that competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship Daytona Prototype International class. The team campaigns the No. 10 Konica Minolta sponsored Acura ARX-05 full-time for Filipe Albuquerque an ...
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
-Riley and 2006, 2007, and 2008 victories went to
Chip Ganassi Racing
Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, International Motor Sports Association, IMSA WeatherTech ...
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
powered Rileys. The 2009 race was won by a Brumos Racing
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
powered Riley. In the 2010 race, another Porsche-powered Mark XI from Action Express Racing won. The 2011 race was again won by Chip Ganassi Racing, this time with a
BMW engine.
When the
United SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...
was created in 2014, Riley continued as Daytona Prototype supplier, with Gen3 rules adopted to make the cars competitive versus the former ALMS LMP2 cars. The company supplied the Ganassi, GAINSCO/Bob Stallings, Shank and Starworks teams. Ganassi became the only full-time team in 2015, and no full-time entry used Riley chassis in 2016.
In 2017, Riley became one of the four LMP2 and DPi chassis manufacturers with the
Riley-Multimatic MkXXX
The Riley-Multimatic MkXXX, also known as the Riley-Multimatic Mk.30, or simply the Riley Mk.30, is a Le Mans Prototype 2 built to the 2017 FIA/ ACO regulations. This car can be raced globally in the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, ...
. The car was developed in partnership with
Multimatic
Multimatic Inc. is a privately held Canadian corporation that supplies components, systems and engineering services to the global automotive industry. Headquartered in Markham, Ontario, Multimatic has manufacturing divisions and engineering facili ...
. Multimatic would take charge over the carbon fiber tub, vehicular bodywork and aerodynamic aspects of the car, whilst Riley would design and manufacture the majority of the mechanical components on the Mk30, including the suspension and assembly of the car.
On 15 June 2017, Multimatic revealed that it had taken the lead role in the Riley-Multimatic LMP2 programme, a departure from the initial shared lead, that had Riley leading the commercial aspects of the LMP2 programme, and Multimatic focusing on the DPi aspect of the programme.
GTLM and GT3
![Gt3 amg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Gt3_amg.jpg)
Riley developed the
Mazda RX-8
The Mazda RX-8 is a sports car manufactured by Japanese automobile manufacturer Mazda between 2002 and 2012. It was first shown in 2001 at the North American International Auto Show. It is the successor to the RX-7 and, like its predecessors in ...
chassis for SpeedSource, that won the GT class in the 2008 race. Also unveiled in 2008 was the
BMW M6
The BMW M6 is a high-performance version of the 6 Series marketed under the BMW M sub-brand from 1983 to 2018 (with a break from 1990 to 2004).
Introduced in the coupe body style, the M6 was also built in convertible and fastback sedan ('Gran C ...
GT race car, and the GT2-class
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctive ...
Riley built and raced in the 2008
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
.
The car also raced at the 2009 Petit Le Mans, where it beat both
Corvette Racing
Corvette Racing is an American auto racing team established in 1999 by General Motors and Pratt & Miller for the purposes of competing in sports car racing internationally. Corvette Racing is an official racing program for General Motors and t ...
factory cars in qualifying.
In 2012, the
SRT Viper
The Dodge Viper is a sports car that was manufactured by Dodge (by SRT for 2013 and 2014), a division of American car manufacturer FCA US LLC from 1992 until 2017, having taken a brief hiatus in 2007 and from 2010 to 2012. Production of the tw ...
debuted at the
American Le Mans Series
The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The American Le Mans' hea ...
GT class, with drivers Dominik Farnbacher, Marc Goossens, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tommy Kendall, Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer. In the 2013 ALMS, the team finished 3rd in the GT class championship. The car made its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2013, where it finished eighth in class and 24th overall. In 2014, the team entered the
IMSA SportsCar Championship
The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (IMS ...
GTLM class, winning the teams championship and driver's championship by Kuno Wittmer. Following the end of the 2014 season, Chrysler discontinued the factory program by SRT Motorsports.
The Viper GT3-R was also jointly developed by SRT Motorsports and Riley Technologies. It competed in the IMSA GTD class, the
Pirelli World Challenge
The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club s ...
GT class, and
Dutch Supercar Challenge
The Supercar Challenge is a motor racing series centered on the Benelux. A special feature is that touring cars, GTs and Sportscars can all participate on an equal basis within the same class, enabled by very open regulations. The championship was ...
Super GT class.
In 2017, Riley competed in the IMSA GTD class with two customer
Mercedes-AMG GT
The Mercedes-AMG GT (C190 / R190) is a grand tourer produced in coupé and roadster bodystyles by German automobile manufacturer Mercedes-AMG. The car was introduced on and was officially unveiled to the public in October 2014 at the Paris Mo ...
GT3s. The #33 of
Ben Keating
Ben Keating (born August 18, 1971) is an American amateur racing driver and business owner operating out of Victoria, Texas. Keating is the owner of 28 car auto dealerships across Texas, The Keating Auto Group. Since starting auto racing in 200 ...
and
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Jeroen Bleekemolen (born 23 October 1981 in Heemstede) is a Dutch professional racing driver. In the Chrysler Viper GTS-R he drove in the FIA GT Championship, with great success. He competed in the very competitive German Formula Three Champion ...
was runner-up in the teams championship, whereas the #50 of
Cooper MacNeil
Cooper MacNeil (born September 7, 1992 in Hinsdale, Illinois) is an American born racecar driver. He currently competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship driving the No. 79 Weathertech Racing Porsche 911 RSR GTLM with co-drivers Matt Ca ...
and
Gunnar Jeannette
Gunnar Jeannette (born May 5, 1982 in West Palm Beach, Florida) is an American racing driver who competes in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for WeatherTech Racing. He won the 2011 American Le Mans Series season LMPC Drivers' Champ ...
was 9th. In
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, Keating and Bleekemolen drove a single Mercedes-AMG GT for Riley, placing third in points. In
2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
, the duo finished 7th in the overall championship, and won the Endurance Cup.
Riley had
Lawson Aschenbach
Lawson L. Aschenbach (born November 22, 1983) is an American professional racing driver. He is a four-time Pirelli World Challenge champion, and most recently, the 2014 Pirelli World Challenge GTS Champion. He is the 2006 SPEED World Challenge (l ...
and Gar Robinson as drivers of their single Mercedes-AMG GT for the
2020 IMSA WeatherTech Championship, resulting 7th in the GTD class overall standings.
Other racing
A derivative of the Riley Daytona Prototype chassis is also raced in the
GT300 class of
SuperGT
Super GT (stylized as SUPER GT) is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the , generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is ...
as the
Mooncraft Shiden
The Mooncraft Shiden (also known as 紫電, SHI-DEN or MC/RT-16) is a Japanese Super GT GT300 class prototype race car. The Shiden is a joint venture with a body designed by the Japanese automotive design company Mooncraft ( :ja: ムーンクム...
.
In April 2008 Riley Technologies announced plans to build a track day car to meet the growing demand for high-performance vehicles for use at private track facilities. The newest Riley will utilize a mid-engine crate motor with over and is designed to minimize operating costs normally associated with operating a race car.
Riley Technologies built the
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro share ...
GS.R that competed in the
Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge
The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cu ...
in the early 2010s.
In 2019, Riley entered the IMSA
Michelin Pilot Challenge
The Michelin Pilot Challenge is a grand touring and touring car racing series run by the International Motor Sports Association. Originating from the Canadian Motorola Cup, the series was taken over by Grand-Am in 2001 to become the Grand-Am Cu ...
with a
Mercedes-AMG GT4 with drivers Jim Cox and Dylan Murry, finishing 6th in points. The duo won the Daytona season opener with
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Jeroen Bleekemolen (born 23 October 1981 in Heemstede) is a Dutch professional racing driver. In the Chrysler Viper GTS-R he drove in the FIA GT Championship, with great success. He competed in the very competitive German Formula Three Champion ...
as third driver.
Cox and Murry will continue with Riley in 2021, but switching to the LMP3 class of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Riley Technologies website
2001 establishments in the United States
American racecar constructors
WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams
Auto racing teams established in 2001
24 Hours of Le Mans teams