Imagine...

[tannat]

Okay, I'm not a hater, as the 24 hours is a good view, and the competition is really close. But for a moment I want to close my eyes and imagine...


-Audi, Courage, etc dicing it in LMP1 on the high banks...
- Porsche and Acura dueling it out in the infield inn LMP2
- Saleens, C6Rs, A-M, Ferrari, and Lamborghini fighting viciously for GT1 honours
-Panoz, Porsche, Ferrari, and Spyker staying out of evryone else's way, yet scarpping like little muts for a class win....

Despite close competition, great sponsorship, and world class drivers, what was once an icon of world endurance racing is now an excellent national championship round. Whether that's a good or bad thing is for you to decide..

With apologies to Lennon:

You may say I'm a dreamer
but I'm not the only one
I hope some day 'they' (ALMS/ACO) will join us (GrandAM)
and the world can live as one.

[Mark in Oshawa]

ummm That wont happen. Don Panoz and the Grand AM people have a frost relationship going back to when they sandbagged his "batmobiles" with a weight penalty and a tire rule that would handicap him from going for the overall when Grand Am first started. This frosty relationship is what eventually drove him to buy ALMS/IMSA....


It is a shame, for although the cars are funny looking and the racing is good, it isn't the real thing for those of us who have seen the big prototypes run. I figure the R10 would be about 5 to 8 seconds a lap faster within a lap of pulling the car off the trailer....

[harvick#1]

if the GrandAm teams come into the ALMS with P1 and P2 prototypes then thats fine, I wouldn't mine Chip Ganassi coming into ALMS to challenge Roger for a racing crown.

but the DP's should be tossed out of humanity as they are but Fugly

[Mark in Oshawa]

Harvick, they may be ugly, but the racing they are producing is close and THAT is what Grand Am was after. It is a spec racer mentality....and of course, us hard cores hate it, but the design of the rules gives them big flat bottoms, no real venturis and a big greenhouse...

[call_me_andrew]

That would be nice, but I'm content with the status quo.

[newf66]

As long as Nascar has a hand in the pot, all we're gonna see is rolling billboards. I got a chuckle when they compared the DP's with cup cars and Indy cars. DP top speed is less than a cup car. I would've thought they would be faster - they are prototypes, aren't they? Oh, wait that's ALMS. Silly me!

[mtrot]

As long as Nascar has a hand in the pot, all we're gonna see is rolling billboards. I got a chuckle when they compared the DP's with cup cars and Indy cars. DP top speed is less than a cup car. I would've thought they would be faster - they are prototypes, aren't they? Oh, wait that's ALMS. Silly me!

Umm...how much does a Cup car cost? Or a LMP1?

Can't compare the DPs to them.

[racefanfromnj]

well you must have miised the part where they saiud the cup car pits out around 700 hp and the dp only 500 hp

[newf66]

Yah, I get it. But, my point is - shouldn't they be faster? More HP?, Etc? They are supposed to be prototypes. Oh well, maybe it's just me.

[BoilerIMS]

Yah, I get it. But, my point is - shouldn't they be faster? More HP?, Etc? They are supposed to be prototypes. Oh well, maybe it's just me.

Faster, more HP in a sports prototype? Not necessarily. The objectives of sports car racing (rules set, sanctioning body, particular type, etc. notwithstanding) are fundamentally different from sprint racing like IRL, Champ Car, NASCAR, F1, virtually every other series. Sports cars are all about a balance of speed and reliability that endurance events require. Even the Corvette C6R is only 600bhp. And that's for a 7 liter chevy small block. The NASCAR chevy small block is 5.7l, but puts out 900+bhp. It wouldn't last 24 hours, though! The Audi R10 is rated at 650+bhp for a 5.5l DOHC V12. Should we be bothered because it doesn't make the 900ish bhp that a "tiny" 2.4l DOHC V8 makes in F1.

[luvracin]

Harvick, they may be ugly, but the racing they are producing is close and THAT is what Grand Am was after. It is a spec racer mentality....and of course, us hard cores hate it, but the design of the rules gives them big flat bottoms, no real venturis and a big greenhouse...

This is the thing that screws with my head. They're "Prototypes" but at the same time it's a "Spec racer series". .... aarrgghhh.

It just doesn't add up.

and yes, I know ALMS/LMES is far from "free" in it's technical regs but it's a hell of alot closer than any other racing.