500

Well they got some work to do on the finer details. But I think the above is overstated. At least the car is fast... Always easier to make a fast car last than develop a fundamentally slow race car.

Hats off to Acura though. They did an excellent job all around. Really good debut and bodes well for exciting racing in the class.

DrJupeman

If you don't mind your racecar doubling as an airplane, the GT1 did win Le Mans <20 years ago...

As for "running a 12 hour test was a good idea", Porsche ran a long test with the Spyders this season (I'm actually thinking it was 24 hours, not sure if just 12). The problem, in my mind, is that it was at Weissach, not Sebring...

I also agree that the RS Spyders could go on to win the season, again, but not winning Sebring is a problem. None of the other races are as important.

Bull

Not winning Sebring is big even if they go on to win the series. A friend is currently on a quest buy three Porsches, one each that won its class at Daytona, Le Mans and Sebring.....doesn't seem to say much about looking for a car that won Homestead, etc......

Flying Finn

+1

It was on the borderline of being too much but IMO not quite there yet, just very hard racing.

Flying Finn

Totally agree, I was pissed about RS Spyders in 12 hours again, same thing as last year... And no matter how many short races they win this, they still totally dropped the ball here.
It sure ain't like it used to be when Porsche were the ones who were reliable.

Jerseybean

Is this the same guy who just purchased an a RSR from flying lizard.

Bull

Yes Sir! I believe he will debut that one at Pocono in July.

Jerseybean

Small world. He just purchased a set of motons from me.

bgiere

I agree that Sebring is a highly visible and important race....Porsche Motorsports has got to be smarting from the failures the past 2 years....Is it a case of trying to keep everything down the the last ounce (weight concerns) or are they truly not able to engineer a reliable electrical system? I would guess that they trimmed a good amount of "beef" from the system and it is causing the 50 cent pieces to fail.....

A.Wayne

leaving out the finer details DOC.

The GT1 won lemans after the factory Shafted Joest who won the previous 3 , by convincing him to let them put the new evo engine ,into his TWR/Jaguar / porsche powered car. Joest got back a car that was a lot slower than the one he sent to them .. This soured him enough to make the statement he would never deal with Porsche motorsports again , shortly after he was with Audi , the rest is history ..

Again the GT1 was a Joke against its mercedes counterpart , obsolete in everyway , Porsche went as far as to blame Stuck and Boutsen for it's lack of performance , prompting hans to jump ship,.. after they let go Boutsen ( as the scape goat),the end results? here is a company that has not built a top flight racecar in 20 yrs, So now all are suprised by the Spyder's poor performance , well i'm not it is more of the same , the company has lost it's direction and need to get down to business if it is to redeem itself.

After much tree climbing,, at silverstone to get a better view of the Footwork F1 porsche , i was able to witness all 6 powerful backmarker laps and the tears in albereto's eyes after Porsche delivered what has to be the most antiquated powerplant , ever to grace F1. not to mention the indy effort. This is obviously a company in trouble at the top of the racing world. i have waved the Porsche flag for 35 yrs at many a racing venues, this is no longer the same company and less not forget they where trounced by an upstart Honda team at it's first race . Audi motorsports under the creation of ferdinand Piech , looks more like the Porsche i once knew.

That's just the facts DOC

500

This is really interesting, as I never knew Reinhold Joest made this statement... Do you have any links to more info of this episode?

That 1998 car did finish second at Petit Le Mans though, I think...

The change over to racing Audis was inevitable though... Porsche was already pulling out of motorsport at that level.

A.Wayne

I Have the race taped with his comments , ,Joest was easily in contention for a 4th straight lemans Victory, before the car was modified by Porsche. They(porsche) will have to dig deep to get back to the top level of sportscar racing and i truely believe they will NEVER WIN AGAIN WHILE AUDI RACES ........ Historically most of porsche's success have come from other teams using their product not the factory.

500

Thanks!

I've always wondered about what sort of "Gentleman's Agreements" may exist with Audi and Porsche anyway. It is a complex situation now, with the Porsche stake in VAG now so significant.

Congo

The Christophorus had a recent issue which showed the 24 hour test in southern France at Paul Ricard.

There is at least one person at Porsche who doesn't like the P1 rules.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56999

http://www.projectlemans.de/content/view/2821/1/

hacker-pschorr

GT2 @ LeMans 2006 - Panoz
GT2 @ Sebring 2007 - Ferrari
LMP2 @ Sebring 2007 - Acura

We still have LeMans. Are any of the Porsche's running LMP2 this year at La Sarthe?