Flying Finn

+1 I love Porsches but I'll root for Ferrari since they are showing they have what it takes, work and race hard.
And of course having a Finn driving it (whether it's F1 or F430) helps.

Rizi Competione with Mika Salo or Lizard with Van Overbeck are my favourites for 24.

But having no Porsche prototypes sucks big time. And I mean big time.

Doing ALMS only means ****, especially when you outright got embarassed by Rookie Acura team in 12 of Sebring, Le Mans is what really really matters & Sebring after that but winning ALMS season is way back after those two.

paradisenb

[QUOTE=Flying Finn
But having no Porsche prototypes sucks big time. And I mean big time.
QUOTE]

But do we know why they are not entered?

Bob C.

[QUOTE=paradisenb]Neither team that currently campaigns them submitted an application for entry. Neither team has a history (recent) of wanting to compete there.

Flying Finn

[QUOTE=Bob C.]Conclusion: Neither team has *****.

Somehow ACO & ALMS needs to get together (I know, ACO pretty much doeas what it wants). Le Mans has a lot of good competition in all classes but in ALMS P1 & GT1 are a joke but not having those classes at all in ALMS wouldn't be good (for Le Mans) either.

Still, maybe deleting P1 & GT1 (Corvette in GT2) classes and only have two classes, Protptypes & GTs would be better for ALMS. As of now, those two classes reall are a joke.

Bob C.

[QUOTE=Flying Finn]It's not possible to have ***** and, concurrently, not want to compete at Le Mans?

Did Dyson Racing have ***** when they (essentially) single-handedly took on Audi in ALMS LMP1? No, I guess not, because they didn't submit an entry to the 24 Hours...

Flying Finn

[QUOTE=Bob C.]You seem to have a really good sense of humor...

Sure they have *****, big ones but i.e. Henry Pescaloro has even bigger (and I guess that's what you need for Le mans). He has been (essentially) single-handedly taken on the Audis at Le Mans.

IMO if you are a serious Endurance Series competitor, you shoul race in Le Mans. Look at the work & effort of what i.e. TRG, Lizards, Job & Lightning did in order to compete where it really matters.
OK, it's GT2 and therefore cheaper but still, they really made an effrort and spent a lot of money in order to race at 24.
Also, look at the entry list of Le Mans, not too many real factory teams & lot of "privateers"

That said, Porsche should offer support to those who race at 24 with Spyders, not to mention they should be doing it themselves!

srf506

The LMP-2 Spyders are at a distinct disadvantage to the rules so they won't play, unless one of the privateers like Dyson would go. but, it won't be this year. In addition, the new cockpit temperature limits puts the 911s at a disadvantage. Porsche has built two I believe with special insulation so they won't have to have AC to meet the requirement. Guess that's all they were willing to build up. Don't know how the non-factory guys are going to meet the cooling requirement.

paradisenb

I was under the impression that all 997 RSRs had AC. Not so? The one I saw had it and the comments made made me think it was standard.

Bob C.

Henri Pescarolo is French! And, his team is based in... ...you guessed it... FRANCE! Of course he competes in the biggest race in FRANCE. So does Yves Courage for that matter. Shrug.

The second most important endurance race in the world is the 12 Hours of Sebring. Why doesn't Pescarolo compete there? I guess he doesn't have enough ***** to take on the American teams.

Job only went to France when someone else was footing the bill (e.g. P/WL and Orbit Racing / Leo Hindery). I suspect TRG wouldn't have gone in 2002 if not for significant $ promises from their primary sponsor (much of which the sponsor renegged on, forcing Buckler to sell the Unichip distribution rights in North America). Further, in 2004, Buckler rented his entry to three European drivers.

Do you have an idea of the resources it takes to run there competitively? In GT2, take a 1-car team budget for a full ALMS season and then add 35-45% to that to run a single car in a single race in France. It's a near-seven-figure commitment for one car for one race! Next, take a look at the sponsorships on the cars in question, and tell me which really benefit from being seen in France. Tell me how much it "really matters" to anyone other than the team owners of American-based teams. Having the "*****" to compete in France is not the most significant part of the equation. I applaud the American teams that choose to compete there, but never in a million years would I fault the ones who choose not to.

Bob C.

I'll amend part of this, because I was thinking GT2. DHL, being Euro-based, is obviously in a good position to capitalize on Le Mans participation. However, I'm unaware of how the DHL/Penske/Porsche deal is structured, so I don't even know if Le Mans is an option under that deal.

Flying Finn

I know he's French and Le Manks is not only the biggest endurance race in France, it's the biggest endurance race in the World.

He has ***** to take the very best of them at the world's biggest endurance race.

Yes, but the point is they all (Job, P/WL, Orbit & TRG) went there.

Yes I do, and I know it's a huge effort but I also, as I'm sure you too, know it's a huge race.
And that race is also televised here so it's not like the sponsorships would get nothing and when the Penske's regular sponsors are global names such as DHL, Mobil, Sacsh, Michelin, Hyatt, Adidas I really don't see how i.e. Pescarolo is in a huge advantage over Penske when it comes to sponsors. Even Dyson with Thetford, Michelin & Bosh have global sponsors although they as a team are much smaller and this is also their first year so it's expected from them that they are not in Le Mans. But Penske IMO could very well be there. And should, as should Porsche themselves (in Prototypes and GT), it's a shame Porsche does nothing in this regard.

The cost of doing Le Mans between a team from US or a team from Europe is not that much different (cost is big for European teams too since there are much more than just logistics that cost).

Look, I'm not trying to bash US endurance teams, I guess I'm just pissed to see soo little from Porsche in the worlds biggest, and really, THE endurance race.

Congo

That isn't Roger Penske's call as far as his team and Le Mans goes:

http://www.americanlemans.com/news/Article.aspx?ID=2716

1998 24 Hours of Daytona and Twelve Hours of Sebring winner says Porsche should be in P1

http://www.the-paddock.net/component...,791/Itemid,1/

P2 "reserved mainly for private teams"

http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans...C_1201_gb.html

cost of racing at Le Mans:

http://translate.google.com/translat...e.php?sid=2196

Pescarolo Sport has become a chassis constructor with the supply of a Pescarolo 01 to Rollcentre Racing and a tub for Lister Racing.

http://translate.google.com/translat...pescarolo.com/

http://www.rollcentre.co.uk/rollcentre/index.htm

http://translate.google.com/translat...e.php?sid=3226

http://www.listercars.co.uk/

http://translate.google.com/translat...e.php?sid=3156

The lone Radical SR9 that will be at Le Mans this year is the factory car.

1,000 km of Monza last weekend



More P1 teams are coming to ALMS and/or using updated cars.

http://www.the-paddock.net/content/view/241368/49/

http://www.autoconmotorsports.com/ne....php?NewsID=39

http://www.velocitymotorsports.com/gallery/v/Lola/

The Corvettes should be in GT2, imo. A Danish team is going it alone in LMS with their new Z06.

http://www.markland-racing.eu/

Nordschleife

There is a point of view that goes....

If the Spyder looked like it could stay in one piece for an entire 24 Hours at Le Mans, somebody would race one

Let us not forget the car is quite fragile. Most of the Le Mans regulars that I know live for that one weekend in June, if the Spyder gave them the hots, they would find a way of running it.

Hey, we should all get in touch with our inner Frenchman.

R+C

Flying Finn

Very true, 12 of Sebring was a huge disappointment, same friggin electrical problems than last year (they didn't remember those?). OK, Sebring as a track is very rougher than Le Mans but for example if you need to change your battery thousand, and alternator few hundred, times during 12 hrs, I can only imagine the problems at 24.

French are definately coming, pic from 1000 km of Monza.

srf506

I don't get why Porsce went to McClaren (sp) alternators versus their old standby Bosch. Cost the Porsche-powered Daytona Prototypes the race at this years 24 Hours of Daytona and hamstrung most of the Porsche teams (including Penske) at Sebring.