ajcjr

I would take both!

srf506

GA is okay for this year. Next year though watch NASTYCAR drop 'em like a hot potato if GM isn't able to keep subsidizing the series. A lot of teams are at only partial strength or gone completely this year as a lot of sponsors disappeared. My old team folded the tent and left the series when a major resturant chain didn't re-up its contract.

GM will have to decide on keeping Chevy in Sprint Cup (a no-brainer), rebadging all of the Pontiacs to Chevys in GA and keeping both series which they can't afford, or dropping factory involvement all together again. I think GM might keep a Corvette team for LeMans, but then again, maybe not.

ALMS might not be the best this year, but its been through downs before remember "Sportscar"? It's alway manged to come back even better on the next upswing.

We've had it good for the last 8 years or so. The factories are looking at budgets and shaving costs where they can. No series is immune. In the U.S. there's Sebring, Petite LeMans and Laguna Seca (can't remember what it's called today Mazda?) Those races will always be supported by the best they can bring. The rest of the ALMS series running on street circuits and small tracks like Lime Rock aren't a traditionally important race to high-end sports car manufacturers and are relatively easy to skip. They have venues in Europe that are much more relevant and traditional prestige races such as Spa, Nurburing, LeMans, Monza, and etc. So they'll stay closer to home and not kill the slimmed down budgets with travel and expense.

wpriller

Very good point, and Corvette will be running at LeMans this year in GT1. Flying Lizard will be taking one car to LeMans which is the factory supported car.

Spyderidol

...but the driver selection for Le Mans (for Flying Lizard) is not the best.

ajcjr

why didnt they take patrick long

Spyderidol

I don't know.
There is some speculation that the IMSA team RSR might have Pillet-Henzler-Long at the wheel.
If this turns out to be true, then that will be the car to watch.
I'll post as soon as I know more.

paradisenb

I like both series. ALMS is boring this year w/o Porsche and Audi. 2010 or 2011 will see a revival of the rivals. Throw down Peugeot.

GA is great for a spectator. Lots of bumping, punting and paint swapping makes it exciting. Looks a side, I like the racing of the DP cars. Good competition and unpredictable results.

GT needs some tweaking. Pontiacs and Mazdas clearly have rule advantages.
More TV of GT battles would be an improvement.

Potomac-Greg

I think we need to "invest" our time in watching and supporting and roadcourse racing. The geniuses that put the programming on the air don't know the difference, and if viewership goes down for one roadcourse series, you can assume that plugs will get pulled on all of them.

There was an interesting story on GA racing in Grassroots Motorsports, comparing the "tub" cars (basically GT3) and the tube cars. The tube cars could be any brand you want. Chevy brings motors and cash, and puts on Cobalt bodywork; or Honda brings motors and cash, puts on Accord bodywork. The question is, does it sell cars?

Those companies will step in if: (1) people are watching, and (2) people are more likely to buy the brand. But am I more likely to buy a Pontiac because there is a G6 shaped racecar (that shares NOTHING with the street car)?

Flying Finn

I watch ALMS (better cars & drivers) and I watch Rolex too although the stupid Pontiac, I mean Rolex series' "adjustments" and constant lobbying are starting to **** me off more and more. I waiting for them to start "adjusting" during races...

mark kibort

Why cant we watch the european series with the GT2 cars? I still watch ALMS, and fast forward through any footage of the P1 P2. They are ugly cars that are boring to watch. GT2 is exciting, when they have more than 2 cars running . GT1 is about as exciting as watching a time trial lap.

I have a new idea. Make ALMS a 2 hour race with mandatory 3 stops and 3 driver changes, one of which has to be a local to the track location, club racer that is voted in or earns the position.

MTosi

While I certainly agree all series need to get rid of "performance adjustments", your turning a blind eye to the fact ALMS and ACO are every bit as guilty as GA, the participants are just less vocal... Case in point, the new M3 GTR. They choked down the rules on it before it even ran, because they were afraid it was going to kill everything, including Porsche and Ferrari (IMO rightfully so). How is that fair? BMW may have built a better car by the same set of rules issued to the other teams, or maybe they built a better street car (not in this case, just saying that for the sake of argument). Back in the "good ol' days" some manufacturers would actually build a better street car to be more competitive racing, instead of whining about the rules.

Unrelated rant- What about the huge discrepency between turbo diesel and NA petrol motors? That is one of the biggest reasons the ALMS is doing so poorly now. They allow their rules to be dictated by the French (yes I know that's the premise of the series) who have no concern for racing in America. Americans don't buy diesel cars in any significant numbers, so it isn't feasible for manufacturers to spend millions racing them here... I have the same complaint with F1 and KERS. I don't get how people are annoyed about performance adjustments, but that doesn't bother them. While I understand it's an entirely different argument, it is still the officials/rules makers muddling around in the racing. How about instead of rules makers deciding what the next "best" technology is, they make a set of rules that are equal for everything and may the best car win.

In even further unrelated news which dealer can I get my front mid engine E90/2 M3 with the motor tucked under the dash?

Street-


vs.

Race-


I'm probably one of the most gung ho let's redo 66'-73' Can Am no rules type of people on here, so I'm not condoning the rules in GA and the ridiculousness of the tube frame "G8s", I just get sick of the holier than now mentality of the hardcore ALMS fanboys... and if I have to choose between a series that has 5-6 cars in its "top" three classes, which resembles more of a poorly subscribed super expensive DE than an actual race series, and a series that actually has some quality racing (however tainted by those ugly cars and terrible "rules adjustments" which apparently don't exist the ACO/ALMS), I know which one I'll choose.

Spyderidol

What?
The Porsche, Ferrari, and BMW are ACO compliant
Here is the IMSA Bulletin:http://www.imsaracing.net/2009/alms/...ms%2009-03.pdf
In fact, there is a later bulletin that gives the BMW a rule break: Here

Incidentally: a 4L car weighing 1245Kg should have a restrictor size (when using 2 restricors) of 28,6 mm. As you can see from the last bulletin, BMW was given a rule break to allow them to run with bigger (29,4mm) air restrictors (thus more air).

FTS

Where is that V8 in the race car for BMW; somewhere beneath all those ducts?

ew928

Why do I have the feeling that if there's a picture of the race 'M3' interior, that the driver is navigating from the back seat.

So is it still Front Engine RWD vehicle.
OK, Front-ish.

Spyderidol

BMW were given three specific "allowances" (dispensations from the GT2 rules).
They were:
1) The rear wing can be higher than those of other GT2 competitors.
2) The rear suspension mounts can be relocated from the stock version.
3) The V8 can moved rearward.