bgiere

I think if you actually talk to a few of the Porsche drivers themselves they may tell you that Grand-Am is out to get Porsche. They'd never say it in public, but it has been said...many times. The last thing Grand-Am wants is a "Porsche Cup" race so they try to "equalize" the cars...In doing so they actually hurt Mazda and GM in my opinion...Those manufacturers have absolutely no incentive to build a better real race car because they can buy a car built for them by Riley or Pratt and stick their badge on it. They are in it just for the marketing...so they can run an ad saying they won the Rolex 24...kinda smells a little like NASCAR doesn't it? Why can't Mazda and GM just man-up and build their own real race cars in house? I'd be the first to congratulate them.

Flying Finn

Come on Bryan, no matter how much you try to convince some fast lap times are what matters the most , it's still bull****.

How high was the highest Porsche team in GT standing in 2010? 9th? 10th? ??
I don't remember but just guessing it was around there with bunch of Mazdas driven my TV actors & old farts ahead of them.

And trust me, I'm not some "Porsche groupie" either, for example, when Melo put Porsche in the wall in Sebring with the best finish I've ever witnessed, I was cheering wildly and thought it was a fair & great battle.
Same way I was cheering when it was Corvette's turn in Lacuna Sega. I don't like Porsche supercup much either because it's just Porsche with different color schemes racing each others but there's no way you can convince me that Grand-Am doesn't favor all those bull**** "GT" cars over Porsches (= Real GT cars).

Bryan Watts

TRG only ran 8 races last season, and they won 3 and ended up 2nd in the 24 hour.

Qualifying means very little in endurance races, so teams are often still using that session to test, etc. You can't read much into qualifying times IMO other than who managed to throw together a killer qualifying setup without any previous testing (since the teams spend practice working on race setups) and was able to find an open flyer lap in a lot of traffic.

Bryan Watts

A driver saying that the rules are against them...I'm sure that only happens with Porsche drivers. I'm sure when the Mazda teams were doing well in the early point of the season, the Vette, Camaro, BMW, etc drivers weren't complaining about rules being unfair. And then when TRG won 3 races, I'm sure none of the other teams thought the rules favored Porsche. And when a BMW, Vette and Camaro won a race each, I'm sure the Mazda teams didn't think Grand-Am had gone too far equalizing the field.

Of course Grand-Am equalizes the cars. That is what has made the series so popular with teams, drivers, manufacturers. It's a level playing field where everyone feels like they can win and being outspent is less of an issue.

The other teams don't build chassis cars because they see more value in the Prep2 cars. The teams love the cars. The last thing Grand-Am needs is a manufacturer to come in a build a class killer. Look no further than World Challenge, ALMS, etc to see the results of that. Grand-Am caters to teams and drivers rather than manufacturers. The teams/drivers I've spoken with have all been frustrated at times when their cars were penalized, but they've also had great things to say about the Grand-Am philosophy. If you don't like the philosophy, you'll never like Grand-Am...every team feels like Grand-Am is out to get them or their car at some point in the season.

If the philosophy isn't your thing, that's fine. But it doesn't mean that Grand-Am is out to get Porsche.

Words in my mouth? All I said is that laptimes indicate potential. Hell, TRG ran the fastest lap of the 2010 24 Hour and finished 2nd and there was complaining here that Grand-Am was out to get Porsche before the trophy ceremony was over. It's hard to not poke fun at that.

None of the big teams ran the full season. As mentioned earlier, TRG only ran 8 of 12 races, but they won 3 and finished 2nd in the "big one". That's not exactly a bad result in a series known for parity and close racing.

Then I guess I would ask for evidence that Grand-Am does favor the other cars. TRG winning 36% of the races they entered last season just doesn't scream "unfair" to me. There were tons more RX-8's in the field week in and week out, while there were some races where only 1 or 2 Porsches even showed, and none were run by TRG or AJR. It's tough to win a manufacturers battle with only a few cars and when your best teams don't show.

Number of 2010 wins:
RX-8: 6 (won by 2 different teams)
Porsche: 3 (TRG)
BMW: 1
Camaro: 1
Corvette: 1

This is really less of a Porsche argument and more of an argument over the Grand-Am rules philosophy. The same discussion happens on other forums, but here there seems to be a feeling that Grand-Am is out to personally get Porsche and never let them be competitive.

Cory M

If I recall 2 of those 3 races were won on smart/lucky pit strategy that allowed TRG to gain back laps under the yellow flag, not outright speed. TRG also only ran at tracks that the 911 had been historically competitive at, neglecting the tracks where they were at a big disadvantage, so your stats don't really tell the whole story. It was pretty obvious that the RX8's were a shoe-in for the championship from the begining of the season. I would prefer everyone build to prep1 rules instead of going the tube frame route, but I don't care too much as long as the racing is good. I hope it's not another "Mazda" and Ganasi parade again this season, it got pretty boring at times last year.

kingleh

Its nothing new that Porsche is fast at Daytona.....

It may be a different story when we get to Barber....


GA has already changed the rules due to the Roar test results.... Mazda less weight and more RPM... Camaro larger restrictor... These cars would have been competitive already for Barber and all the tracks for the rest of the season... Now they will be even better.......

Barber, Lime Rock, New Jersey..... Tracks the Porsche will struggle... I bet we wont see a rule change right before the race because the Porsche isn't "competitive"..... But Mazda and Pratt get it before the 24h. then will get to keep it for the season.....

wanna911

Any of this registering Watts?

Flying Finn

+1

bobt993

Good luck Leh!

bgiere

Got get 'em Leh!! 59 to win!

Polar Peter

Last weeks testing says it all.....

- No rule changes for the Mazda yet 2 mph slower compared to Brumos 250 in the summer.... even with a temperature delta of say 30 degrees slower in the winter???? I guess the new tires and smooth track cause more drag??

It's the sand bags dragging and I cannot believe GA gave them 2 breaks for the 24...

- Porsches were up about 5mph with the 3.8 and lower ride height... makes sense given this and colder air

I suggested overlaying data from the Brumos 250 and roar test days... that would flush out the BS real fast

smlporsche

HERE'S THE PRESS RELEASE FROM GRAND AM ON THE RULE CHANGES...
--------

At GRAND-AM, we are committed to keeping the competitive playing field “level” so we can continue providing our fans with the best sports car racing possible. In line with that steadfast commitment, this week GRAND-AM made some rule changes for both the DP and GT classes, as we head to the Rolex 24 At Daytona. These changes resulted from intensive data collection during the recent “Roar Before The 24” test sessions at Daytona International Speedway.
As you might imagine, these changes made some people happy, while others were less than pleased. All of that goes with the territory. Here’s what we did:
Adjusted RPM limits for the Daytona Prototype class. BMW-powered cars’ limit was reduced from 7,000 to 6,900. Also in DP, for the Rolex 24 At Daytona, we are going back to the small wing endplate used last season, to ensure stability over the course of the 24-hour race. In GT, Mazda RX-8s got an RPM limit boost from 8,600 to 8,880, and lost some weight (35 pounds).------

I guess those RX-8's weren't fast enough last year....

bobt993

Wow!! Almost 300 rpms at the top. That is a pretty big competitive addition.

NJcroc

I would ask them to lower the revs of the mazda just for the fans ears. I hate that noise they make, not the sweet sound of a great motor just a loud painful sound

944CS

I wonder why the Porsche teams didn't sang bag - I'm sure they knew this would happen if they were much faster

I guess that' part of their philosophy....they always like to win with less