Fishey

The classes will break down very simple...

P1 (Current ALMS Prototypes cars)
P2 (Current Rolex Prototype cars) - This will replace the GTC catagory (thats a good thing)
GT1 (Current ALMS GT cars)
GT2 (Current Rolex GT cars and GTC cars)
X - Experimental (deltawing/etc..etc.)

The major problem with P1 cars is cost and that is why there is almost no teams running it. They are absurdly expensive in a time where there simply is not enough budget to support them. Rolex has money and the possibility of Nascar backing and infrastructure/Media that is a great thing! The GTC class will go away, Rolex is in charge of this merger and its will see no reason for 2 cost effective prototype classes. The current Rolex cars offer a ton of things that the GTC cars do not. (More chassis, engines, etc.. etc..) The other major benefit is that the entire bull**** that is Michelin tire deals will be gone. I am sorry but Michelin's tire contract situation has angered me for years. They do make the best tires but being able to select only certain teams to run them does a series a giant injustice. Also, I hope to never have to see the worlds fastest slowest pitstop from ALMS again.. GOD ITS RETARDED..

J richard

GA's preference for a spec series of silhouette cars sets bad precedence, not to mention the desire to see good ol v8, both in GT as well as DP (DP corvette anyone?) the formula is all about the marketing. Why I like ALMS and F1.

AMLS is taking a beating much of which is the economic times but the majority is no coverage. Coincidental that NASCAR controls Speed and ALMS couldn't get a deal with Speed? Yea right.

If it has no tie to the euro series ALMS will be in name only... A real shame...

What was wrong with having a number of series anyway? I liked the difference and the variety and twice as many events... This is a loser all round as far as I can see.

Fishey

spec series of silhouette cars what does that even mean?

Having worked for a constructor and a race team in the series I can tell you there is very little "Spec" about Grand-Am in the DP class. The main problem this year is smaller teams like the one I worked for simply could not afford to develop another DP chassis on there own in these economic times. That is why you see only 2 chassis types and I seriously hope that changes. Grand-am makes teams test aerodynamics every year to ensure no one gets an unfair advantage by having the largest budget and that is a great thing. They also watch the engines and regulate them in a similar fashion. You can run a flat 6 if you want and there is talk about allowing turbo 6's in the series. This is not to say you cannot develop on the car. You can develop but you need to get Grand-am approval before your changes can take place. If you do not have a strong sanctioning body you end up like ALMS with no one running in your top category because only a few teams can budget the money and out of those few teams only 1 or 2 is going to win and its boring to watch. Then you have to run a true spec series to make up 80% of your prototype field.. dumb. Having a single series makes the series far more marketable to sponsorship meaning that the non-factory backed teams can find funding. It also will bring top teams from both series back into competition with each other. What I understand the number of races on the schedule would significantly expand. The series would have more endurance races. 24hours daytona, 12 hours sebring, Petite Lemans (maybe renamed) and 6 hours at Glen/Indy and I like that idea.

J richard

=a stickered up shell on a one make chassis powered by a spec series engine pretending to be a manufacturers platform/engine....

You've already seen this move in GT, and it's started in DP. I'll put money on DP tightening up the ruleset to effectively get to a single maker chassis. The next step is to drop the mfgr engine and go spec and then you have a spec series.

How about a 3hour race of chevy Corvette DPs? How dull. Which brings up the next point, the end of endurance racing. By all accounts they are marketing losers, a three hour race is much easier to package for US consumption. Why do you think we're all huddled around laptops looking at jiggly low res skype for 12/24hr races. I think you will see less not more. Endurance racing is more about the manufacturer and the car. What's the point of having a 24 hour spec race? Meh...

I would love it if they let each series be true to it's roots and run simultaneously (like in Europe) but you already hear all the griping of speed differentials and it "ruining" the race. With more car counts GA separated the DP/GTs for many races previously, I think they prefer it that way...

I hope I'm wrong....

Fishey

You clearly are not involved in Grand-am. The only reason for 2 chassis types is cost right now and that is the cheap DP! nothing to do with Grand-am restricting chassis manufactures from building new types of prototypes.

You can still run the older style chassis but they are penalized in performance to promote running the new "look" because people complained about the look of the older cars. I agree with them the new cars look great but unfortunately not everyone can develop new chassis. The Pratt&Miller/GM combo was a program GM forced down the series throat not the series forcing it. You are free to run a number of engines. Lexus/BMW/Porsche V8 and Flat 6/Ford/Chevy/Infinity and that can change if someone wants to get a new motor approved but that is not going to happen because of money. The teams only run what is competitive or cost effective. So right now there are only 4 active engines. The Flat 6 is not run because lets face it they simply want to much money to run the engine even though when combined with the 6 speed its likely the dominate setup. The same goes for teams like Dallara from building a new car because they simply do not have enough teams to even possibly sell the chassis too. When you don't have teams running the series there is no way there going to make the investment. So a Merger will actually help multiple chassis manufactures to return as money will return. In 2011 we had a number of chassis you could run since the rules had been in place for awhile.

In 2011 there was Dallara, Doran/Dallara, Lola, Coyote, Riley all being run and also a number of chassis that no one was going to run because they were not competitive.

Even these two cars that look the same in 2011

and


However, these cars are extremely different chassis. One is a tube frame and the other an Aluminum Mono/Tube frame hybrid not to mention a number of other large differences.

wanna911

DP's are slower than PC too! Barely faster than GT class!!! At least based on times at Mid-Ohio this year (not knowing conditions).

PC is very popular right now, I doubt they do away with it.

GT should be ACO GT2 and GTC/GA-GT should be GT3 as mentioned. P1 is a joke right now and if this racing is supposed to represent the best in the country, it's just not going to be good representation to have the overall winner class have 1 or 2 cars in it every week and get coverage. As ALMS is finding out. You just cant make that exciting.

Fishey

PC cars will simply be allowed to run larger engines to be a P1 car as will the current P2 cars. or the P1 cars will get smaller engines and it will be P2 style cars and DP cars. The DP class isn't going to go away that much is for sure. The DP will get a 6 speed gearbox and more power to speed them up compared to GT cars.

Nordschleife

by Global do you mean the 48 contiguous United States of America?

R+C

mglobe

Those two cars pretty well sum up what I dislike so much about DP. Were it not for the Ford and Chevy stickers on them, they appear to me to be exactly the same car. I look at them and assume they are exactly the same cars but with different engines. The fact that they have totally different frames underneath makes it even worse for me. Oh, and not to mention the fact that they are fugly.

I much prefer the ALMS/LeMans type prototype cars. However, the reality is that GA will have to find a way to get prototype cars on the track with Ford and Chevy motors in them, and that will likely mean DP continues on.

bgiere

to quote another poster on the PlanetLemans forums..."The Pursuit of Being No Better Than the Rest, in the Car of Yesterday---This Is Grand Am Racing.

Brought to you by NASCAR: the people who discovered fuel injection—in 2012. "

J richard

Not sure what "involved" means. I've followed & attended Rolex and its predecessors since the 80's and watched the series develop over the decades. The same with ALMS. Don't get me wrong I love both. But I don't see the combining of the series as a good thing. As I said before much of this is due to poor economic times, when things were good both series had big fields and racing was great. They had common beginnings but they have evolved into different animals. Combining them now will move them more centric and will naturally homogenize the series.

If they do limit the P1 to an upgraded P2 car they would not be competitive in the European LeMans so why would any manufacturer, Audi, Porsche, Acura, Cadillac....bother to build an "american" P1 car? This is what I'm talking about, the dumbing down of ALMS to fit in GAs cost contained model. I don't see how they can get close to the same number of races with a combined series, less is less. My favorite races Petit, Long Beach, Sebring? I don't see this as a good thing.

wanna911

A bigger engine does not make a PC car a P1 car. Or vice versa.

J richard

+1 this is what I call a silhouette car. The other is the Pratt & Miller tube cars that were literally the same chassis rebodied as a different manufacturer...really? There is no place to do that in ALMS, the cars are homoligated. They used to have AGT a tube frame class which would be fine with me, but faking it just doesn't fly...

GuyIncognito

what makes you so sure?

the DPs are not recognized by ACO/FIA/WEC, slower than any other prototype, and more expensive to campaign than PC (and maybe the new cost-contained P2). I don't see a future for it.

GuyIncognito

NASCAR? I'm pretty sure they're a global player even if they only race in North America.

remember when Toyota begged NASCAR to be allowed into their sandbox, at the same time they were pulling the plug on their F1 team?