Sports Car Racing Thread

[JHS18 0]

As for your Black Flacon/Black Swan question, as far as I can work out, I don't think there's any connection. The former is a German team, so I doubt if there's any relation between the two - just coincidence I guess.

[JHS18 0]

The gap between the leaders down to 3 seconds - hopefully the live feed picks this up when they (hopefully) return in a few moments time.

[JHS18 0]

Coverage now back - the YouTube stream isn't working for me, but the Audi one is working fine.

[JHS18 0]

Behind SC again - the rain is here again.

[JHS18 0]

Conditions look pretty terrible right now.

[JHS18 0]

Stippler, Piccini and Rast win the 2012 Spa 24 Hours for Audi.

Audi have now won three 24 hour races this year. Le Mans, Nurburgring and Spa. Incredible.

Amazing scenes as Jose Close pushes the Marc VDS Mustang over the line - this is what endurance racing is about:

http://i.imgur.com/chIPR.jpg

[Massa 0]

To be honest, pushing the car is easier than driving it (unless it was uphill) for most of the world.

Nah, that's cool, shows a lot of heart and how important it is to just finish the 24 hours. Still, put your Ferrari in neutral on a flat surface with no one around (hazard lights on anyway) and be amazed at how easy it is (easy relative to what you'd expect). It's a great way to spend an afternoon.

Wish I had been able to see more, but with the time zone differences, most of the times the feed was down were actually the perfect times to watch in the U.S. Still, it's a cool series from what I see. A lot of variety and a huge field, and I do love the free streaming on YouTube (which I know is safe), and racing in the rain is always fun to watch...got two wet races this weekend with the Rolex and the Spa one...I'll get back to you on whether or not F1 was wet because I have another 43 minutes until it starts here.

One thing I loved about the wet racing this weekend: in Grand-Am, with the softer suspensions, the GT cars were actually able to go faster than Daytona Prototypes (DPs also have visibility issues that GT cars don't have). Jörg Bergmeister was flying through standing water on the high line to pass DPs and his fellow GT competitors like they weren't moving, even on the preferred line that was obviously drying quicker. Now you know why he's a Porsche factory driver. It's a shame he got flat-out wrecked by Leh Keen (happens a lot in Grand-Am I guess ) because he had one hell of a drive when it was so terribly wet.

Cool stuff, these sports cars, and now there's ALMS next weekend from Mid-Ohio...

[Massa 0]

Professional sports car racing calendar for F1's summer break:

4 August

American Le Mans Series - Mid-Ohio - 17:45 GMT

11 August

Rolex Sports Car Series - Watkins Glen - 23:00 GMT

18 August

American Le Mans Series - Road America - 20:15 GMT

Rolex Sports Car Series - Montréal - 0:00 GMT

19 August

GT1 World Championship - Slovakia - 12:45 GMT

26 August

World Endurance Championship - Silverstone - 12:00 GMT

Bold means free, live streaming on the series' website. Streams may be restricted by region.

[JHS18 0]

Thanks for that Eric, good to know that not everything is having August off!

Meanwhile, the Spa 24 hours in under 10 minutes:

[Massa 0]

33 cars entered for ALMS at Mid-Ohio this Saturday.

The usual crew in LMP1.

Dempsey Racing returns to LMP2. Ricardo González will be in the 95 car to help with the drive-time rules (Tucker had to withdraw the 95 in the last two races because of them; he drives both cars).

LMPC is pretty stable. Entry list has Marino Franchitti and Rudy Junco in the 52 car which is a bit of a change. Ryan Dalziel returns with CORE Autosport in the 06 with Alex Popow, who won the Indianapolis Grand-Am race with Bourdais.

The big highlight? A pair of SRT Vipers in GT! Kuno Wittmer and Dominik Farnbacher in the 91, Marc Goossens and Tommy Kendall in the 93. Very excited. 13 cars in GT now, which is absolutely awesome.

GTC sees two extra entries, with the return of NGT Motorsport and the second Green Hornet car. Oddly enough, the Competition Motorsports drivers are in the second Green Hornet entry, while Black Swan's Jeroen Bleekemolen and Tim Pappas are in the JDX Racing car normally driven by Michael Valiante and Chris Cumming.

Speaking of Mr. Bleekemolen, he was testing a Corvette C6.R today. Two possibilities: Black Swan Racing fielding a Corvette in GT-Am next year, which would be cool, or Bleekemolen auditioning for the big team, which would also be cool. I'm not very impressed with their endurance driver Jordan Taylor, personally, so if Corvette could upgrade somehow that'd be cool. I know Bleekemolen has a lot of commitments (Rebellion, Black Swan, Black Falcon, occasionally with TRG in Grand-Am and GTC), but if a Corvette factory drive was on the table, you'd have to give that serious consideration. However, I think it's more likely that Black Swan are looking at GT-Am for 2013 and are evaluating the Corvette (similar to how they evaluated a factory OAK-Perscarolo P1 before choosing a Lola P2).

RE: Starworks...they're considering all options in WEC, Grand-Am, and ALMS, but are still committed to Grand-Am despite frustration. Peter Baron said he wants to see ALMS change their class structure before he'd race there, so don't expect it.

[Massa 0]

ALMS is tomorrow. That's 17:45 GMT streaming live on http://www.alms.com for international audiences. U.S. audiences will have to "vacation" or watch at 2:00 PM ET on ABC (the broadcast is live, so the first hour will NOT be televised).

Pickett Racing has the pole, seven tenths clear of Dyson's 16. The Dyson 20 is third.

The four P2 cars follow, led by the Level 5 055 and the Conquest 37. Dempsey 27 and Level 5 95 round out the class.

PC cars are next. The PR1/Mathiasen 52 is on pole, with Marino Franchitti and Rudy Junco, Jr. driving this weekend. The other six PCs follow, which brings us to the GT cars.

The Team RLL BMW #55 has GT class pole, just three hundredths ahead of Guy Cosmo's Ferrari F458 from Extreme Speed. Flying Lizard is third, with the other ESM Ferrari fourth. Two Corvettes, the other BMW, Paul Miller Racing's Porsche, and Falken's Porsche make up five through nine. The first Viper is tenth, that's the 93 with Goossens and Kendall. The Lotus takes eleventh, with the other Lizard twelfth. The second Viper? Didn't take a time in qualifying due to an engine change, but will race.

GTC cars round out the final five qualified vehicles, led by Green Hornet and Damien Faulkner over JDX and Jeroen Bleekemolen.

[Massa 0]

Big news huge news large news really massive news alert:

Starworks have withdrawn the #8 car from Grand-Am. Enzo Potolicchio is fed up with racing in Grand-Am after all the controversy this year. Potolicchio brings all the sponsorship to the team. That's it.

Also news:

Black Swan bought the Corvette and will race it in GT-Am next year. I'd expect them to be pretty competitive, since Black Swan won the GTC title last year with Bleekemolen/Faulkner/Pappas/other Bleekemolen driving throughout the year.

[Massa 0]

Because you wanted to know:

LMP1 pole speed: 1:11.019

LMP2 pole speed: 1:13.230

LMPC pole speed: 1:15.107

Daytona Prototype pole speed: 1:18.079

ALMS GT pole speed: 1:19.298

Grand-Am GT pole speed: 1:25.083

GTC pole speed: 1:25.130

Not trying to make any point, just think it's interesting to compare on one of the only tracks they share. Last year, the LMPC and DP were almost dead even, so the LMPCs have gotten a lot faster (DPs are supposed to be faster this year, too).

Full grid if they all qualified. I put it as a spoiler because of length.

LMP1 - 1:11.019

LMP1 - 1:11.715

LMP1 - 1:12.678

LMP2 - 1:13.230

LMP2 - 1:13.734

LMP2 - 1:14.346

LMP2 - 1:14.791

LMPC - 1:15.107

LMPC - 1:15.189

LMPC - 1:15.556

LMPC - 1:15.675

LMPC - 1:15.689

LMPC - 1:17.311

LMPC - 1:17.375

DPG3 - 1:18.079

DPG3 - 1:18.443

DPG3 - 1:18.499

DPG3 - 1:18.771

DPG3 - 1:18.911

DPG3 - 1:19.255

LMGT - 1:19.298

LMGT - 1:19.329

LMGT - 1:19.445

LMGT - 1:19.471

LMGT - 1:19.536

LMGT - 1:19.727

LMGT - 1:19.754

DPG3 - 1:19.837

LMGT - 1:20.209

LMGT - 1:21.222

LMGT - 1:22.158

LMGT - 1:22.424

LMGT - 1:24.096

GAGT - 1:25.083

LMTC - 1:25.130

LMTC - 1:25.424

GAGT - 1:25.429

LMTC - 1:25.620

GAGT - 1:25.706

GAGT - 1:25.730

LMTC - 1:25.815

GAGT - 1:25.821

LMTC - 1:25.994

GAGT - 1:26.044

GAGT - 1:26.233

GAGT - 1:26.342

GAGT - 1:26.595

GAGT - 1:27.051

GAGT - 1:27.520

GAGT - 1:28.097

GAGT - 1:29.200

GAGT - 1:29.323

GAGT - 1:30.756

Pretty interesting to me, at least.

[JHS18 0]

Also news:

Black Swan bought the Corvette and will race it in GT-Am next year. I'd expect them to be pretty competitive, since Black Swan won the GTC title last year with Bleekemolen/Faulkner/Pappas/other Bleekemolen driving throughout the year.

Sorry, I'm confused.

Do you mean GT-Am in ALMS or WEC? Didn't think ALMS had a GT-Am, or are they running that class next year?

[Massa 0]

Way to admit you don't read my posts.

(But then again, I don't read any of my posts either).

ALMS is adding GT-Am next year. They will phase GTC out (2013 is GTC's last year).

Helpful hint: GT-Am refers to the ALMS class. GTE-Am refers to WEC. Same with GT versus GTE with the pro classes.

ELMS GTE-Am will be at Petit, so it's possible a team like Black Swan could enter as an ELMS entry to run the race.

With their current driver lineups, the ESM 02, Flying Lizard 44, and Paul Miller 48 would be joining BSR in GT-Am. However, Extreme Speed have said they may keep both cars in GT next year rather than split over GT and GT-Am.

2013 will be awkward with six classes, but I can accept it because GT-Am will be a much better category than the spec GTC, obviously. Both require amateur drivers, so I'd rather see amateur drivers in different cars than all of them in Grand-Am Porsches.

[Massa 0]

The Viper is the best-looking car in auto racing right now. **** that thing is vicious. Absolutely mean. Love it.

Didn't even realize Dane Cameron was in the Dempsey car this weekend! I've been advocating for that for...forever. Awesome.

[JHS18 0]

Way to admit you don't read my posts.

(But then again, I don't read any of my posts either).

ALMS is adding GT-Am next year. They will phase GTC out (2013 is GTC's last year).

Helpful hint: GT-Am refers to the ALMS class. GTE-Am refers to WEC. Same with GT versus GTE with the pro classes.

ELMS GTE-Am will be at Petit, so it's possible a team like Black Swan could enter as an ELMS entry to run the race.

With their current driver lineups, the ESM 02, Flying Lizard 44, and Paul Miller 48 would be joining BSR in GT-Am. However, Extreme Speed have said they may keep both cars in GT next year rather than split over GT and GT-Am.

2013 will be awkward with six classes, but I can accept it because GT-Am will be a much better category than the spec GTC, obviously. Both require amateur drivers, so I'd rather see amateur drivers in different cars than all of them in Grand-Am Porsches.

In my defence, I have had computer problems.

But thanks for clearing that up anyway.

[Massa 0]

RE: Petit Le Mans/ELMS...

5 LMP2 teams and 2 GTE-Am teams will be going to Petit. Greaves are one of the LMP2 teams. AF Corse and IMSA Performance are the GTE-Am entrants. Black Swan will enter as a GTE-Am team for ELMS points since they weren't running the ALMS GT this year anyway. Oreca want to campaign a factory team to demonstrate the Oreca 03 for American customers, but may just use an ELMS team.

RE: Starworks...

The team did not pull out of Grand-Am, just the driver, Enzo Potolicchio. Who happens to be the 8 car's funding. But Starworks have entered the #2 and #7 cars for the Watkins Glen race (why not just enter the 8...no idea...). The 2 retains Alex Popow, and the 7 will have Ryan Dalziel. Neither has a co-driver confirmed yet. The 2 car will likely go for a hired gun (having had Luhr and Bourdais in the car, and Tagliani coming up in Montréal). The 7 car will need someone with money.

Baron is still convinced Ganassi deliberately hired Juan Pablo Montoya to take the 8 car out. Ganassi's lead driver in the other car, of course, is Scott Pruett. Want some history? Here you go.

In the 1987 Purolator 300k at Portland, an IMSA GTO/GTU (O for over 3.0L, U for under 3.0L) race, the rivalry between Toyota (Celicas fielded by Dan Gurney's All-American Racers) and Ford (Mustangs fielded by Jack Roush) was very intense. Scott Pruett was not a full-time driver, but had won the 1986 GTO title with Roush, so Roush put him in an extra Mustang for one purpose: pressure Willy T. Ribbs (the leading Toyota driver, and former Roush driver) so that Ribbs would wear down his equipment and lose the race. Roush even admitted in his interview on the ESPN broadcast that he didn't care if Pruett didn't finish the whole race distance, as long as the Celica broke down. It's a similarly "cheap" tactic as bringing in Montoya to cause problems for the 8 car...

...and another connection: Pruett's teammate that day was Bruce Jenner, who is as much of an embarrassment to his former successes today as Juan Pablo Montoya is to his own.

(That Purolator 300k is uploaded in full on YouTube. Check it out. GTO/GTU was pretty fun and there was some good trash talking, too).

On Lotus...

The T128 LMP2 exists. It has similar aero to the Audi R18. This is one of the two options (the other being Bailey LemansZA) for Dempsey Racing's LMP2 next year, should Lola not be an option. Dempsey et all will obviously be running Le Mans with Mazda's Skyactiv-D engine, and will either run WEC or ALMS, depending on funding.

Also, Vitantonio Liuzzi joins the Kodewa/Lotus team for Silverstone in the 32 car.

On Pescarolo...

Done. Withdrawn from the WEC. LMP1 count takes another hit as the OAK Racing #15 has also departed, with Kraihamer and Baguette moving to one of OAK's Morgan LMP2s (the 25, I think). However, OAK plan on returning later in the year to LMP1 with "HPD power." I don't know if that means the OAK Pescarolo 01 with a Honda engine instead of a Judd, or an actual HPD ARX-03a. I am assuming the former, since OAK Racing fielding cars that aren't built by OAK would be a bit counter-productive, as I figured the whole point was to demonstrate OAK/Morgan chassis to entice customers (see Oreca's plan for Petit in this very post).

On Watkins Glen...

If you can stomach the officiating, Grand-Am's on the short course this Friday, American evening so European night-time. Probably streaming at the places where things stream.

[Massa 0]

Well ****, no wonder no one reads these...so long-winded.

[Massa 0]

Watkins Glen this weekend:

Ryan Dalziel will have Lucas Luhr as his co-driver with Starworks. Watch out. That's an awesome pairing.

Alex Popow, in the other Starworks car, will be joined once again by Sébastien Bourdais. It's worth watching just to see him, in my opinion. Outside of F1, Bourdais is one of those drivers who is just incredible to watch in any car. He's in a league of his own in Grand-Am, and a few other series he's run.

Bourdais' old rival Paul Tracy will be in a new ride, joining Action Express to be in a Corvette DP.

[The Shadow 0]

Luhr & Bourdais? Its Starworks' race to lose..

[Massa 0]

Yeah, I'd agree. The Corvette DPs will have a big advantage with downforce, though, so it could be interesting (I guess it's tomorrow...I thought it was today...what do I know)...I do wish other manufacturers would design bodywork, or even the chassis suppliers (it's weird to me that Riley, Dallara, and Coyote all have a chassis but you'd never know which is which from looking at them).

The 7 ELMS teams running Petit Le Mans:

LMP2

Greaves Motorsport

Status GP

Murphy Prototypes

OAK Racing

Thiriet by TDS Racing

GTE-Am

AF Corse

IMSA Performance Matmut

The GTE-Am class will have a third entry with Black Swan's Corvette to prepare for ALMS GT-Am in 2013.

The interesting thing with GT-Am? Very few of the current ALMS GT teams are eligible to run as most have two gold drivers. So only GTC teams willing to invest in new equipment, or entirely new teams, are going to be in it. The only current GT teams that would be in GT-Am if the lineups stayed the same: Flying Lizard's 44 and Extreme Speed's 02 (and ESM said they might hire another pro to stay in normal GT). Turns out Bryce Miller is ranked as a gold (pro) driver.

And, as excited as I am about 2014's new LMP1s, I'll have to try not to forget about GT/GTE...Corvette Racing confirmed today that the 2014 season will mark the debut of the new Corvette C7.R in GT. Given the success of the C5.R and C6.R, I'd expect it to be something interesting. I hope to see the SRT Viper GTS-R at full song and in Le Mans by then, too.

[JHS18 0]

Read something interesting in Autosport recently. You think 24 hour races are tough?

There are plans in place for a 48 hour race at Navarra circuit in Spain for next year. The grid is open to all sorts of cars - kinda like a VLN race with top line GT cars, and also more production based classes eligible. They're trying to get a grid of around 80 cars for the race, and the rules dictate that each car is allowed one in race engine change if needed.

An interesting project for sure - I'm not sure it'll catch on, and it is strange that it is happening in Spain when the Spanish economy...well, no European economy is great right now, but Spain's is far from one of the best.

[JHS18 0]

Also, there's some cool stuff on YouTube in terms of sports cars - funnily enough, most of them ALMS related. I love the way fans can get so close to the cars in the ALMS paddock - something you don't see in lots of championships. Particularly like watching paddock videos - they give you a small taste of the atmosphere of a race. The paddock is always a great, if chaotic, place to be during a weekend.

Plus my favourite car - I love the 458 Italia...

[Massa 0]

An interesting project for sure - I'm not sure it'll catch on, and it is strange that it is happening in Spain when the Spanish economy...well, no European economy is great right now, but Spain's is far from one of the best.

Without going political, it's very common for nations with troubled economies to increase spending as a means of generating jobs, tourism, prestige, and political capital (i.e. and in simplified form: government spending is a component of GDP, so if you raise it significantly, you might have a GDP increase in that quarter, and if you do, that means you're not in a recession, so you can then campaign for re-election on ending the recession), among other things. The efficacy of that, or the particular alternatives governments choose to spend on, are obviously open to debate elsewhere.

I think, from a racing perspective and a racing perspective only, it's an interesting idea. I'd probably prefer if they weren't allowed the engine change.

Also, there's some cool stuff on YouTube in terms of sports cars - funnily enough, most of them ALMS related. I love the way fans can get so close to the cars in the ALMS paddock - something you don't see in lots of championships. Particularly like watching paddock videos - they give you a small taste of the atmosphere of a race. The paddock is always a great, if chaotic, place to be during a weekend.

Not just the fans...check out the crew guys driving a few of the cars onto the grid instead of the drivers. Very cool reward for the under-appreciated. Rocketsports and PR1/Mathiasen's PCs had crew guys driving them; pretty sure the Flying Lizard GT did, too, since Patrick Long was walking toward the grid with his helmet.