Grand-Am 2011 Discussion - Page 22

JAG · 24 Jun 2011, 20:42 (Ref:2905472)

There's no shortage of DP's, there's also an update route, teams are staying away for other reasons.

GT3's attraction is the ability to race in so many series, a specific GA GT3.5 spec puts up an unnecessary hurdle.

Purist · 25 Jun 2011, 06:00 (Ref:2905578)

FCP, the ONLY brand loyalty I MIGHT have, is for Porsche. At the end of the day though, it's whether the specific cars racing really get my juices going. If the Dyson Lola/Mazdas and the Cytosport Lola-Aston were really going at it up front, I'd find that just as compelling/exciting as the GT battle. I don't care if I can't buy either prototype, and either way, I can't pass the eye exam to get a road-going driver's license anyway.

I simply canNOT identify the vast majority of the drivers purely by sight. If you gave me head-shots of drivers, I suppose I could pick out Boris Said, unless he's changed his hair, in which case, I'm screwed. I could perhaps narrow down which two shots were of David Brabham and Jan Magnussen, but hell if I could tell who was whom between them.

Name recognition is somewhat important to me; that's why it took me a while to get my bearings with the IRL back in 1996. However, for road-racing series particularly, two major things are going to get my attention: the circuits the series visits, and how appealing I find the cars in that series to be. In the end, coming to have a favorite, someone to root for, and something solid/physical to identify the series by, it's the cars, or bust!

FordCosworthPanoz · 25 Jun 2011, 16:31 (Ref:2905806)

Scary crash at Road America, 07 Camaro GTR went over the fencing in turn 1 and left the circuit, driver is okay.

**joeb** · 25 Jun 2011, 17:33 (Ref:2905859)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Scary crash at Road America, 07 Camaro GTR went over the fencing in turn 1 and left the circuit, driver is okay.

I happened to catch that. It was quite wild, gravel trap didn't slow the car down, and the 3 rows of tires acted like a ramp to just push the car over the catch fencing. I wasn't watching much, but I did see the driver the Mazda that got rear-ended (Foster) carried off on a stretcher.

Did they ever show what the Camero looked like?

Breitling24 · 25 Jun 2011, 17:38 (Ref:2905861)

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeb

Did they ever show what the Camero looked like?

Nope... out of camera range.

Simmi · 25 Jun 2011, 17:48 (Ref:2905871)

Trashed.

http://yfrog.com/gyi59beoj
http://yfrog.com/kjv3ylj

**joeb** · 25 Jun 2011, 18:03 (Ref:2905882)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simmi

Trashed.

http://yfrog.com/gyi59beoj
http://yfrog.com/kjv3ylj

Wow, that pic from the grass is crazy. Not where you expect to see a race car.....

FordCosworthPanoz · 25 Jun 2011, 18:15 (Ref:2905890)

Nevermind, Ive said something that has already been said regarding the series.

FordCosworthPanoz · 25 Jun 2011, 18:25 (Ref:2905895)

Also, congratulations to the 2011 Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype champions, Telmex Chip Ganassi Racing with drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas as well as the 2011 constructors champion Riley Technologies.

**joeb** · 25 Jun 2011, 18:32 (Ref:2905900)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Also, congratulations to the 2011 Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype champions, Telmex Chip Ganassi Racing with drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas as well as the 2011 constructors champion Riley Technologies.

Yah, but did you expect the Vette to win in GT?

dxk1 · 25 Jun 2011, 20:33 (Ref:2905977)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Also, congratulations to the 2011 Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype champions, Telmex Chip Ganassi Racing with drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas as well as the 2011 constructors champion Riley Technologies.

Was there ever any doubt that these guys would win it all after Daytona? They (the rules makers and performance balancers) have done everything to slow these guys down, but they just keep winning or at least scoring high point totals at just about every race.

DK

FordCosworthPanoz · 25 Jun 2011, 20:56 (Ref:2905988)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dxk1

Was there ever any doubt that these guys would win it all after Daytona? They (the rules makers and performance balancers) have done everything to slow these guys down, but they just keep winning or at least scoring high point totals at just about every race.

DK

Only team that has anything for these guys is Suntrust Racing, but their pit crew is slower than the Ganassi bunch and why the heck do they put their slower driver in to finish the race? I know Max has done a lot, but seriously, Ricky is able to consistently lay down the fastest laps while MA seems to soil his pants every time he hits a tiny bit of traffic. Also, why does Action Express put their fastest driver with that hack JC France?

Spirit of Daytona seems to have horrible luck/idiotic strategy and the rest of the competition is either a joke or a pro am team like Shank or Doran. Good news is I guess is the 23 Shank car is back with pro drivers Davidson and Matt Bell next weekend.

Im sure the Grand Am disciples (all three of them) will remind me that Scott Pruett is the greatest American road racer ever and Chip Ganassi is Jesus though. Good news is that 2011 is probably some of the best GT racing Ive ever seen in Grand Am, I remember a few of years ago 10 or more DPs had a chance of winning every race and GT was a snoozefest, now it appears to be opposite.

TWRv12 · 26 Jun 2011, 00:44 (Ref:2906061)

Schaldach shunt!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8qErq29Rdw

Jonerz · 26 Jun 2011, 01:42 (Ref:2906074)

Seems that they've found a nice balance on the GT rules. I wonder if not having Mazda back next year has anything to do with the balance? No more need to give them a reason to stick around if they aren't planning on sticking around anyways...

Chris

Speed-King · 26 Jun 2011, 01:54 (Ref:2906077)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonerz

Seems that they've found a nice balance on the GT rules. I wonder if not having Mazda back next year has anything to do with the balance? No more need to give them a reason to stick around if they aren't planning on sticking around anyways...

Chris

The RX-8 won't be back, but Speedsource is pretty much evaluating all options for a new Mazda programme. With GA growing more accepting towards turbo engines, I could see them putting a turbo-four into the current chassis and throwing a Miata+Hard-Top chassis on it....

dxk1 · 26 Jun 2011, 22:53 (Ref:2906591)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TWRv12

Schaldach shunt!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8qErq29Rdw

That looked like lift-off at the Kennedy Spaceflight Center on Cape Canaveral!!

DK

TWRv12 · 27 Jun 2011, 00:28 (Ref:2906614)

Some photos of the landing zone
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...-race-gallery/

Jonerz · 27 Jun 2011, 06:13 (Ref:2906650)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speed-King

The RX-8 won't be back, but Speedsource is pretty much evaluating all options for a new Mazda programme. With GA growing more accepting towards turbo engines, I could see them putting a turbo-four into the current chassis and throwing a Miata+Hard-Top chassis on it....

Interesting. So would that mean Mazda sticking around in a sponsorship/support capacity? While that would be cool, if they did stick around I wouldn't mind seeing them in DP, if GA is getting more tolerant of the idea of turbochargers, Mazda would be the first on my list of manufacturers likely to build and field a turbo motor in DP.

Chris

FordCosworthPanoz · 7 Jul 2011, 02:22 (Ref:2923126)

Official, Grand Am to Indianapolis in 2012 on the Brickyard 400 weekend. It will be run on Friday, not Saturday before the 400. Will anybody attend or care is a different story. I hope so, but even NASCAR and MotoGP attendance at Indy looks bad with so many seats.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2011...D_AM/110709939

Also, for those who are interested, Grand Am will return to Laguna Seca this weekend after a one year absence. Like the ALMS, the race will not be broadcasted live but the next day. The second Shank car will be back with Matt Bell and James Davison, two pro drivers, so the battle for 2nd position behind the 01 car should be better than usual at Laguna, and the battle for the lead should be good until Suntrust put Max A. in the car.

Dead-Eye · 7 Jul 2011, 09:36 (Ref:2923199)

I thought it was supposed to take weeks to switch the speedway from oval to road course. Did that change because the new road course layout is run in the same direction as the oval?

edit: It says 2.605 miles. That would be the F1 course - I'm confused.

**joeb** · 7 Jul 2011, 13:38 (Ref:2923302)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dead-Eye

I thought it was supposed to take weeks to switch the speedway from oval to road course. Did that change because the new road course layout is run in the same direction as the oval?

edit: It says 2.605 miles. That would be the F1 course - I'm confused.

I don't know how it will work exactly, but they say it will be the first time the oval and road courses are used in the same weekend. With the GA race being on Friday they can probably get things sorted before the "important" races for the weekend.

FordCosworthPanoz · 7 Jul 2011, 14:03 (Ref:2923309)

With Nationwide going to the Speedway on Saturday, which might actually draw a crowd, why go through the trouble of a road course/oval conversion for Grand Am? Remember when they moved the Paul Revere 250 to the day of the NASCAR race? Nobody attended, and two days before the Brickyard 400 is unlikely to draw that big of a crowd. Sorry, but I thought the Roval experiment had already failed for Grand Am and ALMS.

FordCosworthPanoz · 7 Jul 2011, 14:04 (Ref:2923310)

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeb

I don't know how it will work exactly, but they say it will be the first time the oval and road courses are used in the same weekend. With the GA race being on Friday they can probably get things sorted before the "important" races for the weekend.

By important you mean the ones that should have more than 12 people and a dog in attendance.

Also, off topic but a real shame Nationwide isnt returning to Lucas Oil Raceway Park/IRP/ORP. Indianapolis Motor Speedway has to be the worst stock car track in the world and its a shame another short track gets the axe from Daytona Beach.

**joeb** · 8 Jul 2011, 18:08 (Ref:2923793)

Interesting little piece on BMW's plans from Racecar Engineering. They say that BMW wants to run its new DTM car at the Daytona 24. I suppose in some type of a unclassified or experimental category, as it wouldn't fit into current GA regulations.

Jonerz · 8 Jul 2011, 18:21 (Ref:2923796)

I'm dreaming here, but it would be really cool if GA included a DTM category for the 24 Hour race to open up the DTM USA series every year.

Chris

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