IMSA TUSC 2015 Entries, Schedule, and Rumors

[carbsmith]

GT Convergence was never about having one class, it was about extending what Riley, Ferrari, and BMW did with commonality between their GTE and GT3 cars without some of the goofier hang ups that they ran into and a streamlined homologation process so it was much cheaper to race in both. GT3 would presumably replace GTE Am once they push the other classes speed up to go with the bump LMP1 got. Still conceivably could with what has been suggested about the new LMP2 and GTE.

It's probably not a coincidence IMSA is allowing GT3 cars the same year GTE's new rules are meant to be introduced.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by DeezPutz

What part has WEC salivating the most? Is it the lack of runoff at the kink, the lack of garages, the lack of decent amenities, the six year old stickers stuck to the uneven concrete barriers, the alligator curbing for NASCAR, or the fact that the same corners come apart every race including club racing? There's plenty of tracks in the same climate that don't have the surface issues year after year.

Road America has one focus right now. A 2016 Sprint cup race. If that happens, then we will see.

No need for runoff at the kink. Never has been. The only sanctioning body that has a problem with it is the FIM, and when they were negotiating with WSBK, and AMA, they added the loop. If the FIA truly had a problem with it, which they don't, they'd just run the loop off the kink.

Garages are being built in the 2015 offseason in preparation for the return of the pagoda..

Sprint Cup is coming in 2016. The contract has been signed.

The rest of it? No problems. Nobody cares about alligator curbing(which is the norm, and hasn't changed in years, just widened), uneven concrete barriers(what?), stickers(really, this is a complaint??)


The track didn't break apart much this year. Since the repave in 96 they've had issues with the pavement. It's only gotten worse as time has gone on due to the heavy volume of use. No other track in the same parallel sees as much work as Road America does in one season. The only option is to lay 3/5/6/8/12 in concrete. And that's not happening. It's been sealed, repaved, resealed, paved again, and so on...it just doesn't hold up all that well when it's being used 5+ days a week for 6+ months.

I don't know why you are so angry, or maybe jealous? Can't tell..

Not a single person said the WEC is "salivating" just watching and seeing if it makes sense to go there. And it actually depends more on the success of TUSCAR into 2017 than anything else.

If they succeed, expect a combined weekend. If they fail, the WEC won't touch TUSCAR unless it's dead. I'm hearing it's not the most tenable of relationships..

[chernaudi]

As far as the FIA Grade 1/1T/2 debate and Road America, look at Imola. It's not a very wide track, and areas of it have less run-off room than many NA tracks, but since 2011 it's had a Grade 1 rating by the FIA, meaning in theory there could be a F1 race there if the FIA and FOM agree to it.

I don't think that the FIA/ACO would have a major beef with RA's layout, when you consider that they race at Spa, which is the rough European equivalent to RA. And though areas of Spa have the Tilke-drome type asphalt run-off areas that offend several here, there's still enough of "old" Spa that, like with most NA tracks, when you go off, the driver will be OK, but the same can't be said for the machinery that said driver was using.

And the relationship between the ACO/FIA and IMSA/NASCAR not being that healthy over how TUSCC has been handled? Well, no crap! I'll bet that the ACO/FIA are ticked over several things:

No LMP1 cars allowed at least for the endurance races (though I can't see that happening, especially with factory teams due to scheduling and the WEC packing so many races between the end of August and some point in November due to the post-LM break. Only one's I can think of trying it are Audi and maybe Porsche, and that's probably only for Sebring).

LMP2 cars' BoP being different from the ACO's technical regs and being stymied by the rock-hard Continental/Hoosier tires that were built for the DPs which are much heavier.

GTLM tech regs being different from the ACO's, especially in terms of BoP.

Clashing ideals among race control (the "promotion" of Paul Walter and limits on the powers of the "Officiating Committee" upon the re-hiring of Beaux Barfield may help, as well as Barfield being more hands-on as a race director like the WEC's Eduardo Freitas, which has often been the polar opposite of Walter's position, but longer term ramifications of IMSA's race control shake up remain to be seen as being better, worse, or the same as before).

And there's a ton of other things, including probably Jim France and ISC/NASCAR (the main owners of IMSA though Grand Am/IMSA Holdings) not liking being told or asked what to do by "dem foreigners" and Don Panoz (the only other significant stake holder in IMSA, and even that's more or less so he can claim to have an ownership stake in the series--he, and even to a large degree Jim seem to be mainly figureheads as far as managing the series on a race-to-race basis, in spite of ownership obligations) tiring of having to appease the ACO.

So as far as the WEC at Road America? The track is being upgraded, but right now it seems that it's mostly NASCAR behind the upgrades, due to rumors of a Cup series race date within a couple of years from the '15 season, possibly replacing one of either SMI's or ISC's struggling dates or possible one of the races at relatively near by Chicagoland Speedway, which is a track that I believe has ISC as majority owner (IIRC, Chicagoland was built and funded jointly by ISC and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with ISC as controlling owner upon completion with IMS as minority shareholder).

If the Cup date at RA comes true in the near-ish future, I'd expect possibly the summer Chicago date to go to RA if NASCAR/ISC want to keep Chicago in the Chase for the Cup series of races, or RA might become the first road course race in the Chase. Depends on what NASCAR wants to do as far as the date, which probably depends a lot on weather.

However, the NASCAR requested changes do (ironically, given with what I've written about the FIA/ACO and IMSA/NASCAR/ISC relationship being tenuous and strained) go along with changes that the ACO/FIA may ask for for the track to get a WEC date.

As MoMedic wrote, a WEC date may come by 2017, maybe even 2016, if the FIA/ACO want it. If it replaces or complements the COTA date is uncertain, but it's likely that there will be 2 NA races in that scenario, as there's only 3 full-on Grade 1 tracks in NA (COTA, Montreal, and IMS GP circuit), and the ACO/FIA have taken a look at RA, and it seems that they may like what they see, though it's not a Grade 1 track and probably won't be a full Grade 1.

If the WEC comes to RA, it may be a double header weekend (possibly a Saturday double header like COTA this year) with TUSCC, if in the eyes of the ACO/FIA it's worth it, or it could be a standalone race, TUSCC or no TUSCC.

Personally, I don't think that the ACO/FIA give a damn about IMSA as much (if not more at this stage) than IMSA gives a damn about them, and I do think at the end of the day, considering NASCAR's indifference to IMSA (which is pretty much owned by them), and NASCAR's and the ACO/FIA's indifference to each other, I think that the ACO and FIA will get what they want, and it might not have to come hell or high water.

[jasonjessica09]

Dagys has a new 2015 TUSC prototype speculation article on sportscar365. What do you think? What the heck is Starworks up to? They seem to be all over the map with the rumors and speculation about them.

[David Land]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Dagys has a new 2015 TUSC prototype speculation article on sportscar365. What do you think? What the heck is Starworks up to? They seem to be all over the map with the rumors and speculation about them.

Vaporware. They wont be there at all or maybe just Daytona.

This is an absolute mess, like many of us predicted.

Glad I wont have much of an interest outside of Daytona and Sebring, like most other teams, sponsors and drivers. Hope IMSA likes what it has become.

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by David Land

Vaporware. They wont be there at all or maybe just Daytona.

This is an absolute mess, like many of us predicted.

Glad I wont have much of an interest outside of Daytona and Sebring, like most other teams, sponsors and drivers. Hope IMSA likes what it has become.

It would not be nearly as bad as folks make it out to be if SRT/Dodge stuck around. Thats the withdrawl that really stings the most.

[BullMan]

VIR for $90 is an awful deal with a grand total of about 15 GT cars currently in the series.

[Rcz]

I always thought is was quality over quantity with you guys hee hee. I wish there was a track by my town. Love to see Corvette team in person.


I heard that Dodge might sell there cars to some team that would race the Viper GTEs in ELMS, that good. I wish it could run in TUSC or the WEC instead, but I rather not see such great cars wasted in some museum somewhere. Maybe they comeback for Daytona and Sebring someday.

[Deleted]

Think that at this point we have more or the same amount of (more or less) confirmed LMP1 cars for June @ Le Mans - which are full factory efforts and not some garage projects - than we have for the January mishmash prototype mess at Daytona. And that's just P1, add P2 to that... not to mention difference in quality...

Daytona entry prospects
Ganassi DP
ACS DP
ACS/WE DP
SoD DP
WTR DP
Shanks DP
DW
"Mazda" P2
"Mazda" P2
ESM P2
ESM P2
Krohn P2

(Oak P2?)
(2nd Ganassi DP?)
(RG DP?)
(RSR P2?)
(8star???)
(Starworks???)
(Highway to Help???)

[ATLFalconsFAN]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Think that at this point we have more or the same amount of (more or less) confirmed LMP1 cars for June @ Le Mans - which are full factory efforts and not some garage projects - than we have for the January mishmash prototype mess at Daytona. And that's just P1, add P2 to that... not to mention difference in quality...

Daytona entry prospects
Ganassi DP
ACS DP
ACS/WE DP
SoD DP
WTR DP
Shanks DP
DW
"Mazda" P2
"Mazda" P2
ESM P2
ESM P2
Krohn P2

(Oak P2?)
(2nd Ganassi DP?)
(RG DP?)
(RSR P2?)
(8star???)
(Starworks???)
(Highway to Help???)

Which is why I'm willing to fly all the way to France rather than drive down to Sebring or Daytona.

[Christian Mogami]

At the moment it looks like 2017 will be as bad as 2015.

ACO and IMSA have different ideas for P2!

ACO....P2 is for privateers.

IMSA...they want manufacurer backing.(So composite tub with Mustang/Corvette/NSX shell)

So that mean IMSA teams will not be able to race at Le Mans and ACO/WEC teams will not be able to race at Daytona/Sebring.They would have to buy two separate cars and I don't think the P2 manucturers will be happy either that they will have to make two separate P2's.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by Christian Mogami

IMSA...they want manufacurer backing.(So composite tub with Mustang/Corvette/NSX shell)

But then, IMSA wanted to put more spec parts into an almost-spec class. Man, they're putting redundancy into 2017 LMP2 regulations. I believe that it's no different compared to NASCAR's Sprint Cup race cars where it only differs between manufacturer-specific body shells.

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

But then, IMSA wanted to put more spec parts into an almost-spec class. Man, they're putting redundancy into 2017 LMP2 regulations. I believe that it's no different compared to NASCAR's Sprint Cup race cars where it only differs between manufacturer-specific body shells.

Yeah from what I know based on what the differences between what IMSA wants versus the ACO. I'm on IMSA's side on this one.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

But then, IMSA wanted to put more spec parts into an almost-spec class. Man, they're putting redundancy into 2017 LMP2 regulations. I believe that it's no different compared to NASCAR's Sprint Cup race cars where it only differs between manufacturer-specific body shells.

TBH I'm amazed the NASCAR stock cars even have variable "bodywork" left, they might just as well go all spec by putting even more of those fake bodypanel images to their liveries, and the fans wouldn't probably even notice the difference - or care. And I think they're soon going after 100% spec engines too, ARCA has already done so and I think (?) the "Trucks" and smaller series are heading going that way if they're not there already

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by Chiana

TBH I'm amazed the NASCAR stock cars even have variable "bodywork" left, they might just as well go all spec by putting even more of those fake bodypanel images to their liveries, and the fans wouldn't probably even notice the difference - or care. And I think they're soon going after 100% spec engines too, ARCA has already done so and I think (?) the "Trucks" and smaller series are heading going that way if they're not there already

Exactly! I won't be surprised if the IMSA forced every manufacturer and chassis makers to build a V8-equipped prototype with body panels that serve no purpose but to attract buyers ala NASCAR.

Honestly, I'll rather watch the GT500 cars over some 4th Generation Daytona Prototypes despite having LMP2 levels of safety! Heck, Bandoh-san and his series can beat Scott Atherton and Jim France's DP boys any time!

[ptclaus98]

Originally Posted by Christian Mogami

At the moment it looks like 2017 will be as bad as 2015.

ACO and IMSA have different ideas for P2!

ACO....P2 is for privateers.

IMSA...they want manufacurer backing.(So composite tub with Mustang/Corvette/NSX shell)

So that mean IMSA teams will not be able to race at Le Mans and ACO/WEC teams will not be able to race at Daytona/Sebring.They would have to buy two separate cars and I don't think the P2 manucturers will be happy either that they will have to make two separate P2's.

So make P into American Class 1. It's so easy. Why do they try to fight it?

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by Chiana

TBH I'm amazed the NASCAR stock cars even have variable "bodywork" left, they might just as well go all spec by putting even more of those fake bodypanel images to their liveries, and the fans wouldn't probably even notice the difference - or care. And I think they're soon going after 100% spec engines too, ARCA has already done so and I think (?) the "Trucks" and smaller series are heading going that way if they're not there already

They did that for several years. From 2007 to 2013 the cars were identical, just the stickers were different. GM threatened to pull out unless they went back to silhouette bodies so one could tell the difference between the cars.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

So make P into American Class 1. It's so easy. Why do they try to fight it?

The problem is the cost... Some privateers don't have the money to maintain a P1 car. Also, don't forget that upgrading DP to destroy- I mean balance the LMP2 cars cost a fortune.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by BullMan

They did that for several years. From 2007 to 2013 the cars were identical, just the stickers were different. GM threatened to pull out unless they went back to silhouette bodies so one could tell the difference between the cars.

Just goes to tell how little I care but the SC cars (which continue to be fully spec other than the cosmetic body and controlled engine) are still full of fake stickers right

[Coach Ep]

I thought the Safety Cars ran with real lights (on top), it's not like we hardly saw 'm this past season...

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

I thought the Safety Cars ran with real lights (on top), it's not like we hardly saw 'm this past season...

Hehe... Sprint Cup of course

[TzeiTzei]

I was hoping that the 2017 cars would be LMP2s with a more powerful engine. If it's almost a spec car with everything bop'd so that no-one has an advantage, then I'm really not that intrested. The other thing is that once again they isolate themselves from the rest of the sportscar world. And I don't think that's a good thing.

[nasportscar]

Updated Prototype tracker http://nasportscar.com/entry-list-so...ototype-class/

[Fogelhund]

Catch 22 - you are never going to build a popular series with Ligier, Lola, Oaks, Rileys etc... you need the manufacturer branding... but you aren't going to get P1... so now what?

[Deleted]

Apart from the Champion Audis, it's not like the ALMS proto classes were infested with "manufacturer brandings" 10 years ago either... just Lolas, Courages and other leftovers. Yet it succeeded very well and is missed as a point in history.
http://www.racingsportscars.com/grid...004-09-25.html