Doran/Dallara Done?

[LouisTheShark]

The entries for Road America and Laguna Seca closed two days ago and after IMSA updated the entry lists today, still no Doran Dallara.

Did the unprofessional behaviour by Herbert at Sears Point cause the team to kill their ALMS program? We all knew they were skipping the Canadian ALMS races, but it always appeared they were going to run the U.S. races.

And despite running in the top 3 three at Atlanta and Sears Point, they received no TV coverage. Could this be another factor for them to call it quits?

The Doran DP is being bankrolled by Lienhard (Lista) at Watkins Glen. Doran always said that his DP program is seperate from the race program, now it seems they combined. Or at least for this one race. But their missing entries from the ALMS makes you wonder if this is more permanent.

[gttouring]

the DP entry and a full season or 2 more to come is expensive- the DP built is near $400,000 US
and I would expect Doran to get only the best, and this design is much improved over theoriginal 'toyota DP'
I bet the money just isn't there. and DP must be cheaper, as it is sure to be reliable, than an LM900.
here's hoping

[Kurt Maxwell]

The fact that there is a Lista DP at the Glen and no entry for the Lista Dallara at Road America means nothing. Right?

BTW- In a related story-
Bobby Rahal is said to want to make up for not entering two Audi R-8s as promised and will enter four of the new Audi GTP cars in the '04 ALMS.

This will be a fully private team and will receive no support from Audi NA or their vendors. There will not be multi million dollar sponsors on the cars either as Rahal simply wants to do this -"For the Fans".

The cars however will all carry the message-"Wax the Dolphins" as part of an NFL promotional tie in.

[Tim Northcutt]

It does mean something...that Doran, as opposed to spending out $$$ to repair any damage caused by Johnny Herbert at Sonoma two weeks ago by accessing Dallara parts, chose to put Theys and Co. in a DP chassis that Doran already has built, but can't sell to anyone, because no one seems excited about spending $350,000-$400,000 for a TurdBox....

Of course, everyone is flocking to race in Grand Am under their new cost-containment strategy with these new prototypes, and why the fans urn out in droves for their races...the fans surely enjoy seeing a GTS Mustang win the pole over these "fast and sleek" prototypes that will "change the face and future" of sportscar racing....

I have watched as many Grand Am events on TV as possible this season, so that I could form a realistic opinion of what this series has evolved into and where it may be heading....

I am so unimpressed by the concept that, if the ALMS goes away, the only sportscars I will follow will be in Europe via internet or whatever and the annual Le mans event, and I'll watch my usual open-wheel racing here in the States....

The Doran Lista team admitted from the start that they were on a tight budget...that's been no secret...but to say that this is a "real crossover" when there have been at least informal ties between the entities all along is absurd...

You can chant your mantra all you want on this whole Grand Am thing, but it is a fiasco from a participation standpoint and from an attendance standpoint...period...end of story...

On the Other Note:

It would be great to have Bobby Rahal back in sportscar racing at LM....

[gttouring]

well said Tim
however, cost containment strategies are not a bad idea and the DP is just a poor set of rules to do so, they would have been better importing the Dallara EUROC racers and using those, as they would fit any V8 up front and were rather as expensive as the DP's. the DP are just not as fast as a prototype should be, good racing and equal formula but really not a top class.
The efforts they are making to bend rules in order to make DP's appear faster is contrived.
regardless they can do what they want because they are offering the less well funded gentleman a place to race.
Of course if you want to hop series to series you get screwed as you must convert you 'gt' or GTS' or Trans-am/GT1 car back and forth from SCCA/ALMS/FIA/ACO spec to GA
this really is counter to their philosophy isn't it.
and as we stated GA even admitted to making GT simliar to the JGTC- which is far more expensive to run, as almost every JGTC car is protoype of a road version. with the few FIA/ACO Gt (Taisan Porsche GT3R-Vipers, Maclaren F1, M3's and Vemac, and who else) cars over there fighting quite hard to make podium (although it has happened many times- that series has many different winners perrace, even if the series outcome is always the Big Japanese Factories.)
so GA is really fighting up hill here to gain big acceptance, even in the NorthAmerican field, which they have declared as their only real goal, as ALMS is the North American Division of a total LeMans title isn't it or is the ACO LMtourney not afiliated, as the ELMS was?
any way
the GA has strengths, but they seem to estrange the world for what reason is not clear, and they could be quite a handy and realy fun series if cars and stars could cross hop. too bad if JAn MAgnussen ever drives a DP i'll probably break my TV

[Lee Janotta]

The Rahal thing seems rather far-fetched... But it'd be great to see, especially if Bobby took up some of the driving duties. Perhaps a car for old-timers he could share with Mario?

[noise boy 2]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
It does mean something...that Doran, as opposed to spending out $$$ to repair any damage caused by Johnny Herbert at Sonoma two weeks ago by accessing Dallara parts, chose to put Theys and Co. in a DP chassis that Doran already has built, but can't sell to anyone, because no one seems excited about spending $350,000-$400,000 for a TurdBox....

Of course, everyone is flocking to race in Grand Am under their new cost-containment strategy with these new prototypes, and why the fans urn out in droves for their races...the fans surely enjoy seeing a GTS Mustang win the pole over these "fast and sleek" prototypes that will "change the face and future" of sportscar racing....

I have watched as many Grand Am events on TV as possible this season, so that I could form a realistic opinion of what this series has evolved into and where it may be heading....

I am so unimpressed by the concept that, if the ALMS goes away, the only sportscars I will follow will be in Europe via internet or whatever and the annual Le mans event, and I'll watch my usual open-wheel racing here in the States....

The Doran Lista team admitted from the start that they were on a tight budget...that's been no secret...but to say that this is a "real crossover" when there have been at least informal ties between the entities all along is absurd...

You can chant your mantra all you want on this whole Grand Am thing, but it is a fiasco from a participation standpoint and from an attendance standpoint...period...end of story...

On the Other Note:

It would be great to have Bobby Rahal back in sportscar racing at LM....

One quick correction, Lienhardt owns the dallara not doran, doran was just contracted to run the program. Robert

[Tim Northcutt]

I am aware of that, noise boy 2, but it still doesn't change the dynamic of my statement....

Doran is running both operations, but he owns the Grand Am project...

It still isn't a "real crossover" from ALMS to Grand Am...they share the same website, same garages, etc...at Doran Enterprizes....

[LouisTheShark]

Lista is Lienhard. Without his money Doran would not be at WG.

One way or another, they still have to fix the car. If he is done racing in the ALMS, I am sure he wants to sell it.

[Chevyguy]

Turdbox, Tim? Lovely.

I most of you are reading too much into this. Was it not their plan to run the Dallara a partial season, and prepare their DP? Kevin Doran announced that this car was coming to Watkins Glen before Sonoma. Sounds like their program is right on track, though you may not like where that track is taking them. The DP is definately the future for Doran.

I would venture to say we will see the Dallara at PLM, then comes the great LMP exodus. It would not be wise to invest in the Dallara at this point. They showed very little interest in the ALMS last year as well. I think they wanted to run the car in the only place they could until the DP was up and testing. I don't beleive it is a repair funds question, a professional team like that has spares.

[cybersdorf]

Originally posted by LouisTheShark
If he is done racing in the ALMS, I am sure he wants to sell it.

Because he can't run it anywhere else, right? - Wrong.