ALMS 2012 Discussion

[AndrewF31]

Originally Posted by NightStalk3r

The lizard press release says Holzer will return to the 44 for the rest of the season.

Didn't notice that at the time. Saw that Mosport clashes with the GT Open Paul Ricard race, so someone's going to lose out.

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

New Corvette livery:

http://yfrog.com/ocvyvzavj

And a big Jake on the side.

[Deleted]

Cytosport's new HPD which apparently won't run tomorrow (probably):
edit - well at least the 50% of that sentence was true...



And Lizard 911s without stickers:

[Accident]

That's the Cytosport LMPC car, not the HPD.

[Deleted]

Nice catch... *runs and hides*

[TF110]

No fin and LMPC on the side are giveaways

Any side shots of the Vette? Just how wide are the cars this year? They look like they could be GT1s from a few years back, except more fender flare.

[Deleted]

Just goes to show how little attention I actually pay to prototypes in the end

The maximum width for GTEs is now 205cm instead of 200, but I don't think they look GT1-esque quite yet. Also Ferrari was supposedly allowed to run wider than anyone else last year but I don't think they have the same advantage anymore.

[Nick6]

maximum width rule is pretty moot. If someone was to build a 210cm car the ACO would just hand out a waiver.

[Deleted]

If someone was to build a 210cm car the ACO would just hand out a waiver.

Then again the same applies for most of the rulebook anyways...

[aneesh99]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Then again the same applies for most of the rulebook anyways...

*Burnnnnnnnn*

Anyone looking foward to ALMS this year or have you all defected to the WEC? Also sad that Dyson has gone from the ALMS...

[Deleted]

WEC looks to be just ILMC v1.1 and ELMS is a bit shaky so ALMS is still my #1 with flying colours, thank ya very much!

And Dyson is still in ALMS, they just didn't opt to run in the winter test...

[aneesh99]

Originally Posted by Chiana

WEC looks to be just ILMC v1.1 and ELMS is a bit shaky so ALMS is still my #1 with flying colours, thank ya very much!

And Dyson is still in ALMS, they just didn't opt to run in the winter test...

True true

Oh cool! I was under the impression that since they weren't there, we wouldn't see them stateside.

[alexkiller8]

well the 458 GT MY 2011 had a width of 2035mm, more than 3cm wider than c6.r GT1 to make an example and just 2 cm less wide than murcielago R-SV. If really ACO will let a gte car to have a width of 2100mm we will see gte cars wider than the widest GT1 car (MC12 = 2095mm). If in 2010 the gt2 pole was 3.59.435, in 2011 has been 3.57.592 i guess that maybe this year we can expect something around low 3.56 or high 3.55.
Just think that in 2009 with the old GT1 spec (at least 100kg lighter than actual gte standard min.weight and a powerout put of around 600hp), the #63 scored just 3.54.230.

ACO should start to give a little push to gte cars, i think that at least the gt-pro cars should receive a size increase of restrictors to let them run with around 550hp.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by alexkiller8

Just think that in 2009 with the old GT1 spec (at least 100kg lighter than actual gte standard min.weight and a powerout put of around 600hp), the #63 scored just 3.54.230.

Just an year earlier the pole time of #3 was about 7 seconds faster than that so perhaps we shouldn't take those 2009 times too seriously. Also Corvette virtually had no serious opposition in the final year so there was little reason to push, plus the weather had been playing havoc in the previous days.

[alexkiller8]

sure i know that in 2008 aston and corvette (and saleen too) in qualifying were able to run under 3.50. My sentence was to point up how much gt2/gte cars performances have been increased in a short time.

[WMUCarGuy]

I'm surprised at how few pics have surfaced from Sebring so far. You'd think everyone would be there already and someone would have put up pics of everyone.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by alexkiller8

sure i know that in 2008 aston and corvette (and saleen too) in qualifying were able to run under 3.50. My sentence was to point up how much gt2/gte cars performances have been increased in a short time.

True but I'm still pretty sure that the class won't doing sub-3.55s any time soon. Also GT1s used to be a constant nightmare for P2 drivers as their speed was almost equal if not better on long straights yet still slower on the corners, but GT2s just aren't that quick - even though the recent speed reduction of prototypes has now closen the gap again.

Back on topic, Dagys seems to suggest that 24-25 cars will take part in this week's testing so we might still get some extra ones outside the current entry list

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

It's not a good sign, when F1, Indycar, and ACO are all getting uglier.. while DP's are getting less so. #hashellfrozenover

Ha, yeah. It's unbelievable. Those ARXes have gone from being one of the best looking LMPs in recent times to being one of the most ugly. Well, maybe they'll still look better than all the other cars with the BHHs and BHFs. That's not saying much.

Originally Posted by TF110

No fin and LMPC on the side are giveaways

I never really considered those LC70/LC75s to be good looking cars back in the day, but man those LMPCs without the BHFs and BHHs look down right beautiful compared to the real LMPs. Yikes. I might have to wish that the TV director will show a lot of LMPC this year.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by aneesh99

*Burnnnnnnnn*

Anyone looking foward to ALMS this year or have you all defected to the WEC? Also sad that Dyson has gone from the ALMS...

Certainly not, while the LMP classes will likely continue to be a bore/now ugly cars and poor series management and Dyso... I mean IMSA BoP will be present the GTE class will still be great, plus the ALMS actually seems to get how coverage for a Multi-class series works.

I'm more of a GT/Production car guy so after looking at the LM24 and especially the WEC GTE line-ups I'm lookng forward to the ALMS a lot more. I'll probably be watching more ALMS than WEC, If the races are anything like the ILMC last year it won't be worth waking up early to watch. Looking forward to this year's ALMS GTE class, especially since BMW may be leaving after 2012.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by aneesh99

*Burnnnnnnnn*

Anyone looking foward to ALMS this year or have you all defected to the WEC? Also sad that Dyson has gone from the ALMS...

Dyson is still around. Well, kind of. Today's Pro-Am, BoPed, comedy hour pit stops, and team order Dyson team is a far cry from their glory days even if they are P1 champions.

As for interest in the ALMS, this thread has a lot more views and more posts than the WEC thread even though it was started several months after the WEC thread. Take that to mean whatever you want it to mean. As far as the quality of racing action, the ALMS and ELMS will probably continue to smoke the WEC.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by AGD

Ha, yeah. It's unbelievable. Those ARXes have gone from being one of the best looking LMPs in recent times to being one of the most ugly. Well, maybe they'll still look better than all the other cars with the BHHs and BHFs. That's not saying much.

I never really considered those LC70/LC75s to be good looking cars back in the day, but man those LMPCs without the BHFs and BHHs look down right beautiful compared to the real LMPs. Yikes. I might have to wish that the TV director will show a lot of LMPC this year.

I was looking at pictures of Muscle Milk's LMPC and Core's new livery and I had the same thoughts. In years past I thought LMPC's were the ugly step sister to the LMP1/2's, but now they look pretty sleek in comparison.

As for BHF's, I really dont' mind them on the coupes, but it just doesn't seem to work on an open topper.

[FstrthnU]

So is there going to be a separate 12H of Sebring discussion when the time comes? This is sort of minor, but the ACO has already released the program schedule for Sebring:

March 9-11 Team Arrival/setup

March 12 Optional Practice 1 8:00-17:00 (WEC only)

March 13 Optional Practice 2 (11:50-12:50, 16:50-17:50) (WEC only, track shared with support races that day)

March 14 Media Day (Video/Photoshoot day, more support races)

March 15 Practices 1,2,3 (10:00-11:00, 14:50-15:50, 19:35-21:20) last practice is mandatory night practice for all drivers

March 16 Final Practice (9:55-10:55), GTE-Am & GTC Qualifying (15:20), GTE-Pro Qualifying (15:35), LMP2 & LMPC Qualifying (15:55), LMP1 Qualifying (16:10). From 12:00-13:00, there is a "meet the drivers" session for the fans.

March 17 Warmup (8:00-8:25), pre-grid activity (rest of morning), GREEN FLAG AT 10:30

Finish 12 Hours later of course

[FstrthnU]

More shots from Sebring courtesy of Epoch Times. We've got a full view of the wide-body Corvette, looking hot! Also got a rear shot of the Demspey LMP-C (?) and a shot of the Core Autosport LMP-C

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/spor...st-188180.html

[AGD]

Black Swan will be using an HPD engine.

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...ance-9461.html

[alexkiller8]

corvette seems a little wider on front and the rear seems the same of last year, so for now no no revolutions on bodywork as porsche did

[Deleted]

Second Labre Corvette and Paul Miller's porkie have been added to the entry list. And interestingly Beretta is listed on the third ESM entry (the Michelotto test car)

And we're already ten minutes in! Live timing for winter testing