Official SPEED EuroSeries 2011 thread

[Bentley03]

At the request of the reigning champion (), here is the official SPEED EuroSeries 2011 thread, the place to discuss all things SPEED EuroSeries (official support series to the LMS in 2011).

Official Website


Over to you Jody!

[jodyfirth]

This is perfect timing Bentley as I have just received an email confirming that the series has just been granted official FIA status, thus making the winning team and driver FIA champions!

On top of this they are great cars and the championship is growing all the time. With the likes of Warren Hughes, Robbie Kerr and Alex Caffi competing then it just shows what a quality feeder championship it could become/is.

The times we were doing at Silverstone were faster than the FLM car, so perhaps an official LMP3 on the horizon?

[Speed-King]

I know that VdeV will allow carbonfibre chassis from this year on and Norma and Wolf have signed up to built cars to those new specs - so that might bring the CN-scene a bit closer to becoming LMP3....

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by jodyfirth

This is perfect timing Bentley as I have just received an email confirming that the series has just been granted official FIA status, thus making the winning team and driver FIA champions!

On top of this they are great cars and the championship is growing all the time. With the likes of Warren Hughes, Robbie Kerr and Alex Caffi competing then it just shows what a quality feeder championship it could become/is.

The times we were doing at Silverstone were faster than the FLM car, so perhaps an official LMP3 on the horizon?

Congradulations Jody ..... when ya going to get time ta race with us mate , but I understand your busy with the real thing .

[FIRE]

http://www.wolfracingcars.com/public...i/grandi/1.jpg


The Wolf GB08 is a great looking car.

[ascarracinguk]

well lets just hope its better grids than last year, because after such a poor 2010, which lets face it was a 7 car borefest, it doesnt deserve club status let alone fia status!...the radical euroseries outclasses it in every way

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

well lets just hope its better grids than last year, because after such a poor 2010, which lets face it was a 7 car borefest, it doesnt deserve club status let alone fia status!...the radical euroseries outclasses it in every way

The race I saw, supporting LMS at Silverstone last September, had far more than seven cars. Are you referring to the UK series as opposed to the Euro series?

[ascarracinguk]

yeh that had more than 7 cars, but they were drafted in from other series to try and bulk the numbers up!....there was about 7 speed cars, and the rest were a couple of radicals, and a few cars from club racing around the country!

[Bentley03]

Ok, so I've got the Calendar from the website, but I'm struggling to work out an entry list for 2011. Is there one? What is apparent, is that there will be more cars entered for 2011 than there were in 2010.

For starters, how many WFR's will there be on 2011 grids? I see Xero Competition will be running one alongisde the factory car (for Warren and yourself). Any others?

Interesting to see names like Alex Caffi and Robbie Kerr associated with the series. That Kerr/Craven car should give Hughes/Firth some very stiff competition.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

The race I saw, supporting LMS at Silverstone last September, had far more than seven cars. Are you referring to the UK series as opposed to the Euro series?

The Silverstone event was a round of the UK series; which has since been disbanded and replaced by the European series. Ultimately, I don't think there was enough interest by owners of these cars for races at the smaller UK venues.

Originally Posted by ascarracinguk

yeh that had more than 7 cars, but they were drafted in from other series to try and bulk the numbers up!....there was about 7 speed cars, and the rest were a couple of radicals, and a few cars from club racing around the country!

From memory, the bulk of the field were eligible for the SPEED series: The grid essentially consisted of the regular UK runners, competitors from the equivalent VdeV series that were looking to race alongside the LMS and a handfull of bike-engined cars (which have been eligible for SPEED since the shortlived BESCR series merged with it at the end of '09). As such the only cars that didn't fit neatly into the class structure of SPEED were a Mosler and Richard Chamberlain's replica Porsche 935. Given the relative sucess of the Silverstone LMS event relative to the previous UK events, it does seem to concentration on European events is a wise move.

[fasteric]

does anybody know what a typical budget is for a driver competing in the 2011 Speed EuroSeries for the season (w/2 driver line up)?

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by fasteric

does anybody know what a typical budget is for a driver competing in the 2011 Speed EuroSeries for the season (w/2 driver line up)?

Nope but log on to the Speed Euro Series website and ask the organisers - They're good guys and will be sure to help.

btw just to confirm that dsc will be partnering with Speed Euro Series in 2011 and will run full race reports free to view (together with several other Series, some of which may surprise readers here!!)

[ascarracinguk]

to be fair, IF they can get the speed euro series to have the same numbers as v de v a couple of years back it would be a brilliant series, but its not gonna be easy in the climate we are currently in

[AndrewF31]

will certainly have to keep an eye on this racing. Seems interesting. And catch it at Estoril later in the year.

[jodyfirth]

Hi guys. I've been watching the thread for a day or two to get the general idea for how you all feel for this series. I can answer some of the questions that have been raised already.

There has been over 20 cars registered as full time entries for the season. A lot of which have come across from the V De V series. Team WFR will enter two cars as Bentley said, one for Warren and I and another for a as yet unannounced pairing. Xero do have the first customer WF03. Last years Silverstone race was a feel for the SPEED organisers to get a feel for how the European competitors felt about being the LMS support series, also for Patrick Peter to see the series with a view of 2011. Obviously all felt it was a positive step.

Wolf, Ligier and Norma are all building carbon tubs so a big step up in technology for not a great increase in cost. I can tell you that from personal experience that the driving technique required to drive one of these fast is the same as that of an LMP car so a great schooling. In fact, far more relevant than an FLM car.

[bickers]

Hi Jody

I met you at the Autosport show when I was with a certain yet to be named driver!The car looks like it's going pretty well,bet you can't wait for the first round.I know I can't,my old man is running a Ligier for someone now so I shall I be at Paul Ricard!
It's shaping up to be a very good series with some great drivers,it's gonna be hard work against the carbon Normas and Wolfs though.

Matt Bicknell

[kipper]

Interesting to note in this week's Autosport that Joey Foster, Nigel Moore and Steven Kane will compete in the series with Ryan Sharp and Pietro Fantin due to contest the Paul Ricard opener. I do feel that the initial prospects for the latest incarnation of the series are promising.

[jodyfirth]

There you go, the final two drivers to complete WFR's line up are Nigel Moore/Joey Foster. We should have a strong year.

As Autosport confirms the Series has over 30 cars entered now.

Looking at the lap times of these cars on what are very very wooden Avons compared to the current LMP1/2 lap times, they could be real LMP3 cars in the LMS races.

[Ken_T]

These are the type of cars IMSA lites (support series for ALMS) should be campaigning as the Lites 1 instead of mandating the Elan DP02. Different makes, well developed and very quick cars; I guess it makes too much sense. At least the CN cars would be competitive in Club racing here so the drivers can get extra seat time as opposed to the Elan which is uncompetitive outside of IMSA lites. I guess that is what happens when the owners of the ALMS own Elan. It keeps the DP02 values up, though.

Good luck with the Speed series. I will be watching with interest. Of course, from quite a distance unfortnately.

[fasteric]

Ken..i race in the skip barber series and looked at IMSA lites..and other series to try something faster..FF2000 etc and I raced in a few grand am ct races..but your right ..looking at the speed series and the CN cars are way above what lites have to offer..and the're on tv and race in europe!..as far as adding them to the main show..the appeal is an entry level pro series that supports the bigger series..at sebring the lmpc class with 5 litre engines looked faster than lmp2

[bickers]

These cars have the potential to be a damn site quicker than they currently are too,the tires are seriously hard(I've seen cars do 6 hours on one set!)
When we used to run in VdeV back in 2004 we were on Dunlops,they then made Avons mandotory and we lost 2 seconds straight away!

Matt

[jodyfirth]

New website: http://www.speedeuroseries.com/

You can get better ideas on entry list etc etc. Including live timing I'm led to believe

[jodyfirth]

http://www.speedeuroseries.com/wp-co...-Castellet.pdf

Provisional entry list

[kipper]

Originally Posted by jodyfirth

Provisional entry list

A promising start; its nice to see a good mix of higher profile drivers as well as those moving up from club series, such as Darren Burke and Jonathan Wright.

[Speed-King]

The only thing that has me somewhat worried is the relatively high number of VdeV-teams in there, which might or might not be in for the full season.