[FormulaFox]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I'm not sure what your point is. IMSA made an attractive class, regardless of where the manufacturers came from.

My point is that the situation makes DPi look more attractive than it actually seems to be when you really look at the bigger picture. Manfuacturers aren't tripping over themselves to join up, and the only active manufacturers were already running similar programs.

DPi is clearly not as widely attractive as it's being made out to be.

Historical data like that ignores the lack of manufacturers in LMP1/LMP900, on both sides of the pond. Also ignores that DTM is at deaths door with a record low manufacturer entry.

And yet Super GT is not, which indicates something specifically wrong with DTM itself rather than an issue with the Class One concept.

And no, DTM is not at a record low. AS it stands now it looks like Audi and BMW will stick around, which makes two manufacturers - The exact number that were active when the series relaunched in 2000 up until 2004, and which they had again from 2007 through 2013.

So it can be rationalised anyway someone wants, saying "Well what manufacturers ACTUALLY want is this", but recent history disagrees - DPi is the most popular manufacturer based prototype series in the world right now (even if you include GT500).

Recent history has been including classes that require massive initial investments to start a program as well.

But practically, DPi is doing great.

For what it is, sure. But DPi is simply not proving to be as widely attractive as it has been claimed.

So if we're going to go down the route of a purchased chassis, some branded drag bodywork, and a balance of performance, then DPi seems just fine. Anything else is overkill - the idea of spending money to build your own car just to have it BoP'd down is particularly silly.

I've gone over this before, but many(NOT all - getting sick of people who claim I'm making a universal statement when I mention this) engineers actually like BoP because it provides them challenges with which to overcome(just look at the success and continued development of GT3 cars). But that's not the point here, so moving on.

Personally I'd rather see more traditional racing with actual manufacturer cars (with a healthy amount of private cars somewhere in there too).

That's what this rumor was pointing towards - the tub may be a big part of the car, but it's only one part of the whole. The manufacturers would be free to build EVERYTHING else - suspension, engine, EVERYTHING not safety related would be up to the manufacturer.

But if we're going down the route of BoP's a branded drag body work, then I don't see a reason to not use DPi.

The thing is, the rumor that popped into my inbox says nothing about BoP. Today's news story is the first indication I saw that such is even being considered for new-look LMP1. The rumor I got indicated that the spec tub would be a cost saving and safety measure, nothing more, nothing less.

But as for specifically why not to use DPi... It's because the manufacturers have so little they're allowed to do. It's clearly not what the bulk of the manufacturers actually want, it's only suited to the few that are involved, only one of which(Honda) was involved a less restricted class of prototypes prior to DPi's existence.

DPi is NOT a long-term solution. It's was a short-term idea thrown together to meet the needs of a few specific manufacturers.

Without the "build off of an LMP2 tub" aspect, DPi is literally non-hybrid LMP1. That class isn't attracting any real interest(despite Chiana's statement earlier, we do NOT appear to have a "great" LMP1 field building for 2018), so what makes one think DPi would do any better?

Consider this: IT has been made clear now that manufacturer branding is part of the talks for the next LMP1 rulebook. Obviously manufacturer branding is appealing or the talks wouldn't move in this direction. But it's clearly not the end-all-be-all of the matter, or DPi would be getting a ton more interest than it has. This means there's something that prospective LMP1 manufacturers want that DPi doesn't have.

And the only thing I can think of is that it's because they can't build their own car, and what they CAN do to the base P2 chassis is extremely limited.