Sportscar/GT (and Le Mans) Rumours and Repetition

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by gustavobamba

If, i repeat IF, Nissan will go to LMP1 next year, would any manufacture follow them.

With BMW only in DTM i believe and "wish" they will be the next players in "Le Mans".

Hmm, it seems that BMW does not think they are 'only in DTM'.

http://www.bmw-motorsport.com/en/index.html









L.P.

[gustavobamba]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Hmm, it seems that BMW does not think they are 'only in DTM'.

http://www.bmw-motorsport.com/en/index.html









L.P.

OK, you know what i mean

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by gustavobamba

If, i repeat IF, Nissan will go to LMP1 next year, would any manufacture follow them.

With BMW only in DTM i believe and "wish" they will be the next players in "Le Mans".

Let's get Nissan confirmed and then start throwing stones up at Honda's window.

[gustavobamba]

Originally Posted by Simmi

Let's get Nissan confirmed and then start throwing stones up at Honda's window.

I don´t think Honda will go to Le Mans in P1!!!! They have F1.

On the other hand BMW said that F1 in a near future is not an option ( read it somewhere in a german magazine)

[joeb]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Hmm, it seems that BMW does not think they are 'only in DTM'.

http://www.bmw-motorsport.com/en/index.html

Originally Posted by gustavobamba

OK, you know what i mean

I was actually surprised it was only DTM, GTE (2 cars), and gt3. I'd guess 90% of resources go to DTM, and unless they increase motorsports funding for a p1 program I suspect it will stay that way.

[TF110]

BMW have a huge amount of Z4 GT3's running around. They have to have a good business going on in that respect.

[TF110]

Muscle Milk team is out of racing tusc. According to their twitter they hope to race again in the future.

[NelisB]

Originally Posted by TF110

Muscle Milk team is out of racing tusc. According to their twitter they hope to race again in the future.

The recent news is that they released all of their crew members to find other jobs and closed up shop.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by NelisB

The recent news is that they released all of their crew members to find other jobs and closed up shop.

And a large part of the crew is running Pippa Mann's entry at Indy this month.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by TF110

Muscle Milk team is out of racing tusc. According to their twitter they hope to race again in the future.

I guess it's sad that Muscle Milk is gone. Then again, they should go to other ventures in the first place.

Anyways, let's hope that they'll return as successors or something.

[CTD]

I seem to remember someone posting something about Alfa Romeo's new "clean plate" model range, which will only continue the 4C, and otherwise replace all models within a "few" years.
A danish news articles, quotes that Chrysler will put 5 billion dollars into this remake, that will target Mercedes, BMW and Audi customers.

What's interesting is that the Alfa boss is quoted for mentioning the proud Motorsport heritage. And what better way to prove that you are better, than beating them on the track .
So hopefully some of those 5 billion dollars, will source itself into a Le Mans project!
http://jyllands-posten.dk/motor/ECE6...ke-tavlen-ren/

[GT6]

I can't see any of the 5 billion if that actually happens ever going into a big motorsport programme and looking at the sort of money Audi,Porsche and Toyota are spending what Chrysler could put into the pot would not get them very far

[TF110]

Originally Posted by GT6

I can't see any of the 5 billion if that actually happens ever going into a big motorsport programme and looking at the sort of money Audi,Porsche and Toyota are spending what Chrysler could put into the pot would not get them very far

On another thread they say the budget for Toyota is about 40million euros. Audi on the other hand are above 100million. So if they spend in between that amount- 75million over a season for 4 years- thats 300million. Out of $5billion thats only 6%, maybe more with the currency discrepancy. Thats on the high side imo.

[Articus]

Lets be honest. Things have changed. The budgets are no longer lopsided. Don't fool yourself easily. Do you actually think that Audi is spending triple the budget of Toyota and losing to them....

[the sniper]

With all the publicity last week around FIAT/Alfa's big plan being laid out, I did wonder whether Le Mans could be part of their plans. Joe Saward surmised that the $7 billion of investment was likely to have effects on the FCA’s sporting activities. Autocar reported that their presentation featured an 'extensive run-through of Alfa’s sporting successes' and played up their sporting pretensions...

I can only imagine that there will be a major motorsport program. I can't see them returning to DTM, WTCC is relatively cheap but arguably still a waste of money which wouldn't see them competing against premium brands. F1; through a buy out of Torro Rosso? Le Mans... could deliver Luca di Montezemolo's long threatened but always highly unlikely looking Ferrari LMP1, just with a different badge. To my mind a largely Ferrari engineered Alfa Team returning to Le Mans would make more sense than Ferrari running their own team. Ferrari shouldn't risk embarrassing themselves in two disciplines at one time.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Articus

Lets be honest. Things have changed. The budgets are no longer lopsided. Don't fool yourself easily. Do you actually think that Audi is spending triple the budget of Toyota and losing to them....

I quoted the thread which has a source. Dont think Im fooling myself or anyone. Not sure what youre insinuating. If Toyota are spending 40 or 140 million, thats not my point. Im going by the sources available to come to an average amount spent by the teams to show what itd cost FIAT/Chrysler to do an lmp1 program.

[GT3.14]

Also remember reading that Alfa would be more of a "skunk works" like they used to be. At the moment Le Mans is the place to be if there is a technology to be experimented with, refined, and displayed.

[Mike E]

Lawrence Tomlinson has tweeted that Ginetta hopes to be back at Le Mans soon. That would be a welcome addition.

https://twitter.com/lawrencelnt/stat...04187296677888

[GT6]

How long is it since a Ginetta was seen at le mans

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by GT6

How long is it since a Ginetta was seen at le mans

Ginetta-badged Zytek P1 and P2 cars in 2010.

[Simmi]

I figure Ginetta will make a new regs GT - if that ever happens.

The variety that reg change should bring back to Le Mans will be superb. The manufacturers just need to bang their heads together.

Incidentally - does anyone know which top manufacturer is said to be opposing the new changes and holding the whole thing up?

[Dimension]

yes. Its those that are against getting rid of sonic restrictors and for keeping race engines in lieu of production based engines. Corvette is most prominent among those and Viper is not keen on it either, which some say might lead to TUSC splitting away and creating their own GT Formula. Other similarities are that both Viper and Corvette have no official customer program to speak.

BMW shouldn't be too keen on it either considering the weirdness of a Z4 with the M3 or M3GTS powerplant. The fact that they're keeping quiet is telling me that they a) are pleased witht he way their customer program has shaped up and b) have a powerplant ready or are in development thereof that they think will be competitive. Which, regarding the current lineup, certainly means BMW turbo-engined racecars in the future. BMW-traditionalists will spit bile over this I'm sure.

[Simmi]

And a few hours after that last post this news breaks - http://sportscar365.com/gt/gt-convergence-called-off/

New GT regs dead in the water.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by Simmi

And a few hours after that last post this news breaks - http://sportscar365.com/gt/gt-convergence-called-off/

New GT regs dead in the water.

Sad news, but I fear that it'll be deader than dead and completely forgotten.

[chernaudi]

Probably won't happen until all manufacturers and rules makers agree on a common platform, and that won't happen until the FIA/ACO mandate something.

Naturally, the FIA and ACO don't wanna do that out of fear of manufacturer pull outs like what happened to the top classes in the early 1990s and 1999-2000.