Lola with a lid

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by zac510

Brand recognition doesn't have to come from relating the racecar with the product. Recognition comes from knowing the brand name in your subconsciousness. P1 has more media coverage.

Over here Chevy is Corvette, Corvetteis is Chevy; the P cars are unknown.

Bob

[canam]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

Over here Chevy is Corvette, Corvetteis is Chevy; the P cars are unknown.

Bob

Audi??

Porsche??

and later this year...Acura??

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by canam

Audi??

Porsche??

and later this year...Acura??

Porsche is Porsche, they gained major publicity racing against Chevy in the GT class thirty years ago, and are smart enough to remain known in the publics eyes; even if the majority of the public are ignorant dweebs concerning mechanical matters.

Japanese cars, except for the Datsun Z history, are considered grocery getters, first, last and always.
The former GTP victories are remembered by racing historians and damn few others.
Bob

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

Porsche is Porsche, they gained major publicity racing against Chevy in the GT class thirty years ago, and are smart enough to remain know in the publics eyes; even if the majority of the public are ignorant dweebs concerning mechanical matters.

Japanese cars, except for the Datsun Z history, are considered grocery getters, first, last and always.
The former GTP victories are remembered by racing historians and damn few others.
Bob

Gotta unfortunately agree with you there. Even the "knowledgeable" Gran Tourismo educated guys I know have no idea Japanese cars can even race, other then in high school parking lots. Would love it if sports car were more popular (more sponsors and money) but against nascar it will be hard to grow, esp with them pushing a competitor series. Be hard to convince the casual fan (even with audis r10 to streetcar commercials) that the LMP1 Vette is the same car/tech as the street car, the Z06 and GT1 look alike enough for the car mags and covers.

[prototype]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

Over here Chevy is Corvette, Corvetteis is Chevy; the P cars are unknown.

Bob

I'm over "here" and I don't think the P cars are unknown at all.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Gotta unfortunately agree with you there. Even the "knowledgeable" Gran Tourismo educated guys I know have no idea Japanese cars can even race, other then in high school parking lots. Would love it if sports car were more popular (more sponsors and money) but against nascar it will be hard to grow, esp with them pushing a competitor series. Be hard to convince the casual fan (even with audis r10 to streetcar commercials) that the LMP1 Vette is the same car/tech as the street car, the Z06 and GT1 look alike enough for the car mags and covers.

So which cars do they think race?

Not many successful US race cars in recent years.

Do US kids go out and buy a Corvette or muscle car, or Japanese hot hatches etc.

[dj choc ice]

well in the UK i have not seen a muscle car in a few months now, someone in the area was driving a lovely black roush mustang, i havent seen it since.

could someone post a picture of this apparent lola with a lid, i would hope that the car is going for a big manufacturer, maybe all this talk of GM making the leap into LMP1 sounds great.

but nissan did run that 3.0 V6 turbo engine in the dallara of rollcentre, and it went damn quickly as well but it wasnt very reliable so it might be nissan.

or on the nissan wagon it could be parent company renault maybe wanting to get a leg over rivals peugeot at lemans, maybe it could be mazda making a return.

or alfa romeo but im being silly now

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by dj choc ice

could someone post a picture of this apparent lola with a lid,

This is the best I can find just now - ther are better pics around.

http://www.mariantic.co.uk/lmp/images/lolab1010.gif

Mariantic

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by prototype

I'm over "here" and I don't think the P cars are unknown at all.

I do believe that you will find yourself in an ultra-minority! I am over "here" also and in an ultra-minority even among several of my auto enthusiast friends. Sure many have in passing seen or heard something but have no knowledge other than they exist per say. Nothing close to brand recognition, they recognize some of the names but that comes from the road going versions familiarity not the Prototypes.

L.P.

[The359]

I think that is the only picture of the "B10/10" or whatever they called it. The Lola article on DSC says it's only a very preliminary sketch.

[Start_16]

Originally Posted by canam

Audi??

Porsche??

and later this year...Acura??

Ask 9 out of ten race fans in this country if they have any clue what an R10 is or that Acura even has teams in the ALMS.

Originally Posted by prototype

I'm over "here" and I don't think the P cars are unknown at all.

Neither does Scott Atherton. And we see how good thats going for him.

[prototype]

Originally Posted by Start_16

Neither does Scott Atherton. And we see how good thats going for him.

Are you saying that prototype racing is not one of core pieces of sportscar racing? Do you remember when there where no prototypes at Le Mans???

[dj choc ice]

ahhhh yes i know which lola it is now, the B10/10 wasnt it supposed to apparently be available to privateer teams for this year?

or atleast that was the impression given by lola at the start of 2006

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by prototype

Are you saying that prototype racing is not one of core pieces of sportscar racing? Do you remember when there where no prototypes at Le Mans???

I remember well when there were no p cars at Sebring and it still drew over fifty entries.

[prototype]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

I remember well when there were no p cars at Sebring and it still drew over fifty entries.

Grand AM has about 70 entries at Daytona. That doesn't mean it is a great series.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by prototype

Grand AM has about 70 entries at Daytona. That doesn't mean it is a great series.

So which series are you going to talk about? The fastest PROTOTYPES in Grand Am barely beat GT-2 in "LeMans" racing!

L.P.

[prototype]

I think the real prototypes in ALMS are more vital to the series than others on here.

Remove all the protos from ALMS and replace them with 30 GT entries on the track and I don't think the following would be as big. Simple as that.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

I do believe that you will find yourself in an ultra-minority! I am over "here" also and in an ultra-minority even among several of my auto enthusiast friends. Sure many have in passing seen or heard something but have no knowledge other than they exist per say. Nothing close to brand recognition, they recognize some of the names but that comes from the road going versions familiarity not the Prototypes.

L.P.

To be fair, the US motor racing scene is very different to every other nation on earth!

All the criticisms of prototypes could be applied to F1, I couldn't careless if the US 'doesn't get it'.

I don't get NASCAR, WWE, American Football............

[CorvetteC6R]

Originally Posted by prototype

Grand AM has about 70 entries at Daytona. That doesn't mean it is a great series.

The local go-kart race also has as many entries. And it is just as close! I agree, numbers don't make a series, if it did, Go-karts would be the #1 series in the world.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by JAG

To be fair, the US motor racing scene is very different to every other nation on earth!

All the criticisms of prototypes could be applied to F1, I couldn't careless if the US 'doesn't get it'.

I don't get NASCAR, WWE, American Football............

Who put your knickers in a twist?? I have not said or seen posted a criticism of prototypes! I simply stated the fact that most people do not recognize a prototype as a specific brand!!! As to, if the U.S. doesnt get it........ You take the picture of an unliveried plain white Prototype and show it around to the general public in your neighborhood and at work and see just how many people can actually tell you what make the chassis is.

L.P.

p.s. I would like to see GM get back in to Prototypes. Heavily!

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by prototype

Grand AM has about 70 entries at Daytona. That doesn't mean it is a great series.

The ACO based series has less than a dozen p entries in the US, and it definetly is not a great series, anymore.

You cannot change the tone of your rhetoric willy-nilly, to compensate that your rhetoric is faulty from the get-go.

This is a a US series and LeMans is actually irrelevant; Daytona runs a US series, and even while ignoring it is propped up by the France family, Daytona is still bigger than Sebring (IMSA's biggy).

The p cars at Daytona are irrelevant because the France boys want it that way, they want NASCAR style heero worship; the p cars in the IMSA are irrelevant because of lousy rules.
As long as the IMSA is the ACO's butt-boy, it is going nowhere fast.

What interest was generated by the original varied p car field, is long gone.
For whatever reason the GT wars gaining press space by putting Dodge against Chevy, and then Chevy against Ferrari, died a suddent death.

Now we have p cars that are boring diesels, or NA V-8s powered by engines whose makers are unknown, to all but gearheads.

The rest are class b cars; even if the names are Ferrari, Honda, Porsche they are still class b cars.
And so it goes.

Bob

[prototype]

I disagree that Daytona is bigger than Sebring. P cars are irrelevant? Why would Acura, Porsche and Audi put money into them if they were irrelevant?

What is a class b car?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

The ACO based series has less than a dozen p entries in the US, and it definetly is not a great series, anymore.

false

This is a a US series and LeMans is actually irrelevant; Daytona runs a US series, and even while ignoring it is propped up by the France family, Daytona is still bigger than Sebring (IMSA's biggy).

By what measurement are you making this claim?

the p cars in the IMSA are irrelevant because of lousy rules.
As long as the IMSA is the ACO's butt-boy, it is going nowhere fast.

Irrelevant by your standards, relevant by many others, such as Audi, Acura, Porsche, Mazda... and a bunch of fans.

[Zurbert82]

Less than a dozen entries? Last I checked there were 14 for Sebring, and probably that same number for the rest of the season with the Cytosport LMP1, and the 5th RS Spyder. Check your facts..

Say Le Mans is irrelevant to Corvette, Flying Lizard, Risi, PWL, Audi, Intersport, etc. They will probably disagree.

Whats so lousy about the rules? As far as I know the same rule set is being used by the LMS, and look at their field. However, they don't have a rival series over there that's akin to Grand-AM.

Also, whats unknown about a Porsche or Acura V8? I agree with you that Audi's diesel may have a boring sound because it doesn't fit in with the rest of the NA engines.

I can understand that you're not happy things are not the way they were, but the current US Sportscar racing scene is something that we'll look back on with rose colored glasses, much in the same manner that the 'purists' look back at the IMSA GTP era.

[ss_collins]

Anyway back to the Lola, this is what I've gleaned, the coupe has undergone some wind tunnel work, but Lola are definatley anti pics at the moment. The only sketch in the public eye is the one in the Brochure however Hindy and I assume Malcolm from DSC have seen the 45% tunnel model of it.

But it does say on the Lola website that the Coupe will hit the tracks this year