ALMS 2012 Discussion

[Deleted]

Sure is...

Has anyone noticed how well the Paul Miller porkie is actually doing, relatively speaking? They're kinda hidden from public every weekend they race, qualifying near the bottom and staying very low profile but somehow they seem to manage to finish around 5-7th ish quite regularly. I checked the points table and they're actually only two points off from the Falken car, one of the biggest surprises of last year! Some of that is due to bad luck #17 has had, but still...

What exactly are their ambitions, just happy to participating? Because I'd say that team is doing quite smoothly for a single car privateer team with little to none publicity, all things considered

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Paul Miller is a very competent owner and his family has a little history with racing Porkies. Give a guy like him factory backing and Michelins and he'd be up there in the field with FLM.

Bryce beat Bleekemolen for the pole at Mosport in GTC so he's no slouch and Sascha is a fantastic, although older, Porsche pilot. I expect if this team continues on it's path it will be fighting for podiums or even race wins by next year or 2014.

[extramundane]

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Bryce beat Bleekemolen for the pole at Mosport in GTC so he's no slouch and Sascha is a fantastic, although older, Porsche pilot. I expect if this team continues on it's path it will be fighting for podiums or even race wins by next year or 2014.

They're pretty good for a pure privateer but this might be a stretch. And since IMSA rates Bryce a gold driver, no GT-Am for them next year...

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by extramundane

They're pretty good for a pure privateer but this might be a stretch. And since IMSA rates Bryce a gold driver, no GT-Am for them next year...

Okay, went a little too far with wins perhaps, but I'm sure they could easily fight for podiums, especially if all hell breaks loose like at Baltimore last year or a rain race.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by extramundane

They're pretty good for a pure privateer but this might be a stretch. And since IMSA rates Bryce a gold driver, no GT-Am for them next year...

Not sure about IMSA´s own adjusted rules for GTE-Am (are they out yet?) but in the WEC the driver pairing is restricted to this:
A crew of 2 or 3 drivers must include at most one Gold or Platinum driver.
(see http://www.fiawec.com/championship/regulation.html)

If you´re right however it´ll cause problems for Black Swan as well since Bleekemolen is rated as platinum.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

If you´re right however it´ll cause problems for Black Swan as well since Bleekemolen is rated as platinum.

Not really, Pappas is a gentleman driver and there's bound to be other gentleman drivers buying out the third seat.

[Speed-King]

What you would lose would be racing. What you suggest here is giving up on racing and inventing a new sport. That's fine; maybe racing as we know it is over, and after another decade of trying everyone will just walk away and forget it.

Eh, RallyCross isn't exactly a new sport, doing it with GTs would be kinda novel, but there have been GT-cars in rallying for a long time as well (911, Stratos, etc.).

[extramundane]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Not sure about IMSA´s own adjusted rules for GTE-Am (are they out yet?) but in the WEC the driver pairing is restricted to this:
A crew of 2 or 3 drivers must include at most one Gold or Platinum driver.
(see http://www.fiawec.com/championship/regulation.html)

If you´re right however it´ll cause problems for Black Swan as well since Bleekemolen is rated as platinum.

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Not really, Pappas is a gentleman driver and there's bound to be other gentleman drivers buying out the third seat.

We're all assuming at this point regarding the exact regs, but IMSA rates Pappas silver, so there should be no issues at Black Swan. 'Course, there are some questionable ratings on their list (this is the most recent I could find), so who knows what will change by next year.

That said, ALMS P2 seems to allow 2 gold/platinum drivers as long as #3 is silver/bronze, so GT-Am could be the same structure.

[Deleted]

They don't need to follow ACO rules so strictly... if Paul Miller wanted to enter GTE-AM instead IMSA would probably let them in regardless of golds and silvers and whatsnots.

I'm still praying that we'll stick with one GT category.

[Dyson Mazda]

Originally Posted by Chiana

They don't need to follow ACO rules so strictly... if Paul Miller wanted to enter GTE-AM instead IMSA would probably let them in regardless of golds and silvers and whatsnots.

I'm still praying that we'll stick with one GT category.

I am ok with going to 2 GTE classes and think it is the right move for the series. But ALMS, please get rid of GTC.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Dyson Mazda

But ALMS, please get rid of GTC.

Already stated they intend to get rid of it for 2014.

[Deleted]

LMPC is here to stay though, yes?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Chiana

LMPC is here to stay though, yes?

For now anyway... no mentions of it going anywhere.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Already stated they intend to get rid of it for 2014.

Will the series be around in 2014?

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Will the series be around in 2014?

Is there any reason to believe it won't be?

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Is there any reason to believe it won't be?

[SARCASM; hopefully appreciated by FordCosworthPanoz]OBVIOUSLY! The world is ending, Don Panoz is more interested in lawn bowling than sporty car racing and NASCAR is mere minutes away from saving American road racing by purchasing the assets of IMSA and telling the French to take their "Lemans", whatever that is, and shove it.[/SARCASM]

Chris

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

[SARCASM; hopefully appreciated by FordCosworthPanoz]OBVIOUSLY! The world is ending, Don Panoz is more interested in lawn bowling than sporty car racing and NASCAR is mere minutes away from saving American road racing by purchasing the assets of IMSA and telling the French to take their "Lemans", whatever that is, and shove it.[/SARCASM]

Chris

I understand the sarcasm, but that is the only way it gets shut down. There have been many interested parties for the series, but the asking price so far has been higher than the potential buyers are willing to pay. I don't think the dollars would be the ultimate decision maker, but I can't see NASCAR meeting these demands just to shut the series down. I think Panoz would sell to a party interested in the ALMS as an ongoing concern, before shutting it down. That should give at least a couple more years after such a deal.. so I think we are safe until the end of 2014 at minimum for now. If any factories come back to P1, it increases the viability of the series.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

[SARCASM; hopefully appreciated by FordCosworthPanoz]OBVIOUSLY! The world is ending, Don Panoz is more interested in lawn bowling than sporty car racing and NASCAR is mere minutes away from saving American road racing by purchasing the assets of IMSA and telling the French to take their "Lemans", whatever that is, and shove it.[/SARCASM]

Chris

Yes I'm proud.

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

I understand the sarcasm, but that is the only way it gets shut down. There have been many interested parties for the series, but the asking price so far has been higher than the potential buyers are willing to pay. I don't think the dollars would be the ultimate decision maker, but I can't see NASCAR meeting these demands just to shut the series down. I think Panoz would sell to a party interested in the ALMS as an ongoing concern, before shutting it down. That should give at least a couple more years after such a deal.. so I think we are safe until the end of 2014 at minimum for now. If any factories come back to P1, it increases the viability of the series.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Yes I'm proud.

Yesssssss!

Chris

[gregtummer]

Well if ALMS can hang on until 2014, they may be able to increase their P1 and P2 car counts then by letting the current WEC cars race for a few years.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Is there any reason to believe it won't be?

Yes, but I'm not going to kick the ant hill as I think the responses made in jest are entirely possible.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

One thing about capturing the ADD generation--they can forget about your event pretty quickly just like they forget everything else.

Make your New Media programs work. The ADD generation expects what it wants to see to be on smartphones, tablets, PCs, and TV. Right now a certain series cannot even master the basics of Internet streaming. How many new fans do you hope to create with a non-stop series of error messages and buffering animations?

Oh noes you 'littered' the thread with "ADD" in your post, TWICE (), you should have a couple of angry posters coming after you soon, watch out.

[MitchZ06]

Being 20 I guess I'm part of the "ADD Generation" not the "Let's Label Every Generation After Ours Something Idiotic Generation" but I'm also a diehard sportscar racing fan. The paradigm won't shift simply because of marketing via social media outlets, the problem is those interested in racing watch what their parents watch. My parents grew up watching ATCC and V8s along with Le Mans once a year, guess what I grew up watching?

People my age have the attention span, they just need to grow up with it otherwise they're less inclined to actually get into watching sportscar racing. Sad but true....

[TF110]

There's nothing wrong with classic series, and a continuous style of racing. There is something wrong with 'not getting with the times' and being taken seriously if you want to succeed. Take a look at the Road America thread when the stream dropped. It doesn't matter what type of racing it is, what matters a lot nowadays is whether that is accessible to garner attention.

[Articus]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

Being 20 I guess I'm part of the "ADD Generation" not the "Let's Label Every Generation After Ours Something Idiotic Generation" but I'm also a diehard sportscar racing fan. The paradigm won't shift simply because of marketing via social media outlets, the problem is those interested in racing watch what their parents watch. My parents grew up watching ATCC and V8s along with Le Mans once a year, guess what I grew up watching?

On the other hand. I am the only person in my family who watches motorsport. My parents did not watch motorsport when I grew up and were quite frankly annoyed about me watching F1 races on the big screen in the family room. So I think that is too big of a generalization.