2005 Spa 24 Hours

[SALEEN S7R]

It could but im hoping for the works cars, and the RAR DBR9.

[mpd00tgl]

err sorry for butting in here, but it will be interesting to see both teams with the DBR9 enter, more so interesting, which team finishes in the highest place!

[SALEEN S7R]

The GT1 battle for me will be far more interesting than what it was at Le Mans. Yes Im fully aware that at Le Mans this year there was the works Aston Martin squad and the works Corvette's, and I know that the works Corvettes arent going to be at Spa (unfortunatly) but the Spa 24hrs GT1 grid will see a lot more in the way of variety, and the professionalism IMO is 2nd to none.

Lets hope Aston Martin can do at the Spa 24hrs what they coudnt do at Le Mans, and thats finish, 1-2.

[Bramzel]

For a 1-2 they first have to enter 2 cars, and as far as I know only the RAR one has been confirmed.

[SALEEN S7R]

Yes Bramzel I know that, but in this weeks AUTOSPORT magazine it says that the 2 works Aston Martin cars are likely to race at the Spa 24hrs. Now, I dont know about you, but for me if Autosport say this then its quite likely to happen.

[Bramzel]

Likely isn't for sure. And I find Marc Goossens, who's supposed to drive one, a more reliable source than Autosport.

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

the professionalism IMO is 2nd to none.

I'd be interested in your opinion as to which teams that are racing at the Spa 24 are more professional than Team Corvette!!!

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

I'd be interested in your opinion as to which teams that are racing at the Spa 24 are more professional than Team Corvette!!!

Aston Martin racing, if they enter Graham IMO are at least equal to the Corvette factory squad. Although Graham what I meant is that the professionalism of the GT1, and GT2 grid for that matter is 2nd to none, including the Le Mans grid. Yes, BMS and Cirtek were both at Le Mans, as was Labre, although IMO the Labre driving line up was pretty weak compared to what you normally see in FIA GT.

For me the overall quality of the GT1 grid in the Spa 24hrs is a little better than that of Le Mans, yes theres no works Corvettes but the other teams that are there are just as good as the cars that were in the GT1 field at Le Mans. No G.P.C 575's at Le Mans after all, nor was there a strong Labre entry.

GT2 is looking every bit as strong for me too as GT2 looks at Le Mans. Yes I know Le Mans had AJR and the works Panoz - but no Gruppe M who this year are argueably the best Porsche team anywhere, nor was there any JMB or G.P.C Ferrari 360's, and of course no Mosler's. Will be interesting to see just what the final Spa 24hrs entry list looks like.

[JAG]

The works Astons and Corvettes are a class above any team seen at Spa.

[SALEEN S7R]

Nobody is debating that JAG - but IMO just because the works Corvette team isnt at the Spa 24hrs dosent mean that the overall quality of the Spa 24hrs teams isnt better than that of the GT1 and GT2 teams at Le Mans. 1 Team does not make a race.

[JAG]

The two best teams do however.

[SALEEN S7R]

Yes but one of the best teams is going to be there anyway most likely, just because the other isnt dosent mean the race is any worse quality wise. After all, the rest of the GT1 grid at Le Mans was a little shakey in terms of quality, yes Cirtek were there but was the driving line up really strong? IMO not really, sure there was Bouchet but he isnt at his best anymore and the 2 Russians are amatuers. Labre had a entry, but again this was not the normal line up for the car and was subsequently weaker, and then there was the JMB 575's, miles off of the pace. The Spa 24hrs will have at least 6 or 7 cars capable of winning overall, more than the LM GT1 class had that is for sure. Then of course theres the GT2 class of the Spa 24hrs, IMO every bit as strong as that of the Le Mans GT2 grid, sure no works Panoz, but it does have the argueably best Porsche team in the world at the moment, Gruppe M.

[TheNewBob]

Well-funded works teams will always turn out to be generally faster than privateer efforts. So AM and Corvette would be the very best entries at Spa if both entered - chances of a C6 are zero, so AM would always be one step ahead of anyone really at Spa - this is obviously not including problems...

I don't think the GT2 battle will be very good - Gruppe M will find it very easy if they don't have too many problems - and the Porsches are pretty damn reliable in good hands.

Is anyone likely to be entering from something like Italian GT's? There's a pretty strong entry in that, it seems, so would be interesting to see how they get on against FIA opposition (I'm presuming they run to the same set of rules...?)

[lj79]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Yes but one of the best teams is going to be there anyway most likely, just because the other isnt dosent mean the race is any worse quality wise. After all, the rest of the GT1 grid at Le Mans was a little shakey in terms of quality, yes Cirtek were there but was the driving line up really strong? IMO not really, sure there was Bouchet but he isnt at his best anymore and the 2 Russians are amatuers. Labre had a entry, but again this was not the normal line up for the car and was subsequently weaker, and then there was the JMB 575's, miles off of the pace. The Spa 24hrs will have at least 6 or 7 cars capable of winning overall, more than the LM GT1 class had that is for sure. Then of course theres the GT2 class of the Spa 24hrs, IMO every bit as strong as that of the Le Mans GT2 grid, sure no works Panoz, but it does have the argueably best Porsche team in the world at the moment, Gruppe M.

Bouchut is still mega - period. If u dont think so, I hope you will be pleasantly surprised when he gets behind the wheel of the Aston at Spa. Don't tell me that after Monza he has suddenly fallen by the wayside.

Vosse / Goueslard - possibly outweight Lamy / Gardel, but its very close given that Lamy is another megastar. Indeed, the Larbre car was quicker at Le Mans than the lead BMS car pedalled by Gollin, Pescatori and Ramos. Please dont tell me that Gollin and Pescatori are weak. So, Vosse / Gouselard / Pescatori / Gollin / Bouchut are shaky. Fors Christ's sake man I am talking about Gollin here and you call him shaky.

BMS shaky. Fxxk me, if there is team that knows how to win its this lot

Please can you go and watch a race for once

[Fab]

My 2 p - This year Le Mans qualies :
- Cirtek : 3'55'309
- Larbre : 3'55'983
- BMS : 3'57'612
Top speeds :
- Cirtek : 300 km/h
- BMS : 289 km/h
- Larbre : 301 km/h

Don't know if they're shaky, but they're all damn' fast... and even if BMS' race was quite annonymous, the guys are all great professionnals allright... and I saw some amateurs on the spot, believe me

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by lj79

Bouchut is still mega - period. If u dont think so, I hope you will be pleasantly surprised when he gets behind the wheel of the Aston at Spa. Don't tell me that after Monza he has suddenly fallen by the wayside.

IMO Bouchet is not as good as he once was, that is for sure. Yes hes taken 1 race win so far this year, and 1 pole postition. Other than that 1 win though, what else has he done this year? Okay his team mates arent as fast as him, but even so hes not quite as good as he once was IMO.

Vosse / Goueslard - possibly outweight Lamy / Gardel,

Possibly? Try defintely! Vosse whilst he is a solid driver IMO is nothing like his team mate Gouselard in terms of ability, at Le Mans the pair though were no match for the guys in the works Corvettes and works Aston Martins, both in terms of ability and car machinery. Gardel is a top driver, quite sucessful in Euro F3000 and finished joint 3rd overall last year in the FIA GT championship, as for Lamy, well, do we even need to go there?

BMS shaky. Fxxk me, if there is team that knows how to win its this lot

Normally I would have agreed with that, but you have to agree their performance at Le Mans this year was pretty poor IMO. Look at qualifying. They brought up the very rear of the GT1 grid barring the JMB Ferrari 575's, why was this? Neither car finished the race either, not exactly a stella performance I think you will agree. The #51 BMS car of Pescatori, Gollin and Ramos car was the strongest car of the pair, but the car IMO only had 1 real star, Gollin, the other 2 in the car are very good drivers dont get me wrong, but compared to some of the other drivers in the GT1 field at Le Mans...

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

IMO Bouchet is not as good as he once was, that is for sure. Yes hes taken 1 race win so far this year, and 1 pole postition. Other than that 1 win though, what else has he done this year? Okay his team mates arent as fast as him, but even so hes not quite as good as he once was IMO.

He still is. Just look at the Magny Cours race, where he was on the same pace as the MC12's in a 550. Also compare it to for example Lamy in his 550. He's a great GT-driver, still as good as he was in the past.

The #51 BMS car of Pescatori, Gollin and Ramos car was the strongest car of the pair, but the car IMO only had 1 real star, Gollin, the other 2 in the car are very good drivers dont get me wrong, but compared to some of the other drivers in the GT1 field at Le Mans...

Pescatori is as much of a star as Gollin imho. He didn't won the NGT class for nothing, the guy sure is fast. Ramos is more of the gentleman driver there, but Pescatori is as much of a topdriver as Gollin.

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by Bramzel

He still is. Just look at the Magny Cours race, where he was on the same pace as the MC12's in a 550. Also compare it to for example Lamy in his 550. He's a great GT-driver, still as good as he was in the past.

Ah yes but he crashed the car at Magny Cours, didnt he? Went down the inside of the Eurotech Porsche into turn 1 if I remember rightly, please correct me if I am wrong. Maybe you are right, maybe he is as good as he ever has been, I just dont think he is at the moment, I just think he was better back in say the late 90s - 2000-2002.

Pescatori is as much of a star as Gollin imho. He didn't won the NGT class for nothing, the guy sure is fast. Ramos is more of the gentleman driver there, but Pescatori is as much of a topdriver as Gollin.

Yeah Pescatori did win the NGT championship I know, but that was back in 2001. Quite some time ago now, not won anything major for quite some time, maybe thats more to do with the car though, but then if he is as good as people say why isnt he in a top GT1 team like Aston Martin or Corvette? Thats not to say BMS arent good because they are, but they arent THE best.

As for Pescatori being as good a driver as Gollin, perhaps. I dont know, Gollin has done a lot, including winning the FIA GT championship last year overall, and Gollin still has age on his side.

[The Badger]

Audi picked Pescatori for a Le Mans drive a couple years back ..... thats a big vote in my opinion . I reckon he is an excellant driver ,he was great to watch in a 333SP too !!!

There are a lot of great drivers out there , for example , kevin McGarrity , who just needs a decent sponsor . There are too many drivers in the same boat if you ask me

[Bramzel]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Ah yes but he crashed the car at Magny Cours, didnt he? Went down the inside of the Eurotech Porsche into turn 1 if I remember rightly, please correct me if I am wrong. Maybe you are right, maybe he is as good as he ever has been, I just dont think he is at the moment, I just think he was better back in say the late 90s - 2000-2002.

He didn't crash it, he was taken off by Ian Khan who wasn't paying attention when being lapped. Not Bouchuts fault. Imho he's still as good as in the 00-02 years.

[Fab]

It had probably been gievn already... nevermind, the Cirtek DBR9 was displayed in the LM paddock last week-end. A pic of the blus AM on Jérôme Mugnier's Virages...

[TheNewBob]

That car does looks seriously stunning in that shade of blue...

[Wout]

Accoording to a Dutch website, the two LNT TVR's that were withdrawn from the British GT round this weekend, will compete in FIA GT for the rest of the season. So they will probably do the 24h race?!

[Dani Filth]

Originally Posted by Fab

It had probably been gievn already... nevermind, the Cirtek DBR9 was displayed in the LM paddock last week-end. A pic of the blus AM on Jérôme Mugnier's Virages...

holly **** it looks better than BR Green .. much better IMHO

[Dani Filth]

Bouchut hasn't won this season in FIA GT . but he's lighting fast ..
he was the only one in the 1m58 at Brno in the race ..
he has the same problem as Philip Peter . Peter has i think 2 poles so far this season and is racing at the top . but they are let down by the teammates .. JMB has only one real competitive line-up . and that's the Wendlinger car .