ALMS 2012 Discussion - Page 48

The Badger · 17 Dec 2011, 14:53 (Ref:3001228)

Multimatic are back .... cool . Another lease of life for you lucky Americans ..... lovely sounding machine . Wonder will that be a tie up with Fernandez , as Primat is no longer there ?

Either way , great news . Sounds very much like a confirmation to me ?

Fogelhund · 17 Dec 2011, 14:54 (Ref:3001229)

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Badger

Multimatic are back .... cool . Another lease of life for you lucky Americans ..... lovely sounding machine .

I suspect this is a GTE program....

tlongman · 17 Dec 2011, 14:58 (Ref:3001233)

Guys its just a program for Continental Tire Series GS class. Aston Martin is entering 1 or 2 V8 Vantages there and I guess Multimatic are dropping the Mustang in there and running the Aston instead.

Heres the entry list for the Continental Tire season opener. His car is #55.

http://204.12.108.2/schedule/entryli...ies=k&eid=3430

WMUCarGuy · 17 Dec 2011, 15:27 (Ref:3001241)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlongman

Guys its just a program for Continental Tire Series GS class. Aston Martin is entering 1 or 2 V8 Vantages there and I guess Multimatic are dropping the Mustang in there and running the Aston instead.

Heres the entry list for the Continental Tire season opener. His car is #55.

http://204.12.108.2/schedule/entryli...ies=k&eid=3430

Multimatic will have their hands full with the Focus ST-R as well.

Starworks with a pair of 302Rs as well. That'll be cool!

Fogelhund · 17 Dec 2011, 16:02 (Ref:3001255)

Quote:

Originally Posted by tlongman

Guys its just a program for Continental Tire Series GS class. Aston Martin is entering 1 or 2 V8 Vantages there and I guess Multimatic are dropping the Mustang in there and running the Aston instead.

Heres the entry list for the Continental Tire season opener. His car is #55.

http://204.12.108.2/schedule/entryli...ies=k&eid=3430

Dang...

Speed-King · 17 Dec 2011, 16:26 (Ref:3001264)

There is also another semi-factory Aston Martin Conti-GS team that should be announced soon.

Deleted · 17 Dec 2011, 16:59 (Ref:3001271)

Oh bummer.. for a while I was getting all excited!

FordCosworthPanoz · 17 Dec 2011, 17:42 (Ref:3001286)

Interesting to see Gunnar Jeanette racing in the Ford Focus. Seems Continental is still the healthiest road racing series in the States, and good to see another manufacturer racing in it.

A Multimatic GTE Vantage program would have been really nice (couldn't care less about alms LMP1 anymore) and perhaps Multimatic could expand to the ALMS in the future.

WMUCarGuy · 17 Dec 2011, 18:31 (Ref:3001301)

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordCosworthPanoz

Interesting to see Gunnar Jeanette racing in the Ford Focus. Seems Continental is still the healthiest road racing series in the States, and good to see another manufacturer racing in it.

A Multimatic GTE Vantage program would have been really nice (couldn't care less about alms LMP1 anymore) and perhaps Multimatic could expand to the ALMS in the future.

Multimatic does whatever they're paid to do by manufacturers. Currently, they're Ford Racing's development team and developed the 302R and will now be doing the same for the Focus ST-R.

Looks like AMR are also enlisting their services to do the same for a GA-spec Vantage.

Speed-King · 17 Dec 2011, 18:37 (Ref:3001305)

While GT4 started out as a European version of Conti GS, there has been a lot of rules creep there, and I am wondering how close the GS-car is going to be to the latest GT4-spec Vantages.

With all the latest goodies from the European series it is probably closer to Rolex GT than to Conti GS-speeds, so I could see them taking the cars there by 2013.
At least that would make more sense than completely castrating the V12 GT3 for a Rolex Series program, if there ever is one.

JAG · 18 Dec 2011, 18:47 (Ref:3001612)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGD

Two reasons to celebrate - another LMP2 (perhaps with the Roush Ford, but my guess is they'll go with one of the conventional 3 engines) and no GTE-Am class! That's starting to look like a good decision by the ALMS. Black Swan in ALMS GTE-Am or ALMS P2? Yeah, I'd much rather see them in P2.

I'd say P2 would have grown regardless as it not only makes sense for teams like Black Swan, with cost control and at least five years stability, once a few teams entered it would gain it's own momentum.

GTE however needs to be managed carefully, the series needs to listen to teams like FL as they run a Pro and Am car, if Am is not recognised, and they feel strongly enough, they could pull both cars, with GA and Continental Tires providing a good alternative.

GTC has overstayed it's welcome, but I understand there's one year left on their contract, by contrast LMPC is one of the few stepping stones to P1/P2, and needed until second hand P2's becoming readily available.

Salamus · 18 Dec 2011, 21:03 (Ref:3001648)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

GTC has overstayed it's welcome, but I understand there's one year left on their contract, by contrast LMPC is one of the few stepping stones to P1/P2, and needed until second hand P2's becoming readily available.

I do agree that LMPC has been terrific for the ALMS these past couple of years. The class has made for some amazing racing and it is a great opportunity for new teams to enter the series. However, I believe for the sake of the ALMS, they should make LMP2 the top class and leave LMP1 for the big boys from the WEC. It would be a lot better to have potentially 5-6 cars duel for the overall win then 2-3 cars.

AGD · 18 Dec 2011, 23:03 (Ref:3001677)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

GTE however needs to be managed carefully, the series needs to listen to teams like FL as they run a Pro and Am car, if Am is not recognised, and they feel strongly enough, they could pull both cars, with GA and Continental Tires providing a good alternative.

If the ALMS had an -Am class, how many teams would sign up for that? One Flying Lizard car and maybe Black Swan? One ESM car maybe? Maybe not even that many? That's not sufficient for a class. Teams like Miller are ordering new cars and such so there just does not seem to be much interest in -Am competition. Now, if they want to get rid of GTC, maybe it could make sense. Even then, GTC is a lot cheaper than -Am so teams looking to go to GTE competition may just go the -Pro route anyway. Dagys said that P2 is cheaper than GTE by quite a bit (I think that is what he was told) so maybe teams should look in that direction if they think GT(Pro) costs too much. I'd welcome the competition.

WMUCarGuy · 19 Dec 2011, 00:48 (Ref:3001691)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AGD

If the ALMS had an -Am class, how many teams would sign up for that? One Flying Lizard car and maybe Black Swan? One ESM car maybe? Maybe not even that many? That's not sufficient for a class. Teams like Miller are ordering new cars and such so there just does not seem to be much interest in -Am competition. Now, if they want to get rid of GTC, maybe it could make sense. Even then, GTC is a lot cheaper than -Am so teams looking to go to GTE competition may just go the -Pro route anyway. Dagys said that P2 is cheaper than GTE by quite a bit (I think that is what he was told) so maybe teams should look in that direction if they think GT(Pro) costs too much. I'd welcome the competition.

If there was one though, I think you'd see a lot more GTC teams moving up to GT Am. Most GTC teams have amateurs and not many of them want to spend the money to finish 10th in GT. If there was a GT Am, there'd be a place for them to move up the ladder and be competitive past GTC.

AGD · 19 Dec 2011, 01:17 (Ref:3001693)

Quote:

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

If there was one though, I think you'd see a lot more GTC teams moving up to GT Am.

I don't know about that though. The cost of moving up to GTE-Am from GTC is probably more than the cost of moving up to P2. Perhaps significantly more once resale values are considered and stuff like that. And some may consider the P2 car a lot more fun to drive and P2 cars can be converted to P1 cars. I'm not sure then how much interest there would be. Replacing GTC with -Am would be acceptable in my mind, but that would probably lead to a net loss of car count. That might be considered ok if the other classes are doing fine. But, yeah, I'm glad teams like Miller and Black Swan are stepping up instead of staying minor players. In the case of Miller (and all the other 2012 spec. Porsche teams), however, I regret the fact that they are driving dually looking cars that look like crap! I can only imagine what the wide BMWs will look like.

911targa · 19 Dec 2011, 05:15 (Ref:3001736)

If there could be a GTE AM class in ALMS,expect

Paul Miller 997
Krohn 430/458
Flying Lizard 997
Black Swan 997
ESM 458
Robertson FordGT
RSR XKR
Alex Job 997
Proton 997(selected/WEC races)
Larbre C6(selected/WEC races)
AF 430/458(selected/WEC races)
Gulf MidEast V8 Vantage(selected/WEC races)
Manthey 997(selected/WEC races)

Not bad for a new class though

AGD · 19 Dec 2011, 05:32 (Ref:3001742)

Quote:

Originally Posted by 911targa

If there could be a GTE AM class in ALMS,expect

Paul Miller 997
Krohn 430/458
Flying Lizard 997
Black Swan 997
ESM 458
Robertson FordGT
RSR XKR
Alex Job 997
Proton 997(selected/WEC races)
Larbre C6(selected/WEC races)
AF 430/458(selected/WEC races)
Gulf MidEast V8 Vantage(selected/WEC races)
Manthey 997(selected/WEC races)

Not bad for a new class though

FLM, ok, there is obvious interest there. BSR, maybe they would have been, but they seem happy that they gave P2 a shot. At this juncture, I don't think they would be interested. ESM, maybe. I don't know if Ed Brown wants the latest spec. stuff or not. Robertson, maybe, but I don't know if they even plan on racing in 2012.

Paul Miller has purchased a 2012 spec car so they would not be eligible for GTE-Am (unless they ran their old car too, but I don't know why they would want to do that). Alex Job, I doubt it. He only runs if someone is paying him to run. Maybe someone would pay him to run, but that is a stretch again. RSR Jag, I doubt it. First, who knows if they even race next year. Second, if they do, I assume they will make changes to the car and that would probably not make it eligible for GTE-Am anyway.

As for the WEC teams, they'll race at Sebring only and that is it. There may not be even that much in 2013. Krohn might be the possible exception, but I can't imagine them doing a full season of WEC and ALMS. Maybe they would do ALMS only if there was an Am class, but I don't know.

The one possible advantage the ALMS would have of adding an GTE-Am class is that it could enable some more Le Mans auto-invites to come out of the ALMS. That could be tempting for some teams. I'm not sure if the whole auto-invite situation has been settled yet so this may not even be a valid point. We'll see.

NaBUru38 · 19 Dec 2011, 06:17 (Ref:3001754)

American Le Mans Series to Chile, Brazil, Argentina?

Fogelhund · 19 Dec 2011, 11:43 (Ref:3001825)

Quote:

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

American Le Mans Series to Chile, Brazil, Argentina?

Nice idea, but a bit of a fantasy for now.

Almost as much fantasy as this GTE-Am list.

**joeb** · 19 Dec 2011, 14:54 (Ref:3001868)

The Conquest/Oak deal has become official now according to Autosport.
Also the article has the first image of the 2012 Oak car. Fin and holes.

lms · 19 Dec 2011, 15:25 (Ref:3001884)

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeb

The Conquest/Oak deal has become official now according to Autosport.
Also the article has the first image of the 2012 Oak car. Fin and holes.

on the image the holes dont look so big...
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...mp2-confirmed/

"Conquest will enter the LMP2 ranks in the ALMS with a heavily revised version of the Oak-Pescarolo" - cant wait to see this. I hope its not just the fin and the holes, although I wouldnt refer to those as "aerodynamic updates". I hope there will be at least one hpd-oak racing somewhere next year.

JAG · 19 Dec 2011, 15:42 (Ref:3001892)

Quote:

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

If there was one though, I think you'd see a lot more GTC teams moving up to GT Am. Most GTC teams have amateurs and not many of them want to spend the money to finish 10th in GT. If there was a GT Am, there'd be a place for them to move up the ladder and be competitive past GTC.

Going up against Corvette and BMW is a monumental task, before you even consider the favoured Porsche and Ferrari teams, in GTE-Am you could have a solid run in a 430, or even run a 458, which is still a very new piece of kit.

A factory team doesn't want to be beaten by it's customers, and customers will always complain about the lack of equal equipment, IMO GTE-Am would mean a far greater chance of seeing customer Corvette's in the series.

Coach Ep · 19 Dec 2011, 15:59 (Ref:3001901)

John Dagys is building up tension even more (from Twitter):

Quote:

Originally Posted by @johndagys

There will be more big #ALMS news coming later today

Not another confirmation of an already rumored program then, could we see something big like Audi coming back???

EDIT: it could be Muscle Milk´s HPD, we´ll see...

Fogelhund · 19 Dec 2011, 16:07 (Ref:3001903)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Not another confirmation of an already rumored program then, could we see something big like Audi coming back???

Doubt it... Probably nothing that big at all... LMP2 team confirmation in all probability. Hype gets attention.

gwyllion · 19 Dec 2011, 16:14 (Ref:3001905)

Indeed, a next tweet suggests a LMP2 confirmation:

Quote:

Originally Posted by @johndagys

I know there were some skeptics, but now do you all believe that #ALMS LMP2 is heading forward with 4 confirmed (or nearly confirmed) cars?

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