LMS 2011 Discussion

[The Badger]

Excellant news ..... best of luck with your new charge Mr.Firth .

P.S. ..... Dont forget to tune in here post race , for opinioned ear bashing !!!

[NaBUru38]

Standings after Spa:

LMP1 Teams:

1. Pescarolo, 22
2. Rebellion, 20
3. Quifel-ASM, 9
4. Mik, 2

LMP2 Teams:

1. Strakka, 23
2. Boutsen, 22
3. Greaves, 20
4. RLR, 17
5. TDS, 16
6. Pecom, 13
7. Race Performance, 13
8. Extreme Limite, 9
9. RML, 6

LMGTE Pro Teams:

1. AF Corse, 27
2. Hankook, 25
3. JMW, 22
4. Jota, 8
5. Prospeed, 7
6. Felbermayr-Proton, 6
7. IMSA, 0

LMGTE Am Teams:

1. AF Corse, 27
2. IMSA, 26
3. Felbermayr-Proton, 15
4. CRS, 10
5. Felbermayr-Proton, 8

LMGTE Manufacturers:

1. Ferrari, 57
2. Porsche, 49
3. Aston Martin, 8

[isynge]

Quifel aren't going to be at Imola and reading between the lines of the Planet Le Mans report, they seem pretty hacked off with engine reliability in their Zytek.

Link

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by isynge

Quifel aren't going to be at Imola and reading between the lines of the Planet Le Mans report, they seem pretty hacked off with engine reliability in their Zytek.

I'm not surprised frankly, two engine failures at pretty much the same point in the race (4 hours) is pretty much unacceptable. Sounds to me like they're busy looking for a new chassis/engine combination for next year as well.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

I'm not surprised frankly, two engine failures at pretty much the same point in the race (4 hours) is pretty much unacceptable. Sounds to me like they're busy looking for a new chassis/engine combination for next year as well.

I think the ARX-01e would be a mighty fine choice if they have the budget for it. I'm not sure if the ex-Highcroft one is still available, but I think that would put them at the top of the LMS LMP1 grid.

Having said that, if they want to stay in the LMS next year, it may make more sense for them to go back to LMP2 based on what the rules may be for the LMS next year. We'll see I guess.

Speaking of which, I see the Ginetta IES LMP2 is on the Imola entry list. Any chance it actually shows up to race?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by AGD

Speaking of which, I see the Ginetta IES LMP2 is on the Imola entry list. Any chance it actually shows up to race?

Yes, if Lawrence Tomlinson is at all serious.

[The Real DMN]

On Radio Le Mans he seemed that way. He said the team applied for Le Mans.

[The Badger]

I think their barking up the wrong tree in P1 .

[AGD]

Originally Posted by The Badger

I think their barking up the wrong tree in P1 .

I don't know, they had a fair shot (albeit still underdogs) of winning the LMS P1 championship this year if everything went to plan. Obviously that has not been the case. On the other hand, imagine where they could have been had they put Zytek Nismo Nissan LMP2 engines in their Zytek this year!

It would not shock me to see them go back to LMP2 especially if they are to race in the LMS again next year.

[lmpracer]

For the team moving to P1 was probably the cheapest way of continuing racing or pay to have the car modified to fit the zytek nissan unit into the existing chassis. A strange decision though as they would be nowhere in P1 against the diesels or others for that matter. I don't think Zytek have big plans for upgrades on the P1 cars and ASM don't seem to have the money anyway. From what I was told at SPA the engine problem was because of the driver and not engine component or other parts related. As for Lemans that might be the same or not...who knows!!
They should have stayed in P2 with the nissan unit as I'm sure Zytek would have known it was a cracker of an engine well before the start of 2011.

[AGD]

Originally Posted by lmpracer

They should have stayed in P2 with the nissan unit as I'm sure Zytek would have known it was a cracker of an engine well before the start of 2011.

It makes sense to say that now, but I can understand what they were thinking at the time. There choice was to:

A. Put a new and unproven Nissan LMP2 engine in the car

or

B. Keep the car as it is pretty much and try to beat Pescarolo (with their grandfathered car) and Rebellion (with their unproven TMG engines) to win the LMP1 championship in the LMS.

Also, speaking of which, Rebellion has their drivers listed as TBA for the 13 car on the Imola entry list. Is there some chance of a change there?

It would be nice to see the Ginetta Radical-IES hit the track this year. I'd like to see how it matches up to the Nismo unit, although last year's performance wasn't very optimistic looking and I'm not sure how much the Radical has left in it. Do you know which hour of the RLM broadcast Tomlinson was interviewed? I'd like to listen to that.

[pablocomics]

What do you think about the possibility of a CN class on the LMS next year?

[AGD]

Originally Posted by pablocomics

What do you think about the possibility of a CN class on the LMS next year?

CN/Speed EuroSeries cars would be a good guess as to what will be in the LMS next year, but we'll see I guess.

[JAG]

It makes sense for the Speed series to join the LMS, with them on board they should have grids of 45+, and fill the middle-ground between national, and world championship.

Back when Group C was around, Interseries was the only alternative, and national sportscar racing was practically non-existent, certainly anything above club level.

[tux]

Originally Posted by pablocomics

What do you think about the possibility of a CN class on the LMS next year?

Is it wise to have cars that will be running the same pace as the GTE cars?

Anyway if they were to join it would be great for the class, would encourage other manufacturers to develop CN cars but it would push the costs up, seems like it would end up like Formula Le Mans class only with more variety.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by JAG

Back when Group C was around, Interseries was the only alternative, and national sportscar racing was practically non-existent, certainly anything above club level.

Nope. In the early 80s DRM was run with prototypes and when they switched to group A regs and became DTM, there was the Würth Supercup for Group C-cars here in Germany which ran until 1990 (?).

And didn't the UK have it's own C2-Series?

[KA]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Nope. In the early 80s DRM was run with prototypes and when they switched to group A regs and became DTM, there was the Würth Supercup for Group C-cars here in Germany which ran until 1990 (?).

And didn't the UK have it's own C2-Series?

There are still probably more alternative series that a sportscar- and particularly a GT- team can run in than there were in the 80's.

I'm not so clued up on mainland Europe, but apart from DRM, Supercup and Interserie, there was the British C2 series you mentioned (lasted for about 3 seasons, with grids often struggling to break into double figures, even when padded out with old Group 6 cars, S2000s and other obselete or club/national level cars), but what else?

Further afield there was the Japanese Group C scene, and IMSA in the USA, but IIRC there were none of the various national GT series we have now, most of which started with the revival of GT classes in the early/min 90's

[Speed-King]

Touring Car Racing was rather accomodating towards cars we would consider GTs today during the 80s, of course, with Supras, M3s and RX-7s competing in the European Touring Car Championship and also some national series...

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Nope. In the early 80s DRM was run with prototypes and when they switched to group A regs and became DTM, there was the Würth Supercup for Group C-cars here in Germany which ran until 1990 (?).

And didn't the UK have it's own C2-Series?

When you look around Europe today there are countless quality GT series, with pro teams, drivers, TV deals etc., in addition to club sportscar racing.

In the early '90's, Interseries and such were home to outdated Group C/5/6 cars, when the WSC collapsed, sportscar racing had to start afresh. It wasn't planned, but nearly two decades later, GT, and increasingly LMP, looks to have found a decent structure to take you from the club scene, to world championship level.

[Speed-King]

When you look around Europe today there are countless quality GT series, with pro teams, drivers, TV deals etc., in addition to club sportscar racing.

I won't argue that in general, even though the number of truly healthy/professional series is probably lower than most think.

GT, and increasingly LMP, looks to have found a decent structure to take you from the club scene, to world championship level.

Did they ever not have that? Yes, there was no official world championship, but there always was one or more top-series and they never had trouble recruiting newcomers from the national GT-ranks. It doesn't really take a structure for that, just people with money...

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

I won't argue that in general, even though the number of truly healthy/professional series is probably lower than most think.



Did they ever not have that? Yes, there was no official world championship, but there always was one or more top-series and they never had trouble recruiting newcomers from the national GT-ranks. It doesn't really take a structure for that, just people with money...

Well it need structure.
Going from Touring cars or Special Saloon Cars to a Le Mans team is a huge jump. Therefor a structure where the teams can learn and ready themselves makes the series much more stable, and keeps the quality high.

Just see F1, where the only structure to get some kind of success is buying a already existing team, instead of having a proper feeding series where teams are readied for F1.

[JAG]

You only need see what replaced Group C to understand how lacking sportscar racing was below the top tier, one-make Venturies, 911's etc., to form BPR GT.

In the UK British GT had a dozen cars, old 935's and specials, today there's GT3/4's built by manufacturers, and popular series for older models.

[eizox]

looking at the Imola Entry list, Guess racing are listed with running a B09/80 - Judd, i thought B09/80's were the Lola-Aston Martins, or am i getting confused?

[courageous]

Bxx/xx just refers to the chassis - any old engine could be slotted in (try not to pay to much attention to the xx/xx series number as the base chassis can be adapted- even an LMP1 open top to an LMP2 coupe)

[eizox]

aha ok, thanks for that!