why? its not like Porsche is handicapped, they still place quite well for a unibody car

 

You're right, Porsche isn't handicapped. It just seems like they;re giving other teams the easy way out. Building a tube fram car is a lot easier than a unibody. The attitude seems to be, "Well, nobody wants to/can put the effort in to beating Porsche on the equal ground, so here, we'll give them the easy way out"

Part of the challenge, and part of the appeal of GT racing is seeing what a car is capable of. I really don't care to see what some steel tubes with an engine is capable of.

 

I can't argue with what interests you. I also like to see the cars in as stock a form as possible. That is why watching the ST cars is so excting for me. I recommend showroom stock racing or the various Touring classes (T1/T2/T3)? That is about as pure as you are gonna get. The only coverage that gets on TV is the Runoffs. You can go watch SCCA races at your local roadcourse thoughout the year. Heck slap a cage in your car, put in a fuel cell, and a fire system and you can go bang fenders in T3 this year.
All that being said I am very excited about the GT cars. I look forward to watching the different RX8s built by 3 different teams and see how they do against each other as well as against everyone else in their class. I think the cars look awesome and will have sound and performance to match. Maybe I'll get a Calvin pissing on Porsche sticker for the back window of my RX8.

 

I agree that the ST class is also very exciting. I also really like the SCCA World Challenge Touring cars, where I root for the Mazda6 and the (almost no remaining of these) Mazda Protege.

 

porche can develop their own tube frame car

 

Yes, SS will be running the ST cars. The ST cars do not run in the 24-hour, but in a shorter support race run previous to the 24-hour, IIRC.

-Bern

 

Unfortunately, Team Spencer didn't get much practice or testing time in, but I do look for them to run good.

-Bern

 

Unfortunately, it would take a 4-rotor Rotary (500+ hp in NA form) in Prototypes, and Grand-Am is not interested in letting this "race" motor into the class. They were petitioned, but showed NO interest, and Mazda has no other "production-based engine" suitable!

N/A 20B would struggle mightly to get close to 500hp level needed... and Grand-Am was not ready to give any extreme weight breaks.

-Bern

 

Thats bad news, it would have been great to see a 4 rotor DP.

 

Well, it's a different ball game in ALMS

 

Well in the top ALMS (P1 - Protoype1) class, they would have to compete against the mighty Audi team and super quick Lolas... in (P2 - Protoype2) the B-K Motorsports (3-rotor) team is getting killed by the Porsche-Penske Team.

ALMS Sebring Test the last few days:

American Le Mans Series Winter Test at Sebring International Raceway

Monday
#6 Penske Racing's Porsche RS Spyder: 1:49.93 (LMP2)
(0.1 seconds off the pole-sitting time from last year's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, set by JJ Lehto in an Audi R8)

#9 Highcroft Racing Lola EX257-AER: 1:50.747 (LMP1)
Duncan Dayton, Rick Knoop, Gregor Fisken and Andy Wallace

#37 Lola B05/40-AER: 1:50.840 (LMP1)
Clint and Jon Field, and Liz Halliday

#16 Dyson Lola B06/10: 1:51.545 (LMP1)
James Weaver

#2 Audi Sport North America's Audi R10: 1:54.25 (LMP1)
Rinaldo Capello

#1 Audi Sport North America's Audi R10: 1:54.547 (LMP1)
Frank Biela

#8 B-K Motorsports' Mazda-powered Courage C65: 1:57.304. (LMP2)


Tuesday
Session 4
1. Maassen/Luhr/Collard, 1:49.477 (121.669 mph), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)

2. Dyson/Weaver, 1:50.665 (120.363 mph), Lola B06/10-AER (LMP1)

3. Capello, 1:51.808 (119.133 mph), Audi R10 (LMP1)

4. Dayton/Knoop/Fisken/Wallace, 1:52.168 (118.750 mph), Lola EX257-AER (LMP1)

5. Field/Field/Halliday, 1:53.826 (117.021 mph), Lola B05/40-AER (LMP2)

6. Cosmo/Matos, 1:55.960 (114.867 mph), Courage C65-Mazda (LMP2)

14. Biela, no time, Audi R10 (LMP1)


Session 5
1. Capello, 1:48.816 (122.408 mph), Audi R10 (LMP1)

2. Dyson/Weaver, 1:52.288 (118.624 mph), Lola B06/10-AER (LMP1)

3. Field/Field/Halliday, 1:52.676 (118.215 mph), Lola B05/40-AER (LMP2)

4. Biela, 1:54.037 (116.804 mph), Audi R10 (LMP1)

5. Dayton/Knoop/Fisken/Wallace, 1:57.101 (113.748 mph), Lola EX257-AER (LMP1)

6. Cosmo/Matos, 1:57.244 (113.609 mph), Courage C65-Mazda (LMP2)

14. Maassen/Luhr/Collard, 2:18.603 (96.102 mph), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)


Session 6
1. Dayton/Knoop/Fisken/Wallace, 1:49.547 (121.592 mph), Lola EX257-AER (LMP1)

2. Field/Field/Halliday, 1:50.231 (120.837 mph), Lola B05/40-AER (LMP2)

3. Maassen/Luhr/Collard, 1:50.313 (120.747 mph), Porsche RS Spyder (LMP2)

4. Dyson/Weaver, 1:50.359 (120.697 mph), Lola B06/10-AER (LMP1)

5. Cosmo/Matos, 1:56.696 (114.143 mph), Courage C65-Mazda (LMP2)




NOTE: B-K Motorsports will take delivery on their new Lola "in a couple of months." Let's hope this helps.

 

I dint know they were going to change the chasis I heard some rumors that they wanted a lola but the problem is torque they need to get more out of the coner, they need to go 4 rotor or FI.

the porche is running as fast as a lmp1, they need to restric that car.

I heard one of the porche's blew an angine is this true?

 

I can't wait to see the R10 being driven in anger. Holy diesel batman

 

On the Courage chassis, the one that B-K Motorsports team is using is overweight and oversized. It's actually a LeMans style (V-10) chassis and gearbox. Way to big for the LMP2 class. I think the the car is over weight by some 300lbs or so. The X-Trac box is way overkill for this application. Also the current C65 chassis being used by the team is a sort of a hybrid that was put together from C65 front-end and older C60 rear-end parts. So, it's really not been the ideal set-up. Hopefully a proper LOLA chassis will help. The funny thing is that Courage has just released a new LMP2 chassis also.




More Info on the new Courage Chassis:
http://www.lmsr.net/jan20.html

On the Porsche, they went through at least 3 motors in testing the last few days. As for their speed, the writing was on the wall at the season final at Laguna last season. In it's first race out, it almost won it overall. Porsche has said they would like to move up to LMP1 when they get the car reliable. They will continue with their LMP2 customer program too.

-Bern

 

Can't wait to see B-K at Road America this summer! hopefully they have all their issues sorted out and can find some speed.

 

Results from Qualifying today:

30 72 GT 1 Henzler/ Liddell/ van Overbeek Tafel Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.336 113.080 NEC/ Rembrandt Charms

31 74 GT 2 Davis/ Lux/ Espenlaub/ Tafel/ Tafel Racing / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.461 112.955 NEC/ Rembrandt Charms

32 82 GT 3 Werner/ Peter/ Quester/ Riccit Farnbacher Racing/ Farnbacher Loles / Porsche GT3 Cup 1:53.726 112.692 Red Bull

33 70 GT 4 Tremblay/ Haskell/ Altenburg/ SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 1:53.846 112.573 Mazdaspeed Motorsports/ Mazda USA

more Porsches

54 08 GT 25 K Goldin/ S Goldin/ Finlay/ Ri Goldin Brothers Racing / Mazda RX-8 1:59.458 107.285 CCM Cellular

more Porsches

67 63 GT 38 Spencer/ Spencer/ Mandeville/ Team Spencer Motorsports / Mazda RX-8 No Time --- Team Spencer Motorsports





It looks like the Team Spencer ride didn't make qualifying!


-Bern

 

Does this mean they won't be able to race or will they start back of the pack?
Paul.

 

I hope they can star, even from the back, I saw a pic of their car and it is hot.

speedsource is doing a great job!!!

 

Bern: that courage chasis is beutifull, but I think they do better with the lola it is a more tested platform

 

theres still hope for spencer racing theres another practice seccion and another qualifayng seccion, in practice they dit a 2:05.xx

 

Speedsource is the only chance of being competitive - the Goldin ans Spencer teams both qualified but are waaaayyyyy off the pace

 

Update: Speedsource is running extremely well. They are currently 3rd in class. Those of you with Speed Channel check them out. White # 70.

 

Make that 2nd in class now. Go Speedsource!

 

Sylvain is rocking some Porsches, reminiscent of Mazda during the IMSA GTU days. Was watching... only about 22 hours to go! I'll be getting back to it later on.

 

Mazda has taken the lead. This is truly cool and indeed reminiscent of the good old IMSA glory days.