New ALMS "Brazelton Prototype" Class
08-07-2009, 01:52 AM
#1
Melting Slicks
Thread Starter
New ALMS "Brazelton Prototype" Class
Latest poop from Murpythebear:
http://murphythebear.com/blog/index....ce-reigned-in/
"What he Knows (that you didn’t – until now)
The CEO has lately returned to making references similar to the infamous “If you knew what I know.” Well, at least part of what’s been hinted will be the subject of the Elkhart Lake “Stakeholder’s Summit” next week. According to Murphy’s sources, here’s what Scott Atherton will announce:
The American Le Mans Series will add a prototype class based on the ACO’s nascent Courage-Ford V-8 series. The prototypes, selling for $345,000 complete, will be built by EMT in Braselton. To control costs, engines will be sealed (and available only from EMT), only two sets of gears can be used (long and short circuit), and only a “small range” of springs can be used to modify set-up. Courage (now owned by Oreca), Lola, Multimatic, and Haas will all have pieces of this pie. Don’t be surprised if Yokohama is the exclusive tire supplier. Are we surprised at Oreca showing up in Georgia next month in the middle of the LMS schedule? Not anymore.
The important thing here? Instead of running as a stand-alone race (as the same cars do in Europe, and as IMSA Lights do in North America) these spec machines will run as a class within American Le Mans Series races.
The Bear is going to leave the dissection of whether this is good or bad to others (look for a Last Turn Clubhouse commentary in due course). The suspicion is the more current participants (particularly GT2 teams) consider this the less they’ll like it. Murphy’s “first take” is if you’re an EMT “stakeholder” you like it. If you’re racing in the American Le Mans Series, not so much."
Apparently the new class will be similar to the cars running in the European "Formula Le Mans" series
http://www.formulalemans.com/en/
http://murphythebear.com/blog/index....ce-reigned-in/
"What he Knows (that you didn’t – until now)
The CEO has lately returned to making references similar to the infamous “If you knew what I know.” Well, at least part of what’s been hinted will be the subject of the Elkhart Lake “Stakeholder’s Summit” next week. According to Murphy’s sources, here’s what Scott Atherton will announce:
The American Le Mans Series will add a prototype class based on the ACO’s nascent Courage-Ford V-8 series. The prototypes, selling for $345,000 complete, will be built by EMT in Braselton. To control costs, engines will be sealed (and available only from EMT), only two sets of gears can be used (long and short circuit), and only a “small range” of springs can be used to modify set-up. Courage (now owned by Oreca), Lola, Multimatic, and Haas will all have pieces of this pie. Don’t be surprised if Yokohama is the exclusive tire supplier. Are we surprised at Oreca showing up in Georgia next month in the middle of the LMS schedule? Not anymore.
The important thing here? Instead of running as a stand-alone race (as the same cars do in Europe, and as IMSA Lights do in North America) these spec machines will run as a class within American Le Mans Series races.
The Bear is going to leave the dissection of whether this is good or bad to others (look for a Last Turn Clubhouse commentary in due course). The suspicion is the more current participants (particularly GT2 teams) consider this the less they’ll like it. Murphy’s “first take” is if you’re an EMT “stakeholder” you like it. If you’re racing in the American Le Mans Series, not so much."
Apparently the new class will be similar to the cars running in the European "Formula Le Mans" series
http://www.formulalemans.com/en/
08-07-2009, 06:30 AM
#2
Safety Car
I'm glad there are others here that follow The Bear.
This is a move to get some cars on the track. the problem I see is that it's expensive. If I have any interest at all in running ALMS I would do with one of the Porsche GT3s. They're not cheap but they a lot less than these cars.
This is the time of year when you get your sponsors in place for next year. ALMS must be aware of how bad it really is out there. You can't run a race with less that 20 cars on the grid. At least not a race that calls itself a major race.
Richard Newton
This is a move to get some cars on the track. the problem I see is that it's expensive. If I have any interest at all in running ALMS I would do with one of the Porsche GT3s. They're not cheap but they a lot less than these cars.
This is the time of year when you get your sponsors in place for next year. ALMS must be aware of how bad it really is out there. You can't run a race with less that 20 cars on the grid. At least not a race that calls itself a major race.
Richard Newton
