only two official manufacturers though, that's my point.
in 1999 you had 3x Bimmer, 3x Toyota, 3x MB (without considering the thrill they added to the event), 4x Audi, 2x Panoz, 1x Nissan (not official IIRC) and 1x Ferrari (not official this one too IIRC) just nominating car makers in the top class. at least 13 cars of those were quite fast, and 9 of them were eligible for overall victory.
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In 2008 though the Dome and AM-Lola were not in the same league as I recall. How Factory was the AM-Lola? I dunno really. And Dome aren't privateers?
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So what will Acura and the ALMS do-let Acura bully everyone like Audi did with the R8, or will IMSA go against the "best wishes" of the ACO and equalize the LMP2 cars like the past couple of years to allow them to go for overall wins(which from an Audi fan point of view kinda sucked, but at least it made the races interesting!)?
For me, only Sebring, Le Mans, and maybe PLM may be the ony ALMS/LMS races worth watching next year-at least the Audi R8 steam roller was tollerable-from time to time, Panoz or Dyson could beat them fair and square, and not take advantage of rules quarks(cough, cough, Penske) to do their winning.
IMSA and the ACO are screwed if Audi, Peugeot, an other manufacture, or a top flight privateer can't step in-although Audi supported, Champion Racing was a privateer team the entire time they ran the R8 save for those 3 races in '06, and have proven to be as good as(if not at times better) than the Joest factory squad. Problem is well likely have no such luck with Champion running the R10 unless Audi Sport approves a small scale factory effort to back Champion up, which at this stage may be too much to hope for, as the R10 takes more factory help to run than the R8 ever did.
And there are no really good privateer teams in the ALMS-I know that pay drivers and gentlemen drivers get ripped on for being slow and causing most of the accidents in the LMS and especially the ALMS, and that they are a necessary evil in sportscar racing, where little sponsorship money can be found by privateers-but as long a Intersport allow Richard Barry and other pay drivers in their cars, and if Autocon continues to do the same, the ALMS may have to create competition again. If the Lola coupes share the same tub(like the open cars do) between the LMP1 and LMP2 cars, could it be possible that Dyson can upgrade their cars to LMP1 spec by fitting an LMP1 engine, like the AER V8 or a Judd V10?
So may we be seeing sportscar racing imploding like it did in 1993?
Last edited by Chernaudi; 12-05-2008 at 10:08 AM.
I guess considering Champion Motorsport a privateer team is a little too much.
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It all seemed so good a few months ago when all these manufacturers were expressing interest and now that Audi is leaving it suddenly changes everything.
Well, Champion has won almost every IMSA Cup fromm 2001-2005, an award exclusive to private teams. So I guess you have to ask IMSA why Champion Racing was considered a private team, while Penske was considered a factory team by the same rules and defintion.
And rumors are now that Champion will put the raceshop on the back burner after January anyways, so I guess it's all irrelevant right now-aside from maybe Petit Le Mans(pending an Audi Sport decision), only Sebring and LM are sure for Audi, and a full ALMS season is out of the question.
Is someone running an R10 an option at all?
Not really-Audi never really thought of offering the R10 to customers, which makes Peugeot's offer of such services seem like pure smoke blowing.
Add to that Champion preparing to mothball their race shop and possibly lay off employees temporarily, the chances of Audi having any involvment in the ALMS aside from Sebring, Le Mans, and maybe Petit Le Mans are basically gone.
Champion from 2001 to 2005 were a privateer team. They competed in their own color and raced as "Champion Racing", and remembered that 2001-2003 Joest were actually present in the series...
Actually even 2006-2008 the Audi Sport N. America were run by the same people since Joest was concentrating in Europe and the development of the R10.
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My argument was that the level of equipment and capabilities showed by Champions with the R8 let me (and a lot of other people), they were just officially privateer. they seemed to be backed by Audi more than what I would have been if I had purchased an R8 (like Team Goh for example).
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