ALMS Problems...

Just got back from the Road America race in Elkhart Lake, WI. and I'm worried!?! The racing was close and nail biting, closest overall win in ALMS HISTORY!!! Audi vs. Peugeot? Porsche vs. Acura/Honda? Nope, Dyson vs. Cytosport(?), granted these are good teams, but not the factory-backed juggernauts I witnessed just a couple years ago.

I was as extremely happy when I got to the track on Friday. The roar of v8's and a lone, provactive v12, were pure pleasure to my ears! Walking the paddock at one of America's BEST road courses brought very different emotions. Excitement over just being around these beauties of engineering, and uneasyness of not seeing all the major players. The GT class is the one exception, multiple makes, battling tooth and nail!!! But the shortage of major LMP1or 2 teams like Audi, Peugeot, Porsche(Penske), Highcroft, and others is killing me and the ALMS! Yes the TV deal sucks, the economy sucks, but good god could we NOT put a nail in the coffin of the ALMS. Attendence was WAY down and the show was good for a real fan, but where was the appeal for new fans?

I LOVE the technology, diversity, and thrill of Endurance Racing. I just don't want Europe to have it all to themselves....

That's the problem with factory supported racing. The factories are finicky, and they can pull their money whenever the economy turns. Look at what happened when Ford pulled their backing of Champ Car...

Maroon gets it.

Sanctioning bodies that solicit direct factory participation are playing with fire. When the economy sours or when a company chooses a different direction (or both), manufacturers will leave.

While ALMS is a showcase for technology, only the GT classes have support and that's because the cars are reasonably close to their street counterparts. The LMP cars are awesome but Audi doesn't have a big enough (and interested enough) market in the US to support a team. Fans should feel grateful that Peugot comes over twice a year and try to stick it their rival.

It's going to take a while for things to shake-out and I hope the ALMS guys can make it work.

most people can't relate to the high end cars that race in those series.. i know i can't stand watching those goofy looking prototype cars, even tho i know they are awesome machines built and raced by awesome teams with some of the best drivers in the world. same with open wheel cars- Indycars and F1 cars look like oversized go-karts to most people, and the "swarm of angry bees" noise they make doesn't help to endear them to the general public.

but it would be cool if some of the production based cars would get more coverage and get back to the level of public interest of something like the Trans Am series back in the late 60's..

Swarm of angry bees? That's a two stroke!

A bit of hellfire mixed with the beautiful tone of an angel song? THAT'S Formula 1!

In reply to novaderrik:

Cars like the original Ferrari GTO, the Lola GT and the GT40 pulled me over to the darkside. I'm no closer to owning one now as I was then, but I did and still do relate to them, if only at a fantasy level.

I also watched the Indy500 and loved it until I caught the occasional F1 race on ABC's WWS; I was hooked and I still relate.

Some have broader interests in motorsports, some are rather more narrow-minded.

To paraphrase Yogi Berra,

"If people don't want to come out to the race track, how are you going to stop 'em?"

I love the LMP cars too, but I realize it's a small niche here in NA. I hope it will stay around.

I gave up on watching ALMS this year due to the TV deal. I watch 24 hrs of LeMans, but I have not seen an ALMS race this year. Too much other stuff to do to worry about when ALMS is on then waste 2hrs-3hrs of my life watching it. I DVR'ed 24 of LeMans and took a week to watch it.

As for going to a race. It would be nice, but they are all to far away. I could go to long beach, but I don't want to go to LA. I'd rather spend my money on driving my own race car.

waste your life watching ALMS? Some of the best racing I have ever seen has happened this season in ALMS GT!

If you can only watch one, check out Long Beach from this spring.

Yes . . . GT this season has been off the hook. It's refreshing to see the GT teams battle tooth and nail for every position on the track . . . I kinda hate it when they switch to LMP cars during the coverage lol!!

Not too sure what to say about the Challenge classes . . . love the concept, but the execute leaves me with meh . . .

I have watched two races of any kind this year. Monaco and the Indy 500. I just never think to put it on and I don't have cable anymore.

bear in mind that this is the first year for the new LMP2 engine rules. In theory, they should be cheaper, since there is a reasonable power target for the cars (something between 400-500hp), which is managable for a lot of engines. Just that so far, few have stepped up.

What I'm more interested in is that there are some V8's that are quite questionable in the class- say Hondas. they don't have a production v8. But I digress.

Nissan has two engines- one v8 and one turbo v6, but the v8 is the one that's the current choice.

there was a press release that Roush was going to market an EcoBoost V6 for the class, but outside of a few turbo experiements, I've not heard word one.

IMHO, it's a great class for some of the newer engines, like the Di engines. I suppose it's possible that I4's could work, too- like how Dyson is making a Mazda 4cyl work for P1, it should be an easy swap down to P2.

It's almost as if the manufacturers are feeling the classes out and checking potential a little too late.

GT2 rocks. GT1 I read will go away in FIA's eyes, since nobody wants to run there. GT3 has the potential that TransAm ideas have- the cars are even more original than GT2. The problem right now is that there's currently few choices for that class, and mostly are one, which is even named after the class.

I like that GTC and LMPC are available, but they are field fillers. IMSA and ACO need to figure out how to encourage LMPC cars to move to LMP2, and maybe move the GTC to GT3 (since they are almost the same). 4 classes isn't too bad.

The one good thing is that the ACO has worked with IMSA/AMLS and the Japanese LS group to make a global endurance series. Small at the moment, but I think the grid at the Laguna Seca race will be larger thanks to that.

I love ALMS/IMSA/ACO and still love GrandAm/DP racing. For some reason, endurance racing is interesting to me. I dream of being part of a team that takes on LeMans- sitting on the pit wall at 2am, keeping track of the car and other cars with a twinge of nervousness of finishing.... Sounds cool.

Strike_Zero wrote: Not too sure what to say about the Challenge classes . . . love the concept, but the execute leaves me with meh . . .

TBH, the Challenge classes are field-fillers but they put on a good, intra-class show at the same time. Plus it's nice having some backmarkers to add a bit of a "challenge" for the fast guys.

Thanks for the reminder. Dont really follow too much ALMS, but I am going to the baltimore race in a week and a half. Super excited. These cars appeal to me much more than the Indy/F1 cars (see, I dont even remember which is running, thats how interested I am in those)

I love the ALMS - I've watched every minute of every race this year. And I could do it again right now if I wanted, because all the races (and qualifying) are available on ESPN3.

My one complaint with the series is how they handle cautions - separate pit windows for prototypes and gt cars may work at Lime Rock when laps are short, but greater than 15 minute caution periods at Road America to pull someone out of the kitty litter is kind of ridiculous.

Maroon92 wrote: waste your life watching ALMS? Some of the best racing I have ever seen has happened this season in ALMS GT! If you can only watch one, check out Long Beach from this spring.

yeah, maybe, .... the only problem is you see so little of it.... way too many puff pieces / interviews, etc... the camera needs to stay on the cars ... 'course that's just my opinion

alfadriver what are you talking about?

1) GT1 here in the states was dismantled already, as of a long time ago. It's simply the GT class, not GT2/3 etc. 2) What Honda V8? They have the 2.8L twin turbo V6 that is identical to their street going counterparts (3.0L and 3.5). They have Indy V8s....for Indy.

The "economy" is even hurting Grand-Am. Some teams that have been in the series since it's inception can only make cameo appearances due to sponsorship woes or have dropped down into the GT class or just disappeared all together. This year though, I have preferred to watch Grand-Am over ALMS for the simple fact that the coverage and the racing has been way better. You can re-watch ALMS races on ESPN3 for a while after they broadcast in their entirety but you are still getting commercials and it's on ESPN3...

DirtyBird222 wrote: alfadriver what are you talking about? 1) GT1 here in the states was dismantled already, as of a long time ago. It's simply the GT class, not GT2/3 etc. 2) What Honda V8? They have the 2.8L twin turbo V6 that is identical to their street going counterparts (3.0L and 3.5). They have Indy V8s....for Indy. The "economy" is even hurting Grand-Am. Some teams that have been in the series since it's inception can only make cameo appearances due to sponsorship woes or have dropped down into the GT class or just disappeared all together. This year though, I have preferred to watch Grand-Am over ALMS for the simple fact that the coverage and the racing has been way better. You can re-watch ALMS races on ESPN3 for a while after they broadcast in their entirety but you are still getting commercials and it's on ESPN3...

Technically, GT1 still exists, but the ALMS does not recognize it. And there were a couple of GT1's at LeMans. GT3 is another FIA class that could run since GT1 is out, and LMP has been lowered in speed. GT is an FIA GT2 spec.

Racecar Engineering mentioned a Honda V8 as one of the key engines for LeMans. I thought they mentioned that it was an LMP2 engine. I'll have to read it again, but the whole article seemed to be focusing on a transition year- even LMP1 didn't equalize the gas and diesel cars as they will in 2012.

I'll try to check the articles again- but they had a great issue about LeMans. From an I6 Aston Martin LMP1 project to focusing on the turbos that Audi used for their winning car. Including an article on HOW they won LeMans.

My main issues with Grand Am are 1) the shape of the DP cars- but I know that is being addressed for future cars- both the greenhouse and the side pods, and 2) the GT's that, well- I just don't appreciate that GT cars are tube framed or production. Seems wierd. That said, I still watch as much of it as I can. And I know the tube cars are starting to go away.

I've also read enough hints that GrandAm is looking at some major changes.

The major difference between the two series is simple- ACO/ALMS encourages direct factory support, Grand Am does not. Both sides have merit, and both sides faults. And it's pretty clear that both are suffering with the economy.

Dirty, you know you can watch ALMS on their website after a week of it being on ESPN3.com, right?

The races seem to be available for quite a while as well...

There were exactly ZERO GT1 cars at Le Mans. There were a few last year, but as of 2011, GT1 is a sprint class ONLY!

Yes I know you can watch them on the ALMS website...the exact same coverage you get on ESPN3, the V8 was for the Highcroft LMP1 car I believe, and when's the last time the FIA ran a Prototype/GT race in the states?

I'm glad to see the factories backing down. They ruined GTP racing in the first place. Now if someone can make a 962ish car that more people can afford to put on the track we will have something. On second thought just open it up to all GTP cars pre 88 and I'll watch every week

Good stuff guys! The point is that I LOVE technology that pushes the limits and rules! I DO NOT like Nascar (ok if you do), it doesn't push any limits. They are driving billboards. Remember when all the cars looked different: crazy intakes, fat tires, wings all over the place, I'm off topic... I just REALLY hate to hear any motorsport series is in trouble!

I wonder who is the core target audience of the ALMS, really? I know we are all passionate fans... Is this a series that is actually highly dependent on consumer level sponsorship? Is this series really a manufactures playground? Or is a just a handful of teams that want to and can somehow afford to allow the series to continue for their own enjoyment?

I love ALMS and think the TV coverage sux.

I'm not watching anything but short youtube videos on my computer, that's why I bought this super duper big screen TV and sound system.

I too hate the DLP cars. I do like the Challenge cars.. I prefer the more street type cars in both series.