Is the Am class a bad idea?

[Thaw Daggerslash]

So, two years the Am class has been at Le Mans, and we've had two bad accidents. Last year for Rockenfeller, this year for Davidson. Not good statistics.

Is it time to scrap this class? I'm all for allowing gentlemen drivers etc having a go, but really, only if they prove they're talented enough, and not a risk to others. You wouldn't have "gentlemen" drivers racing in the Indy 500 or the Monaco GP in this day and age.

What do you think?

[FIRE]

But we had also stupid accidents caused by pro's (McNish, Nakajima).

[Nick6]

Yes.

I provided a loophole for FLM to enter a 3rd car.

[airbusA346]

Originally Posted by Nick6

I provided a loophole for FLM to enter a 3rd car.

[airbusA346]

NO!!

[GAMEOFGUTS21]

They should stick to just "GT". This will attract better drivers and better teams, and discourage the amateurs as they will not be able to compete with the factory teams. I don't understand why Paltalla, Simonsen, Poulsen, Pilet, Armindo, Canal, Lamy, and so many others aren't in Pro. I find it kind of ridiculous. But the "pay to play" drivers need to go, IMHO.

[MitchZ06]

Lol, watch Le Mans die in the arse if we boot the gentleman drivers....

[supermario21]

I think Am drivers should be geared to run LMP2 cars or even bring in FLM and only let Pro teams run GT cars. The speed difference between top line prototypes combined with gentlemen drivers makes everything worse.

[Nick6]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

Lol, watch Le Mans die in the arse if we boot the gentleman drivers....

They can run in GT like before. Give a trophy to the top finishing gentleman drivers if you want to award them something. No need to split what was a healthy class and pretend we have 2 classes.

[Thaw Daggerslash]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

Lol, watch Le Mans die in the arse if we boot the gentleman drivers....

Yes, and watch someone die on track if we don't. :P

[The Badger]

Whatcha gotta realise is this ..... historically sportcars was the rich gentleman ..... no , AM class is great .

[deggis]

Even without these accidents, probably only a matter of time when the class gets booted or "merged" if entries increase little bit more for the other classes. At least I don't think they can keep turning down quality entries in other classes for much longer. (With this I mean that to call something a class there obivously has to be enough cars in it)

[broadrun96]

Can we hold or close any of these threads every time a driver causes anything from a slide to car destroying wreck? Usually filled with the SAME hand wringing and crying to exclude them all.

[NaBUru38]

I believe that it's hard to fill a 56-car grid only with professionals. It's not that there aren't 168 professional drivers willing to race. But some would reject driving for positions 45-56. It's natural that the backfielders get one or two amateurs.

[Speed-King]

The guys that are now in the AM class have always been at LM, so it's really nothing new in that regard.

I hate the philosophy of determining a class solely by driver talent rather than tech rules, but a safety hazard it isn't.

[JayBMS]

No: when we had a larger GT2 field they wernt all 'pro' cars. the Gents are what keep the race going. Remove P2 & GTE-AM and ACO racing would look very weak

[Japanese Samurai]

Ama class?
Is it the class in which Kazuki Nakajima participated?

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Japanese Samurai

Ama class?
Is it the class in which Kazuki Nakajima participated?

This is why you can't say pro drivers are good and amateur drivers are bad.
Since the beginning of Le Mans and sports car racing in general amateur drivers are part of the sport.

[mythoughtsareracing]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

Yes, and watch someone die on track if we don't. :P

Racing is dangerous and drivers are killed participating in it.
It's an unfortunate fact of racing. Professional vs amateur has nothing to do with it.

Originally Posted by FIRE

This is why you can't say pro drivers are good and amateur drivers are bad.
Since the beginning of Le Mans and sports car racing in general amateur drivers are part of the sport.

Thank you.

[Adam43]

I am not going to make a great long post because all my rationale has been said by others above.

The Am class is fine.

Actually one point. I see no reason to have the Am class, but gentleman drivers should be welcomed whatever.

Pants, I'm not good at this. Second point. Do we apply this to the N24 too?

[Fogelhund]

I'm not a fan of the AM class, because I think it is a consolation prize, which I am not particularly interested in. Having said that, if the AM class was just rolled back into the GTE single category, I don't think the number of actual amateurs in the race would decrease any, they would just be bankrolling the single GTE category. PRO drivers have shown themselves to make errors as well, just see Audi mistakes last year, and the above mentioned Toyota vs. DW incident.

[tux]

No, its not a bad idea and i don't think its a problem having them have their own sub class, after all the amount they pay they want something for their investment.

Its just unfortunate that two years in a row that a GTE AM class car has caused a big accident to one of the factory LMP1 cars.

There should be a rule introduced though that says for an AM driver to compete at Le Mans they must have had say 6 races in LMS or WEC and the stewards must be satisfied they can handle traffic correctly. However driving standards in the class weren't really that bad in my opinion, very few incidents of contact between GTE cars and LMP cars.

To be honest i dont know what the answer is, what i do know is that the GTE class as a whole is excellent and the opening few hours of the race was excellent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWOfyq-5ztE

[Purist]

I think the Am class is an unnecessary complication of the class system. A "Gentlemen's Cup", if there is a call for one, can be awarded for Le Mans.

What is clear is that a re-work is needed in the driver categorization, because it sure sounds like things are fouled up in terms of who is rated Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. The rankings NEED to more accurately reflect a driver's real ability. In addition though, there must be some sort of proper rookie/gentlemen orientation program. Those who can't meet a minimum standard simply are not cleared to race in the 24 Hours.

Le Mans certainly is a special case, and needs to be treated as such. In particular, the speeds attained, and the narrowness of much of the track, are unprecedented elsewhere in the sport today. The closest to it would be the Nordschleife, but they don't have the prototypes in the N24, bringing with them their incredible cornering speeds relative to the GTs/TCs.

Yes, racing is dangerous, but I'd rather avoid the ACO getting sued heavily for negligence, or having something really bad happen with the sport at large because people other than the drivers or pit crews get caught up in an incident.

[W.A Trichlorostyrene]

Originally Posted by Thaw Daggerslash

You wouldn't have "gentlemen" drivers racing in the Indy 500 or the Monaco GP in this day and age.

Sorry for the off topic, but... Marty Roth would pretty much fit the definition of "gentleman driver". He made a couple Indy 500 starts in the mid/late 2000s. It took IndyCar a few years before they decided to park him for good(too slow and erratic).

[Peat]

A: Gentlemen drivers are what bankroll sportscar racing in the main.

B: Perazinni is hardly and 'amateur'. He has quite an impressive CV.

What we saw this year and last was an accident. The modern fascination with apportioning absolute blame is what will kill motorsport.