Is there any doubt...

[Heeltoe6]

that garra's way of sportscar racing is not working. 2 years sanctioning, 2 yrs a GTS car have won their biggest race. Ok, stuff happens, I can see it occurring, once, maybe even tiwce. But, there wasn't a SRP(or even SRP2) class car in the top 10 At least last year 4th OA was the Dyson SRP car. But it seems it is just getting worse.

From Cormack Fallon’s Rolex 24 Notebook: Post-Race
"So, this is the end of Daytona 2001. Corvette won it, the second GTS-class car in two years, and two AGT cars made it onto the podium. Randy Pobst, second overall, said that he thought his White Lightning GT Porsche had a shot before the start of the race, and made the most accurate of observations. "Prototypes are hard to keep running for 24 hours, so we were in with a chance." Congratulations go to him and the driving crew, but in this day and age, it shouldn't happen. No one knows what will happen next year, but one thing is for sure. Those prototypes, by and large, should be able to complete the distance, and drivers of GT3 Porsches should never be able to look at the overall entry list and consider a race win a possibility. A class win should be the goal, a top-10 finish, perhaps; a podium in exceptional circumstances, if you are away with the fairies at the time."
http://www.speedvision.com/pub/artic...d/010204e.html

I think it's quite clear garra has failed to accomplish any of its goals. The P classes can't even finish a 24hrs race, and if it wasn't for a one-ff by a works ALMS team, at GT car would've won overall. Is this France's vision for the sportscar world. garra just needs to give it up and join ALMS, whihc is facing its own problems, with now bmws and only 1 Panoz. But at least the P cars present can make the whole race. But they are still small. If garra teams went to alms they could flesh out the series. Instead, garra is a farce, and ALMS, which has seemed so strong, seems to be over-extending itself while not having high enough car counts outside of the GT class. If France really cared about sportscar racing, he'd end this little fued. But I know that will never happen.


I do not wish to diminish the great work and talent by all the lower class drivers, they all did thier jobs extremely well, but not one P car in the top 10 is absurd.

[Dan Friel]

It's not good is it...

The lead car broke down at 9.30 in the morning... the Corvette was 27 laps behind at the time and took over an hour to catch up the distance.. an hour!!!

The Corvette goes on to win the second most important GT race at an average speed of 98 mph....

Hardly a classic.

[Liz]

Well, personally I thought it was a good race. I don't much care for races where the outcome is known before the flag is thrown - and I really tried to be sorry that Leitzinger et al. blew up before the end but I just couldn't do it. I like to see the underdogs win.

Why should the guys with the most money be the only ones that ever get to win?

[jimclark]

...What team was better funded than the corvettes?

[Heeltoe6]

Excellent point jimclark. Now if garra was so concerned about costs and keeping them reasonable, why do they only limit the budgets of P cars(in terms of regulated "sale prices" for new cars) and not any of the gt classes?

[KC]

I must say it does not bode well for racing prototyes in the GARRC. As far the Corvette's being underdogs, I don't think they were. Last year showed that the Team ORECA Vipers and Team Corvette were the two best funded and fastest teams at the circuit. Maybe they could not turn the lap times of the prototypes, but the went farther and that is the name of the game.

The problem comes from the fact that France wants to broaden the horizons of his NASCAR fans and many are not willing to watch anything other than stock car racing. How may Rusty Wallace fans know who Allan McNish, Andy Wallace, Elliot Forbes-Robinson, and Geoff Brabham are? I am afraid not many.

Maybe the GARRC needs to switch to pure GTS racing and drop the prototype class altogether. It seems to be the direction the series is going. A GTS car qualified fourth on the grid for a track as fast as Daytona. It does not say much for the speed of the teams present in the prototype classes.

[Liz]

Actually I wasn't talking about the Corvettes. I was talking about the GT and GTS privateers who finished in and among the Corvettes despite their lack of NASCAR drivers and big name sponsors.

Although I do notice that On Track Online is whining that the furriners in the 911 GT-1 EVO that beat the factory Corvettes to the pole (in class) were given some kind of special exemption to be allowed to race at all ... yeah, I am sure that two privateer Canadians who spent their own money to come to Daytona have more influence with Bill France than the American Factory Corvette Team did ...

Why can't some people simply admit that SOMETIMES OTHER PEOPLE ARE SIMPLY BETTER THAN THEY ARE?

Endurance racing where everybody who shows up with the right car and the qualifying fee is allowed to mix in and give it a go, is real racing.

[meatballeyes]

QUOTE: "If garra teams went to alms they could flesh out the series. Instead, garra is a farce, and ALMS, which has seemed so strong, seems to be over-extending itself while not having high enough car counts outside of the GT class. If France really cared about sportscar racing, he'd end this little fued."

that may be true, but dont forget: garras existence is owed at least in part to the alms. seriously. remember: alms runs under aco rules, and under those rules dont all cars entered in alms events have to be crash tested first? somebody correct me if i am wrong, but what privateer srp team could afford that? not picking a fight, just making a point.

also: i though that daytona was an excellent race - with a disappointing ending. think about it: the risi 333sp dualed heavily with the r&s for much of the race. that was exciting! as were the bucketes of rain and loads of mishaps. unfortunately, the retirements took the fire out of the race.

QUOTE: "Maybe the GARRC needs to switch to pure GTS racing and drop the prototype class altogether."

thats something that i have wanted since daytona 2000, but never had the balls to say on a forum. i would want to see 25 well funded gts and gt teams, rather than a handful of srp teams that are just scraping by. i wish that garra would adopt the fia gtc rules and be done with it. oh well...

if anyone is interested in my own race review:

http://members.tripod.com/meatballeyes/id336.htm

take care!

[KC]

The teams are not required to crash test their cars, the manufacturer of the chassis is. None of the current GARRC Rolex competitors was a chassis manufacturer except the Corvette team. Dyson Racing would not be forced to crash test their chassis, Riley & Scott would have been.

[Liz]

Regarding the "special exemption" for the GTS1 EVO cars, I have now read in a French racing magazine that the EVO cars in question are 1997 Le Mans cars and there was in fact an exemption made - for Paul Newman's Gunnar Racing team, who also runs one of these cars. [Who ran about 5 laps at Daytona, I believe.] Thus the Canadian privateers benefitted from a rule that was designed to help Americans, thus proving again the Law of Unintended Consequences.