Smaller restrictors for the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari cars

[jcz]

Hello,

do yoz read following "Smaller restrictors for the BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari cars" at link http://www.fiagt.com/newsitem.php?key=173

[alfasud]

So would that just apply to the BMS team and not all Ferrari 550? I wonder what would happen if BMS leased a car to another team - different team, so old restrictor limits apply?

[Kurt Maxwell]

While I understand that Ratel wants to keep the racing close, this move is like saying "if your team does well we will penalise you".

Had this been a mid season NASCAR-esque move where all the Ferrari 550s were hit with the same restictions it might be different. Since it is only for the BMS team it doesn't seem right. Sure they have won all the races, but they have simply built and prepared a better mousetrap that has shown superior reliability.

alfasud,I guess that if they leased a car to another team that the restrictions would not apply as they won't for the Care Racing team who are running a Prodrive car and are a sister team tp BMS.

I had been thinking that current GT/ACO GTS cars are so modified from production cars that the Prodrive 550s are almost considered by Ratel to be a "make of car" and that it was the Prodrive built cars that were being restricted, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Hopefully when the common ACO/FIA GT rules come in for 2005 they will be simpler and that we won't see Ferrari 550 GTs from three chassis builders that are as different from one another as a Lola is from a Riley and Scott.

If the FIA do come after a private Maserati "Enzo" team and restrict them for winning when everyone else has the exact same factory built car then that will just be wrong.

Success ballast is one thing, but restricting one team that is doing well is another.

[Fogelhund]

I dunno, kind of standard fair for a managed Touring Car series no? Do whatever it takes to keep the racing equal?

[paul-collins]

Originally posted by Kurt Maxwell
Success ballast is one thing, but restricting one team that is doing well is another.

My initial reaction was "there's no difference!" but I stopped to think for a second, and realized that it's not, by a long shot.

Remember TVR's problems at Le Mans Test Days? All due to the engine not being mapped properly for smaller restrictors (that were removed in time for the race, as they had cleared some homologation requirements between Test Days and race).

A burden on the track is one thing, but changing the restrictors means that they have to at minimum re-dyno to correct the engine mapping to fit the new breathing rate, otherwise they'll burn out their motors.

I understand the impulse for managed competition, but don't like it mid-season; and I understand marque equalization - but as you noted, Kurt, why two cars but not the third?

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally posted by paul-collins
I understand the impulse for managed competition, but don't like it mid-season; and I understand marque equalization - but as you noted, Kurt, why two cars but not the third?

Because one of the entries is entered by Care Racing, not BMS. And the #21 Care Racing Ferrari hasnt been as dominant as the BMS cars. The #21 car is entered by Care Racing offically, even if there are very strong ties with BMS, so really the FIA cant peanlise the Care Racing entry as well as the BMS cars in one go as they are entered under differnt teams.

[paul-collins]

I understand that - but why engine restrictions? Why not ballast?

[SALEEN S7R]

Maybe because of safety? The #23 car would weight 1300kg if u added say 100kg extra ballast on top of the 100kg sucess ballast that they are already running with. If the car crashed it would be a very heavy impact. Thats the only reason I can think of.

By the way - does anyone know how much larger the restrictors the BMS cars are running now compared to everyone else? At times like this I really do hate Ratel - does he really belive that this cheap little stunt with fool everyone into beliving the BMS cars have just gotton slower? Well yeah it might, at least to the average armchair fan - but the hardcore fan will know otherwise.

Ratel says he wants Manufacturers back in on certain conditions which I understand - but what kind of message is he sending to Maserati, Lambourgini, Aston Martin etc? I'll tell ya, hes saying go to the ALMS. The ALMS dont peanlise u for being dominant, ie Audi and Corvette...

[C_g]

Shouldn't make a huge difference going from 32.1mm restrictors to 31.6mm ones. Prodrive has already developed the motor with 31.2mm restrictors for Le Mans and ALMS.

What confuses me is why the Care Racing car doesn't also get the smaller restrictors. That's a factory car, even though it has slow drivers. Very strange.

[SALEEN S7R]

So really C_G Providing BMS and Prodrive are still working closely together it will have had no affect on the BMS cars speed anyway. Right? Because as uve said the Prodrive cars run with smaller restrictors than the revised restrictors BMS run with now anyway, and as BMS get the same stuff Prodrive uses this should apply to them.

Err I think ive said what I was trying to say now lol.