Le Mans Series 2007

[JorritVD]

x

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Did you deliberately leave Creation off the list?

Actually yes, but I'll have another think about it! They'll be @ Le Mans of course but are they going to get the new car together for HTTT or Monza ?

I'll check and report back

Mariantic

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Did you deliberately leave Creation off the list?

Just going back through the notes and found this (from DSC Jan 4th) - "..2007 described as “a year of testing and development, with the team’s precise racing plan yet to become apparent”.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/subscr.../lemans951.htm

I've had question marks against LMS participation on my site all the time and never saw anything to persuade me to take them off.

Hope I'm wrong here but I feel Creation's is building to a great future both sides of the pond with AIM here & Velocity there - but that future really starts in 2008.

Mariantic

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by mariantic

Just going back through the notes and found this (from DSC Jan 4th) - "..2007 described as “a year of testing and development, with the team’s precise racing plan yet to become apparent”.

http://www.dailysportscar.com/subscr.../lemans951.htm

I've had question marks against LMS participation on my site all the time and never saw anything to persuade me to take them off.

Hope I'm wrong here but I feel Creation's is building to a great future both sides of the pond with AIM here & Velocity there - but that future really starts in 2008.

Mariantic

Well, I read somewhere(?) that Jamie and Felipe would be driving in the Le Mans Series (can't remember where I read it and there was no mention of Beppe). Then this "Naturally, the new car will have LMS and Le Mans as a principal focus." and "The new car is well on its way......." were posted by MJ on the Creation forum on January 17th. I've heard nothing since then, however.....and I suspect a lot has happened since then!

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by FIRE

Inhouse developed box

Well , Mugen can hardly be blamed for the Courage performance last year .

It was a quick engine , and apart from the gearbox , didnt suffer an engine failure once (stand to be corrected) ?

Somehow i cant see Mugen doing the dissapearing act , can you ?

What about T2M , could they drop that engine into their LMP2 , detuned ?

[The Badger]

Melchester to run the 2nd "works" SR9 ..... now , that does sound doable . Reported on Mariantic

I wouldnt rule out the Markland car , differant chassis for GT2 , Wouldnt rule out the Swiss Spyker , have my doubts about the Lavaggi , Im not sure about the Red Panoz , add another for Proton and maybe 2 for Imsa , and an LC75 for the Indian project .

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Well, I read somewhere(?) that Jamie and Felipe would be driving in the Le Mans Series (can't remember where I read it and there was no mention of Beppe). Then this "Naturally, the new car will have LMS and Le Mans as a principal focus." and "The new car is well on its way......." were posted by MJ on the Creation forum on January 17th. I've heard nothing since then, however.....and I suspect a lot has happened since then!

Mmmm, that does sound like an intention to do the LMS doesn't it?
Guess I'll stick them on the list - now, who comes off?

Is that "new Zytek" still a live story does anyone know?

Melchester was spoken of as running the second Radical only yesterday but perhaps they were late getting their entry in...

Any others? quick we are running out of time to speculate! We'll know the answer by Wendesday

Mariantic

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Who's gearbox did Courage have in their car ?

positive it was a courages own gearbox, it may explain why the gearbox kept going wrong.

i think the problem was mainly the gearbox, it forced jean marc to retire at jarama and also the swiss spirit car had problems at jarama.

not sure about the other rounds but at spa the electronics on the jean marc LC70 went boobies up.

btw the main gearbox manufacturer nowadays, or atleast the one most teams in LMP1 and LMP2 buy off is ricardo isnt it?, or am i thinking of something else

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by mariantic

Is that "new Zytek" still a live story does anyone know?

I reckon that one's pretty safe. Although, if they haven't been given one of the 50 places, who knows?

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Well , Mugen can hardly be blamed for the Courage performance last year .

It was a quick engine , and apart from the gearbox , didnt suffer an engine failure once (stand to be corrected) ?

Somehow i cant see Mugen doing the dissapearing act , can you ?

What about T2M , could they drop that engine into their LMP2 , detuned ?

the only failure the mugen engine had in 4.5 form was at spa, but it was not because of the engine, the entire electrical system went kapoot on the courage.

the RFH mugen 4.0 V8 on the other hand did go wrong at istanbul at the start of the year and led to rfh changing to judd power.

personally i would maybe say the mugen engine is just as good, if not better than the judd 5.0 V10, the mugen engine definetely worked better in the courage chassis but if it works better in another chassis, ala, zytek, pescarolo, lola remains to be seen.

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by The Badger

... add another for Proton and maybe 2 for Imsa , and an LC75 for the Indian project .

No adding to be done Badger it's subtraction we are working at!

Mariantic

BTW only 2 Protons as no team can enter more than 2
TC

[cmk]

Originally Posted by mariantic

No adding to be done Badger it's subtraction we are working at!

Mariantic

BTW only 2 Protons as no team can enter more than 2
TC

Pretty sure the 3rd Proton car will be entered under another name, but run by the squad. The usual 2 Reid-Felbermayer cars and the works-supported Lieb/Pompidou entry.

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by cmk

Pretty sure the 3rd Proton car will be entered under another name, but run by the squad. The usual 2 Reid-Felbermayer cars and the works-supported Lieb/Pompidou entry.

Agreed, there would have been an entry for the 3rd car but what I was doing with this post was to see what ideas people had on the GT2s that would get their entry turned down.

I reckoned a 3rd Reid/Felbermayer car (with the "older generation" drivers) and a 996 to boot, was a pretty sure candidate for refusal.

Mariantic

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by mariantic

No adding to be done Badger it's subtraction we are working at!

Mariantic

BTW only 2 Protons as no team can enter more than 2
TC

But you dont know the official list yet !!!

[wekatz]

Proton just announced that they will do the FIA-GT rounds at Zhuhai, Bucarest and Silverstone in addition to their LMS programme. Maybe a hint that not all entries for the LMS were accepted.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by mariantic

DSC is today agreeing with the 50 figure and adding that it will be 25 prototypes and 25 GTs split GT1 - 8 & GT2 17.

So here's my guess on that composition:-

LMP1

Courage x2
Pescarolo x2
Lavaggi
Rollcentre
Peugeot X2
Racing for Holland
Chamberlain
New Zytek team
Charouz
Swiss Spirit
Total - 13

LMP2

Kruse
Binnie
Bruneau
Bruchladdich
Melchester
RML
ASM
Barazi Epsilon
T2M
Embassy
Saulnier
Horag
Total - 12

GT1

Labre x2
Racing Box
ORECA
Modena
Alphand x2
Barwell
Total - 8

GT2

Chad x2
Markland
Red Racing
Proton x2
Ice Pol
Autorlando x2
Farnbacher
LNT x2
Spyker x2
Speedy Garage
James Watt
IMSA Performance
GPC X2
Villorba
Virgo

Total - 21

So that's 4 too high for GT2, although I could see GT1 just being 7 (no Barwell).

Dropping 3 from GT2 would probably see Red, Markland & Speedy out...

Any other guesses?

I guess there will be reserve list a la Le Mans.

Expect the official list by Wednesday

Mariantic

I thought that diversity was a major goal of the ACO. So for GT-2 I would suggest maybe leave as many marques as possible and reduce the field by evening out the higher car count marques.

L.P.

[Geva-Nelson]

Spyker will probably run one car and i know of one porsche that doesnt belong on your list

[mariantic]

Originally Posted by Geva-Nelson

Spyker will probably run one car and i know of one porsche that doesnt belong on your list

Don't be coy. We're among friends - do tell...


Mariantic

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by isynge

Intriguing.

I've generally been of the opinion that no matter how large the entry there seldom has to be a case of entries being turned down - Donington last year was a great case in point, but it has to be said there does seem to be a plethora of entries this time round.

So, quick sweepstakes on who's going to lose out? Those teams planning a partial campaign (e.g. Lister, even although they claim to have squared it with the ACO), whose cars don't actually exist yet (Melchester), or with frankly abysmal attendance and performance records to date (Lucchini) are likely, I'd suspect, to be out of luck.

By rule there can only be so many cars on the grid. It is set by how many classes, which classes of cars, length of track, width of track and length of race. Formula is here, supplement 2 part B pg. 11
http://www.fia.com/resources/documen...pendix_O_a.pdf
As this is the full season list I would think that it is based on the smallest track which is Valencia at just over 4km. Interlagos is about the same. I would think that they would allow more cars on the grid everywhere else, dictated by track size. The Ring and Silverstone are 5.1km, Monza 5.8 and Spa is almost 7km.

L.P.

[The Badger]

Can the tracks on the schedule manage to run "50" cars ???

If 50 are excepted , and the track cant cope , how do you weedle the unlucky ones out fairly come race day ?

[dj choc ice]

every track on the calender this year hosts a grand prix and most of them host 24 hour events.

i know monza, silverstone, spa and nurburgring can accomodate 50 cars but not too sure about interlagos and jarama

[Erki]

Jarama is not on the calendar any more, they race at Valencia now.

[brielga]

Valencia and jarama are short and twisty, even with 34-35 cars last year Jarama had quite some argy-bargy going on till, say, the last hour. However let's not forget that the "season" entries not always show up (e.g. 2nd Creation last year, Lister Storm...) I guess there will (or should) be waiting lists with a fairly good chance of getting into some events. Spa will host more than 50 for sure imho and Interlagos will see many teams shy off (particularly if championships are decided like in 2006-Jarama). I am assured we will see very very few teams with 2 entries...

[mirkob]

Official Entry List: http://www.endurance-info.com/articl...d=3163&thold=0

Any infos about this entry:
68 GOLDENTIME RACING TEAM AUT P
Ferrari 550 Maranello
TBA TBA Norbert Walchhofer (AUT) ???

[canam]

Johannson and Chilton in the Zytek ought to be pretty potent.