ALMS 2013 Discussion

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

Actually, that's why it makes sense. They get a race or two in the ALMS to develop their car so when they do face the competition, they can actually be competitive with them. Meanwhile, they save themselves any embarrassment if the first time out goes horribly wrong.

You can be sure that if Porsche do turn up to a race with their car, it will have been tested (privately) to near exhaustion. They may not be quick enough, or they may suffer an unforeseen technical problem or accident, but it is very unlike Porsche to turn up with an untested car.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by TF110

Hopefully they get on with the Evora to make it more reliable. I THINK it can be made competitive.

Umm, no. It has just gone more backwards ever since it was introduced. A car with over a 100kg weight break and bunch of other aids shouldn't be that far back, and that fragile. Sad that this and the Indy engine - which in the end are the only real motosport efforts Lotus has actually made without just simply rebadging - are both utter failures.

Evora is more suited for GT4...

[TF110]

All I said was reliable, not beating the front runners. It doesn't even have to be this year. If they stay with the Evora (like I said) hopefully they can make it so and it can be more competitve.

[courageous]

Muscle Milk is the problem when it comes to the percieved car count.

If it wasn't for them having a properly sorted car, they just a small amount of balancing would put Dyson's old car, LMP2, LMPC & Deltawing all in the same performance bracket.


They should also change the way they report positions during the race - more emphasis on overall positions rather than class, perception is a large part & talking about 15 prototypes sounds better than 3 + 4 + 8

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Umm, no. It has just gone more backwards ever since it was introduced. A car with over a 100kg weight break and bunch of other aids shouldn't be that far back, and that fragile. Sad that this and the Indy engine - which in the end are the only real motosport efforts Lotus has actually made without just simply rebadging - are both utter failures.

Evora is more suited for GT4...

It needs forced induction. In fact, as good as the GT field is right now, FI needs written into the rules to keep the class relavent with the market. The Corvette, Lotus, the former Ford GT, and likely the next M3 will all be super/turbocharged in their street forms. That's they way the market is moving.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

It needs forced induction. In fact, as good as the GT field is right now, FI needs written into the rules to keep the class relavent with the market. The Corvette, Lotus, the former Ford GT, and likely the next M3 will all be super/turbocharged in their street forms. That's they way the market is moving.

I agree, this should be a no brainer for the 2014 regulations. It can't be that hard to implement can it?

[Fogelhund]

DAGYS: Is there any interest to bring the TS030 Hybrid to America to race?

VASSELON: At the moment, we cannot define what our program would be for next year, but for sure, we are interested to race in the U.S. It's of course a very important market for Toyota and Toyota North America is very, very interested in hybrid racing. It's too early to tell, but for sure the interest is there for 2013.

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...scal-vasselon/

[kyoung]

Originally Posted by joeb

I agree, this should be a no brainer for the 2014 regulations. It can't be that hard to implement can it?

It's already in the rules and has been for some time, see bottom of 14, top of page 15...

LMGTE rules

Engine displacement 4 litre max, has to be on road going version.

[TF110]

Would be just awesome if a Toyota NA team ran a TS030 in ALMS next year. Give M-Milk real competition and perhaps step up other makes' interests.

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

You can be sure that if Porsche do turn up to a race with their car, it will have been tested (privately) to near exhaustion. They may not be quick enough, or they may suffer an unforeseen technical problem or accident, but it is very unlike Porsche to turn up with an untested car.

Yep, just as they did with the RS Spyder a few years back.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by kyoung

It's already in the rules and has been for some time, see bottom of 14, top of page 15...

LMGTE rules

Engine displacement 4 litre max, has to be on road going version.

Very true, it is just odd that nobody has utilized that. Porsche, Corvette, Lotus, Ford GT all had/have turbo or super charged engines in the road cars, but always made racing versions with NA engines. Must be a reason?

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by TF110

Would be just awesome if a Toyota NA team ran a TS030 in ALMS next year. Give M-Milk real competition and perhaps step up other makes' interests.

That's always the hope. While Mr. Vasselon might have had a twinkle in his eye, Toyota North America will be the crew to make the final decision on that. And they already have a program getting prototype-level funding and that is NASCAR. Would be very hard for the board to add another huge expense, with considerably less footprint even if it does allow them to win with hybrid power. But maybe I'm just being a Negative Nancy.

Chris

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by kyoung

It's already in the rules and has been for some time, see bottom of 14, top of page 15...

LMGTE rules

Engine displacement 4 litre max, has to be on road going version.

Also makes me wonder what made the GT3 Z4 not be competitive being built off of the sdrive35is package and made them switch over to homologating it with a V8? Could that be a decent engine package with the 'twinpower' as the regs seem to have exceptions written right in to describe its parts.

Are forbidden save on the road car available for sale:
• Variable valve timing (*)
• Variable length/diameter inlet systems (*)
• Direct injection (*)
• Variable geometry turbo/superchargers (*)
(*) These devices cannot be modified, but they can be
neutralised or removed

Cut from page 13 of the link above

Would they be allowed to change the displacement for the best boost pressure as there is a chart at the bottom of the specs that has boost pressure limits by displacement? Or are the no modification rules so restricting that they would have to almost run the street motor? There is always everyone's favorite the waiver to consider.

[R4z3rw33n]

Originally Posted by TF110

Would be just awesome if a Toyota NA team ran a TS030 in ALMS next year. Give M-Milk real competition and perhaps step up other makes' interests.

Originally Posted by Jonerz

That's always the hope. While Mr. Vasselon might have had a twinkle in his eye, Toyota North America will be the crew to make the final decision on that. And they already have a program getting prototype-level funding and that is NASCAR. Would be very hard for the board to add another huge expense, with considerably less footprint even if it does allow them to win with hybrid power. But maybe I'm just being a Negative Nancy.

There's some form of (albeit tenuous) motivation for a North American campaign, though. They'd be presented the opportunity to oust Honda, Mazda and, (potentially) Nissan, within a single series/event. Granted, it's not on comparable footing - concerning the extent of factory commitment. It's an opportunity for them, none the less.

Seems they'll be in the WEC, regardless (although, the linked article suggests 2013 budgets haven't yet been confirmed). This is possible motivation for a single showing.

[MagVanisher]

Although I'm happy that Austin will stage an ALMS race, I wish they could host Indy too and make the race longer to 6 hours unlike Grand-Am's 3 hour race.

As for the LMP class, would it be nice if they could have 2 classes: One is a mix of LMP1 and LMP2, and the other is the LMPC. I'm okay of having GT3 cars compete in ALMS, just hoping that they have the same parity or slower than GTE.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

That's always the hope. While Mr. Vasselon might have had a twinkle in his eye, Toyota North America will be the crew to make the final decision on that. And they already have a program getting prototype-level funding and that is NASCAR. Would be very hard for the board to add another huge expense, with considerably less footprint even if it does allow them to win with hybrid power. But maybe I'm just being a Negative Nancy.

Chris

I would expect the cost of running an ALMS program for Toyota would be a bit cheaper than the NASCAR program. Particularly if they buildy new WEC cars for next year and have this years chassis available for a 2013 alms campaign. Yes the logistics are expensive, but they don't need to develop the cars to win in the alms.

Plus, here most people think of hybrids as slow cars that tree huggers drive, but if Toyota could advertise their racing hybrids and actually show people in the US in person what they can do with a hybrid it could change some attitudes. I would have to think that is a priority for Toyota - but that's just my opinion!

[Maelochs]

The cost of ALMS versus NASCAR seems to benefit ALMS until one factors in exposure, which is the only reason factories race. Toyota having cars in ANSCAR is an advertising program. Toyota would need to pay for a separate advertising program to let people it know it had cars in ALMS.

[FalkenALMS]

In regards to Falken, Jonerz is right that as soon as our program started, rumors already started flying about a second car.

Ultimately, it all boils down to money and and resources. We're still the little tire competing against the other giants who have been competitive in the series much longer. Being so new, no one expected us to get two wins last year, in both wet and dry conditions. Most beginner teams don't have that kind of success. Despite those two wins, we're still growing as a young team, and now with the new Porsche, we've got even more ground to cover to advance forward (not to mention the added costs of getting a second car, and all the other stuff that comes with doubling a program). Expanding to a two car team is certainly an ultimate goal of Team Falken Tire, just like running in Le Mans as well (the two questions asked most by fans and media), when is still to be determined.

Quote from Team Manager Derrick Walker this morning:
"Absolutely it is something we want to expand the team into. Its essential for continuing our competitive efforts to develop the car and the tire that we have. It’s purely a function, as it always, of pulling together the resources to make that happen. But it can’t come soon enough."

After six months of managing our team as well as the Ed Carpenter IndyCar team, I have no idea how this guy does it, and so well. If we expanded to a two car team, I think we'd need a reality show for all he has going on...

You all are more than welcome to ask us questions, and I'll hunt down all the answers from the right people. Obviously, there's some stuff that's proprietary or just confidential, but if it's something I can share, I'd be happy to. A lot of fan Q&A happens on our twitter (@FalkenALMS) and we also posted a new blog entry as well, if you want to check out a behind the scenes look on Round 3 at MRLS (http://bit.ly/KPGlJd). I'm pretty excited about the upcoming blogs, and unless I get flagged for spam, I'll be sure to post them here once they go live.

[Spyderman]

I am absolutely blown away by your openness and eagerness to establish a dialogue with the fans. I think you guys are breaking new ground in this area. I am truly impressed. Thank you for your time and efforts.

[Simmi]

Two-car Falken team would be brilliant. When it comes to LM time maybe there is something to be said for going the Lizards route and going Pro/Am across two entries.

Although to be honest the fans really want to see Pro cars where possible.

[FalkenALMS]

Originally Posted by Spyderman

I am absolutely blown away by your openness and eagerness to establish a dialogue with the fans. I think you guys are breaking new ground in this area. I am truly impressed. Thank you for your time and efforts.

Wow, thanks, Spyderman! As corny as it may sound, it's really the least we can do. Although sponsors and partners play a huge role in making all this racing possible, we really wouldn't be able to do it without the fans. It's because of our fan base that sponsors even invest in the team and series. It wasn't until this season that we even had the resources to have someone focus solely on PR and fan interaction, and dang it, we're gonna make up for some lost time! Some fans wait all year to attend just one race, and we want to make it possible to feel apart of the action all season long. We've got a great car, an AMAZING tire manufacturer, hilarious and talented drivers and an unbeatable crew. It's more than racing, it's a great group of people, and we want to do everything possible to let our fans feel apart of it too. There's so much more to a race team than race results and a press release.

[Spyderman]

See, you did it again.
You have set the benchmark and it will now be up to others to follow. Let them be aware that the bench mark is set pretty darn high!

[kyoung]

Originally Posted by joeb

Very true, it is just odd that nobody has utilized that. Porsche, Corvette, Lotus, Ford GT all had/have turbo or super charged engines in the road cars, but always made racing versions with NA engines. Must be a reason?

This is just my guess/opinion:

Normally aspirated engines are less complex and more reliable for endurance racing in GT cars.

Because of BoP there is no credible reason to use forced induction, if there was the Porky would be running it right now because it meets the displacement requirement. Which suggest some Germans with slide rules decided it’s not the way to go within the boundaries of the rules package. The Lotus already has reliability issues; forced induction wouldn’t make things better; at least not in the short term.

As far as the GT40-Corvette they have the displacement to compete under the current regs, why add more complexity if you don’t need it?

Again it all comes down to BoP, the Aston didn’t leave everyone for dead at the beginning of Laguna because of some technological mastery, and without the bad breaks and terrible pit strategy they could easily have won. BMW finally have to fight for wins because of BoP. Lotus like the Jag effort are fighting above their weight, and even with the breaks they have been given can’t seem to capitalize and succeed.

Engines are basically air pumps, the rules package tries to balance air flow whether forced or atmospheric. A less complex power train is better; therefore no benefit to FI (under the current rules package).

JMHO

[Fogelhund]

It is pretty simple, the rules don't favour the turbos/forced induction. If they did, they would be used.

[kyoung]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

It is pretty simple, the rules don't favour the turbos/forced induction. If they did, they would be used.

LOL, nothing like being succinct.