New ALMS Team in LMP1

[The Badger]

Its great to see Intersport going the Lola route but the Riley & Scott gets shafted again . This ****es me off !!! Why cant someone run the beast in Europe ? tut

[The Treester]

Badger,

Intersport is still running the R&S for the long races. Hey if you got the funds to run it, I'm sure Intersport will be happy to run it for the entire year!

[Tim Northcutt]

If I hit the Powerball, I'll buy it lock, stock and barrel from them....

I'm assuming they are running Elan power in the R&S...the Judd V-8s are for the LMP1 and LMP2 Lolas....

Now...who is going to drive the R&S in those long races????

BTW....I think Clint is better off in LMP2...he never did seem to get his legs under him in the LMP1 class last year (I think he has plenty of talent, so I'm not dissing him)....this will give him a chance to grow and go fast in that class....

I wish them well....

[The Treester]

Well let's re-phrase that, I think they will run in it period if funds/drivers where available! How about that.

In other words, let us not count out the R&S.

[The Badger]

So Dick Barbour is returning to the ALMS this year with two Muircelago R-GT's . Ready for the july round . What about that for an entry then !?

[Fogelhund]

Originally posted by The Badger
So Dick Barbour is returning to the ALMS this year with two Muircelago R-GT's . Ready for the july round . What about that for an entry then !?

I would call that highly speculative, as I would anything from Barbour.

[Es Nes]

wasnt the intersport lola lmp900 being raced by tarus?

[Tim Northcutt]

I believe that Taurus Sports bought the Lola that was the "Olive Garden" car that competed in the ALMS a few seasons ago....

If I remember the story, that chassis was being used as a show car of for displays and they got a great deal on it...

[Fogelhund]

Just for clarification Es - the Intersport LMP1 - is the LMP675 Lola ex-MG.

The LMP2 is a newly purchase Lola B2K/40.

The B2K/10 that Intersport has(had?) will not be raced by them this year.

[Tim Northcutt]

That's what I understood, too, Fogelhund....

It's the package that they ran at Petit and the LM 1000K last fall...it was huge news when they showed up with that Judd V-8 in the back of the car at Road Atlanta!!!!

Really a better way to go than the AER Turbo, with its reliability issues...

[The Badger]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
I would call that highly speculative, as I would anything from Barbour.

Thats what their talking about on DSC ..... 99% certain !

[Es Nes]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
The B2K/10 that Intersport has(had?) will not be raced by them this year.

that was the one i was refering too.

so, taurs got theirs from raffelini(sp) and intersports old lola is just sitting there collecting dust?

[Fogelhund]

"That’s the view of the Autosprint magazine today – which claims that the chances of two, Dick Barbour-run Murcielago GTS cars running in the 2004 ALMS are “99%” (writes Gabriele Tosi).

Assuming this project goes ahead, the cars will not be ready in time for Sebring, but the Italian magazine suggests the debut would be at Mid-Ohio, round 2 of the ALMS, on June 27."

I appreciate that this Autosprint magazine may have stated that their source, whomever that may be, states with 99% certainly that Barbour will be running Lambo's.

Fair enough, I would be elated to have two well run Lambo's in GTS for ALMS. No mistake about it, Barbour has at times put together some pretty serious teams. But... I'm not sure where the money would be coming from this time? Given Barbours previous finance record, this just suprises me. 99% certain, given someone finances this? 99% certain, given we can get pay drivers? 99% certain under what conditions?

Well, for certain, time will tell, and until the car reaches the grid, I will remain extremely sceptical on this one.

Would be good though.

[Tim Northcutt]

To Es Nes...

I'd have to go back and look it up in 2003 ALMS results, but I believe that Intersport raced the B2K/10 with Clint up until Road America (Elkhart Lake) when they replaced it with the R&S...

I'll look it up to be sure....

So it that was the case, YES...it's collecting dust...unless they sold it to someone who has not brought it back to the surface yet...

[Tim Northcutt]

Just looked it up...

That B2K/10 was the car Clint Field raced last year, so unless they sold it, that Lola must still be sitting in their shops...

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
I appreciate that this Autosprint magazine may have stated that their source, whomever that may be, states with 99% certainly that Barbour will be running Lambo's.

Fair enough, I would be elated to have two well run Lambo's in GTS for ALMS. No mistake about it, Barbour has at times put together some pretty serious teams. But... I'm not sure where the money would be coming from this time? Given Barbours previous finance record, this just suprises me. 99% certain, given someone finances this? 99% certain, given we can get pay drivers? 99% certain under what conditions?

Well, for certain, time will tell, and until the car reaches the grid, I will remain extremely sceptical on this one.

Would be good though.

there's more to come from the man himself on this story - DO NOT write this off as rumour!!!

[Vman]

I think that Intersport still have 2 B2k/10 Judd's collecting dust. Seems a shame after hearing that there are several teams bidding to buy Lola's last B2k/10. Maybe someone should put them in touch with Intersport...

[Graham Goodwin]

The difference is though that the Intersport cars have had a hard racing life and the factory car is unraced

[Fogelhund]

Well, the bidding was on the last of the B2K/40's...not the B2K/10's.....

DBR - and I'm not writing this off at all, but just rather sceptical. Even if the man phoned me himself and told me, I'd still be sceptical. Be great if the cars actually do race though... Just hope everybody gets paid this time. Be nice to see the Reynards as well.

[Tim Northcutt]

Two Thoughts and Two Questions:

First, the thoughts:

1. I also hope that the Barbour effort does come to pass...It'll be nice to see the Lambos running in ALMS...

2. That B2k/10 sitting in the Intersport garage could be a good option for a potential "Shoestring" effort...between their R&S that they will run in a limited campaign (and thus probably isn't for sale, but could become so if Intersport has a year like they did last summer with the many misfortunes and subsequent repairs), and that B2K/10, there ar two possible chassis for a team to buy at a good price to start their own ALMS or LMES effort.....after all, Taurus apparently worked with Lola last year to develop some aero changes in the back to make the car more of a "longtail," and I'm sure those improvements could be gotten for the Intersport chassis by a new owner

Now for the Questions:

1. To Fogelhund....Did I miss omething concerning the Reynards that you mentioned in your post above, and could you share more about this effort (where they plan to race, who will run them, etc.)???

2. Maybe I'm just going senile, but I have a question about the Lola B2K/10 and it's track record....since that chassis (called a "Tractor" by some for its looks) has been running for a few years, I can't ever recall any podium finishes for it in either the ALMS, the old ELMS or the FIA-SCC....

Has that chassis finished on any SR1 or LMP 900 podium in competition???

If YES, when, where, and by whom???

Maybe I'm just brain-dead...but I can't remember a single podium finish...which means it has been finishing BEHIND other chasis options that are out there....which just might make it a "second choice" of mine if other cars were available for about the same price...

Please coorect me or enlighten me on this point....I'd love to know if it has shown some successes or podium results....

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally posted by Fogelhund
Well, the bidding was on the last of the B2K/40's...not the B2K/10's.....

Nope it was both - there is a final unraced B2K/10B as well - expect it in LMES after Monza

[Fogelhund]

Doh! Did not know that Graham.. thanks.

Regarding the Reynards... DBR ran the Reynards in LMP675 during its first year. I don't think they even own the cars anymore, but it would be nice to see some again, as they should be quite competitive with the B2K/40.

I think that Taurus had a podium last year, and I believe that Raffi, led a at Silverstone a few years back.

[Waco Racer]

I believe that the Olive Garden car won the pole for that Silverstone race. Wasn't that a round of the ELMS?

[Tim Northcutt]

I don't remember the Taurus podium last year, but thank's for the heads up on the Rafanelli successes....

I haven't had the time to look up some results...just got back from a TV interview...

But I'll post what I do find out...

[Tim Northcutt]

I did look it up on the World Sportscar Prototypes site...

However, this site only gives race final results and does not have qualifiying results....

Also, the sports car results go back to the 2001 season...so it is a partial....there ae probably ruslets from 2000 or so (like the Silverstone event you cited above) that would show Lola results in those events...)

But I did find Taurus on the podium at Monza last year as well as Bob Berridge Racing on the podium at Barcelona in either 2001 or 2002 (can't remember which)...

Field has a fourth at Road America in the Lola in 2002 and Taurus also got 4th at Spa last year...

If you compare that with other possible chassis that are available, the R&M chassis had twice the number of podiums in a revised MkIIIB that is now their version of a "Longtail," and the R&S MkIIIC had one more podium as well...Dyson at Mid-Ohio in 2001, Matthews at Daytona and Sebring in 2002...plus higher finishes than the Lola B2K/10 in nearly all of the "head to head" competition where both were in the same events...even though the R&S MkIIIC has not cometed in as many events as the Lola...

Given the choice of the "possible options" as a fledgling team or a "Shoestringer," I'd go with the R&S MkIIIC...but I don't really know how it would do over in Europe...different types of circuits over there than they are here in the States...but the R&M take on the MkIIIB was more than competitive....

It would be interesting to do an even more in-depth comparison....