best endurance racing series

[cybersdorf]

Let's have another go at the question, without the "what is a GT" complex.

[Dani Filth]

i voted LMS ..

[brielga]

LMS, great field, hard fought championship and down to the wire races in all categories.

[Adam43]

I too love LMS, but there aren't quite enough races for me to chose it here. So I'll miss that one (despite its name!) Although oddly I think the number of races is correct considering the current situation. It feels like a small collection of individual races with the championship as a distraction. I like them all as important races in their own right so on that basis I'll ignore it here.

Grand Am certainly has the competition and some good races. However I'd have to go for more variety. FIA-GT is a good series, but I'm not a fan of changing weight limits. Of course the ACO does handicapping in a different way, but I'll plump for ALMS. I love the settling down on a Sunday evening for a few hours listening and watching that.

The others all have merits though.

[Bramzel]

FIAGT. Best racing at the moment imho, with a great variety of top-of-the-class cars and good fields.

[Erki]

ALMS
best tracks

[SALEEN S7R]

FIA GT for me, some of the best racing in the world at the moment IMO and of course the series races on what is IMO the best circuits in the world. Spa, Monza, Silverstone...

[The Badger]

I voted LMS

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

LMS almost got my vote but like Adam said, it comes across as a collection of individual events rather than a flood blooded championship. A few more races scheduled closer together would go a long way to improving this, the future's bright.

It's a choice between ALMS and SuperGT for me as there were some superb races in both series last year.

[tblincoe]

ALMS for me.

[Erki]

Baltic GT is also good

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Erki

Baltic GT is also good

Whats that with ..... Trabant's !!!!

[tux]

baltic gt looks ok actually its looking better han 2006 british gt already
but seriously baltic gt does look good

[Tim Northcutt]

ALMS

[monaroCountry]

v8 SUPERCAR + Bathurst = Best racing

[Flat12-Aircool]

I voted for ALMS and it looks like it's going to be the outright winner, although my heart wanted to vote for the LMS.

This tells me that the LMS organizers for 2007 need to get a few more races into their calender like there is in the ALMS. I don't know why this year they've again only got 5 races + Le Mans, its just not enough. There should be 8-10 races at least and as they say in Waynes World, "if you book them, they will come!".

Then you've got Porsche and Audi who are European manufactorer's and have both built new cars but this year are only racing them in the American ALMS and not the European LMS! (except for Le Mans in Audi's case). This is Unforgivable!! If they raised the profile of the LMS then hopefully in the future this kind of situation will change.

I mean, who's betting against Peugeot racing their Diesel LMP in the ALMS before it appears in the LMS?

[JAG]

Voted ALMS.

It's hard to judge the ALMS and LMS at this time.

ALMS has fantastic, close racing, but comparitively small grids.

LMS has large grids but still has a club feel to it.

By 2007 we should have a clearer view.

The ALMS will attract larger grids while the LMS will see the arrival of Peugeot, Audi and Porsche, plus increasingly professional and more formidable privateer teams.

As for the number of LMS races I'm pretty certain the ACO will be looking to add Asian events to the schedule in due time so are keeping the calender nice and comapct for the time being.

[Naruto]

alms for me

[cybersdorf]

Originally Posted by monaroCountry

v8 SUPERCAR + Bathurst = Best racing

I knew someone would not get the drift...

V8Supercars are not an endurance racing series. Dismissed as ineligible.

[Flat12-Aircool]

Originally Posted by JAG

As for the number of LMS races I'm pretty certain the ACO will be looking to add Asian events to the schedule in due time so are keeping the calender nice and comapct for the time being.

Asian events?!!? Who wants Asian events?!!?!?

We need a proper EURO LMS series, not a world championship. The Japanese are starting up their own JLMS series which should encompass the Asian circuits etc. If its a world championship that the ACO want, they shouldn't sacrifice the integrity of the European side of the LMS. If teams will be asked to fly their cars to the otherside of the world and back then thats a sure fire way of losing the Privateer teams straight away!

No, lets just concentrate on Europe and leave "Pipe dream" World Championships to the FIA.

[JAG]

I prefar 5 1000K Euro races than 8 2.45hr ones.

The small calender and endurance format is the series' strength.

Add Sebring, Le Mans, PLM and Suzuka/Fuji, and thats a very attractive calender.

[The Badger]

LMS means Le Mans Series , and as a world class race , it should be a world series . Who needs japanese races ? ..... we do . Then we might get some japanese factory backing again . I personally would like to see an LMS race in each continent . When we had Gruop C we had , Mazda , Toyota , Nissan , Porsche , Mercedes Benz , Jaguar and others on the track at the same time . They were the golden years for me anyway . And the grids were always full !!!

Or , Alms , LMS , JLMS could run like it is now , and maybe have some fly away races for the bigger teams . Maybe one on each continent , that would get the support from the manufacturers cuz they want marketing and TV exposure .

The only time a LMS GT1 car gets to trash it out with the factory Corvette team is at Le Mans or if they travel to the states . Wouldnt it be great if there was races on each continent where the factories could go head to head and if the privateer cant afford to do that , let them stick with their regional Le Mans series championship or stay in their national championships . There is already plenty of championships for the small privateer to play about with .

We need the Japs back .... soon .

[Asa]

I think the best way is to keep the LMS as it is but create a world championship that comprises the biggest races in each of the calendars: Sebring 12 Hours and Petit Le Mans from ALMS, the Spa 1000km and Monza 1000km from LMS and another 1000km race in Japan.

Add Adelaide as the season finale and that will be good enough for me

[ckc]

I voted Grand Am for the simple reason...Competition.

[Flat12-Aircool]

All this talk about World Championships is just chasing Rainbows IMHO. It's no good trying to "outdo" Formula 1 unless the ACO get a new Billionaire Troglordyte President complete with a Basin haircut and a wife half his age!

Also, don't be so keen about bigger and better factory backed cars providing the bright future you wish for. Sure, lets have a few more involved, but take a lesson from F1 today as to how massive Manufacturer support can hold a Racing series to ransom once they get their foot in the door. If they don't get their own way over rules etc then they very often threaten to stop playing and "take their ball away".