Vipers to quit

[marcus]

just read over at the Autosport site that the Oreca viper team may not race at le man or in the ALMS next year because they wont to start preparations on their new version in time for 2002 or 2003..allthough they are not 100% sure about this i still feel it would be a shame to see them sitting out a full year of racing..they have been so dominant that even without alot more development on the current model the car should be competitive..at least they are saying they will be back in the future ..but can we wait that long ??

[Liz]

The only people who will be happy about this are the Corvette drivers!

Let us hope some privateer Vipers step in to keep the level of competition high in the interim.

[TimD]

For those very reasons, I don't necessarily see this as disheartening news.

The Viper in its present form is still going to be darned hard to take on for a couple of years yet, even without the piledriver force that is Oreca behind them. It may be just what the Corvettes need to give them the step up to the top of the podium. Which will give GM something to shout about, and hopefully encourage Corvette development and customer team interest.

And then in a couple of years time, a whole new Oreca Viper to scare the pants off the opposition and up the ante once again.

This could be just what the doctor ordered.

[marcus]

I never thought of it that way TimD ...but i also hope the idea that Liz stated of privateer vipers stepping up a level and giving the corvettes a good run for their money.