2013 SCCA Pirelli World Challenge

[WolfsburgRS]

As the ALMS and Grand Am are in a state of flux a far as rules and future cars, classes and technology, in the meantime and for the foreseeable future the SCCA has a pretty nice all-GT option for us fans of sports car racing, albeit in a sprint format. I've picked up on it and followed regularly since the switch to a full racing slick in 2011, and honestly there has been some great racing in both GT and GTS / ST amongst all kinds of makes and models.

As far as what a sports car fan looks for, the series honestly ticks a lot of boxes. Turbo and NA motors going head to head, privateers and manufacturers, exotics and muscle cars, etc etc. The spec tire has pluses and minuses, and the rewards weight / weight reduction scheme may turn away some, but it does end up with some great racing. It reminds me a lot of the GTO/GTU in the late 80s and early 90s but without all the tube-framers.

The SCCA has just announced their 2013 schedule, with new races at Circuit of the Americas with V8 Supercars, and at Lime Rock with the ALMS, for a total of 13 rounds.

2013 Pirelli World Challenge Schedule of Events

March 22–24, Streets of St. Petersburg (with IndyCar). St. Petersburg, Fla. (GT, GTS)

April 19–21, Streets of Long Beach (with IndyCar/ALMS). Long Beach, Calif.
(GT, GTS)

May 17-19, Circuit of the Americas (with Australian V8 Supercars Championship). Austin, Texas. (GT, GTS, Touring Car, Touring Car B-Spec)

May 31–June 2, Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, (with IndyCar). Detroit, Mich. (GT, GTS)

July 4–6, Lime Rock Park (with ALMS). Lakeville, Conn. (GT, GTS, TC, TCB)

July 12–14, Streets of Toronto, (with IndyCar). Toronto, Ont. Can. (GT, GTS, TC, TCB)

August 2–4, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (with IndyCar). Lexington, Ohio (GT, GTS, TC, TCB)

August 23–25, Sonoma Raceway (with IndyCar). Sonoma, Calif. (GT, GTS, TC, TCB)

Oct. 4–6, Streets of Houston (with IndyCar). Houston, Texas (GT, GTS, TC, TCB)


Anybody else a fan?

[broadrun96]

Used to watch it all the time when was on Speed but they make it hard to find it now. Is some really good racing most of the time though and sounded GREAT at PLM '12. Was really hoping the '13 schedule would have included them back at Road Atlanta but maybe U-Verse will be better at recording the races right and I won't miss them next season.

[Maelochs]

Hard to find on TV is the problem ... I have seen them live a couple times and it is usually high-action, but I have never tried to actually follow the series online and on TV to always know who was doing what.

The way the rest of North American racing is going, PWC might be getting a Lot of new fans.

[rich07]

Any idea as to World Challenge entries?

Will Randy Pobst be back with volvo?

[WMUCarGuy]

Hoping they'll get GTS sorted out and get the Boss 302s a bit more competitive next year!

[I Rosputnik]

According to this, GT3 cars will be racing next year.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

According to this, GT3 cars will be racing next year.

About time somebody allows gt3 cars to run in the US (grand-am not withstanding). That would really be a good direction for the series to go in. I'm excited to see who shows up and with what. I know there are some Audi's ready to race, and I haven't filled WC much this year but haven't there already been some gt3 spec cars running?

[Jacques Rabbit]

I love World Challenge.

If you want live coverage, every race is streamed live on their site. I've never tried it, but it's an alternative to the tape-delayed NBCSN broadcasts, or an option for those outside the U.S.

I'm definitely interested in GT3 cars joining...

[sukispeed]

Originally Posted by joeb

I haven't filled WC much this year but haven't there already been some gt3 spec cars running?

Yes, the Aston Martin DBRS9

[PointDSM]

Originally Posted by Jacques Rabbit

I love World Challenge.

If you want live coverage, every race is streamed live on their site. I've never tried it, but it's an alternative to the tape-delayed NBCSN broadcasts, or an option for those outside the U.S.

I'm definitely interested in GT3 cars joining...

They stream and archive races on their site. I used to watch them religiously, until I kinda forgot about the series. The streaming was always great, although not quite as good picture than the ALMS feed.

If this series ran with ALMS, I would be a huge fan. But since they run with Indycar (that I entirely ignore and will not attend a race), they won't get any attention from me.

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Hard to find on TV is the problem ... I have seen them live a couple times and it is usually high-action, but I have never tried to actually follow the series online and on TV to always know who was doing what.

The way the rest of North American racing is going, PWC might be getting a Lot of new fans.

Yeah the TV package is abysmal, and although all the races are available online at world-challengetv.com they aren't so user friendly. They are up pretty much right away though. It'd be nice if they uploaded to Youtube, and they have a Youtube channel, but no races.

Originally Posted by rich07

Any idea as to World Challenge entries?

Will Randy Pobst be back with volvo?

That I'm not sure of, I'd imagine he will be though.

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Hoping they'll get GTS sorted out and get the Boss 302s a bit more competitive next year!

Yeah they need to rein in the turbos in GTS a bit. Those Kias were way fast this year...

Originally Posted by joeb

About time somebody allows gt3 cars to run in the US (grand-am not withstanding). That would really be a good direction for the series to go in. I'm excited to see who shows up and with what. I know there are some Audi's ready to race, and I haven't filled WC much this year but haven't there already been some gt3 spec cars running?

GMG has a couple Audi R8 LMS cars. They've run a few times and per James Sefronas on a WC video it's box-stock as it runs in GT3 but has a slightly smaller restricter and a little less front / rear splitter / wing.

Another interesting thing I saw the other day: Fabryse from GMG put up a pic on Instagram the other day of a turbo motor going into one of their GT3 Cup WC race cars.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

According to this, GT3 cars will be racing next year.

Thats great news. Shouldve happened a while ago. It'll be interesting to see how the GT3 current generation like the R8 LMS Ultra, Merc, McLaren pace compared to the home grown stuff that already runs in the series.

Havent followed the series closely for a couple of years, they run on slicks?

[broadrun96]

Yeah, they run P Zero slicks now. Used to run cut down(i think) Toyo street tires with a racing compound, did make for some good races with Andy Pilgrim would come storming back through the field as the tires he saved under the Caddy helped him pass the fast starters. And maybe the best Audi commercial ever was the start of a race in the rain; think Caddy or Viper had locked out the front row. Lights go out to start and suddenly there appears the Audis out from behind the front row and around the leaders to turn 1. Was an impressive ad for Quattro.

Series might get some better pub now with F1 joining them on NBC Sports. And apparently there's some other race series on there too

[rich07]

Thanks broadrun, I remember when they used to use toyos and heard about a move to full slicks but havent really kept up to date with the series for a while.

Remember the Audi starts though, great to watch.

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Yeah, they run P Zero slicks now. Used to run cut down(i think) Toyo street tires with a racing compound, did make for some good races with Andy Pilgrim would come storming back through the field as the tires he saved under the Caddy helped him pass the fast starters. And maybe the best Audi commercial ever was the start of a race in the rain; think Caddy or Viper had locked out the front row. Lights go out to start and suddenly there appears the Audis out from behind the front row and around the leaders to turn 1. Was an impressive ad for Quattro.

Series might get some better pub now with F1 joining them on NBC Sports. And apparently there's some other race series on there too

I believe they used to run shaved Toyo Proxes Ra1's. I think that Audi commercial was from a Derek Bell start at a wet Mosport. I've loved WC since I started going to sports car races in the mid-90's... moving from SPEED channel, and the adding of classes turned me off. I enjoyed single-class GT sprint races and more traditional touring car races as separate events.

The move to add GT3 cars is nothing official from what I've seen. As has been pointed out, "GT3"-ish cars have been featured in the series since 2006, when the (modified) DBRS9 made its debut. Last year we even had one-offs from an Audi R8 lms.

I think GMG has suggested they could run as many as five R8 lms/Ultra next year. I also think that a couple of teams are looking at bringing GT3-sourced machinery into WCGT, but they will have to change the cars to satisfy SCCA scrutineers.

Chris

[MagVanisher]

I wonder if they would add some GT500 cars too as an experiment class in 2014 so that would kill Trans-Am off?

Still, I'm glad that this series is accepting GT3 cars!

[NaBUru38]

GT3 in SCCA World Challenge is great news! Teams will be abled to run in both championships with the same car, and will be abled to sell them one to another.

[WolfsburgRS]

I'd be very curious to see if anyone showed up with a BMW Z4 as well. I almost forgot there was a Ferrari running a few events in 2012 as well, but I don't know those cars well enough to know what the basis of it was (GT3 / etc) It was an older 430, so perhaps based on a GTE car?

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

I'd be very curious to see if anyone showed up with a BMW Z4 as well. I almost forgot there was a Ferrari running a few events in 2012 as well, but I don't know those cars well enough to know what the basis of it was (GT3 / etc) It was an older 430, so perhaps based on a GTE car?

Ex-Tafel Racing ALMS car. Again, highly modified to compete in WCGT, though via Cadillac and Volvo development has made these cars considerably more intricate than they were even in 2008.

As far as I know, the SLS AMG GT3 is more likely than a Z4 at this moment.

Generally the addition of GT3-sourced entries is good for diversity and grid size, but I don't see this as the great boon people seem to think it is.

Chris

[Fogelhund]

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rld-challenge/

[Beetle]

Just a thought... maybe we'll see more entries for the ALMS/Grand-Am merger in 2014 with some World Challenge teams like Cadillac coming in to race?

[WolfsburgRS]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rld-challenge/

Very timely! Guess that answers the question on the BMW. I wonder if they work on approvals for cars which they have been approached about (i.e. "hey WC I'd like to run this car, please approve it") or if it's more general than that.

I don't think GT3 cars will mean some kind of wind-fall of new entries, but it's exciting to see new options.

As far as I know with Cadillac they won't run GTE because of Corvette. Corvette has ALMS / GTE, Cadillac has World Challenge - doubtful that there would be overlap between the two programs with budgets being what they are. Maybe that could change if Corvette goes WEC for GTE and Cadillac moves over the the new unified series in 2014, but honesty I don't know the structure of the teams and programs enough to know if that would ever be the case.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rld-challenge/

Great to see some confirmation. So its on a car by basis, not an inclusion of the entire gt3 class. Well this should bump numbers up a bit. Maybe we might see Turner running a Z4? Just a thought.

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by WolfsburgRS

but honesty I don't know the structure of the teams and programs enough to know if that would ever be the case.

Same team, different programs.

Originally Posted by rich07

Great to see some confirmation. So its on a car by basis, not an inclusion of the entire gt3 class. Well this should bump numbers up a bit. Maybe we might see Turner running a Z4? Just a thought.

John Dagys may have more answers in his interview with World Challenge's Technical Director, though I think BMW Team RLL are more likely than Turner - not to say I think RLL will wind up in WC.

I reiterate, I think the SLS is likely and GMG will increase their R8 program significantly on 2012, but I think this announcement is more of an advertisement to potential teams (and wealthy men wanting to race cars that are currently in vogue) than it is an announcement indicating there will be teams on the grid next year.

Chris

[Coach Ep]

Just a shame they run so many streetraces, 5 out of 9 venues in total is too much.

GT cars are more suited to roadcourses in my opinion, would have loved to see them back at Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca or Road America for that matter (and have them all run together at the latter, like Supercar Challenge does at Spa).