[FIA GT] RFH to quit FIA SCC

[JAG]

Apparantly RFH are likely to quit the FIA SCC and are interested in the LM Tournament next year.

[Tim Northcutt]

Will they run the rest of this season????

I hope so....so that teams who will compete next year in the LM Tournament will have races to run this year...besides, the FIA-SCC has some good race courses on tap for this year, like Monza....which seems like it will ahve a strong field from other threads now going...

[pink69]

RFH have said they'll run the next race then see what grid numbers are like. If they are still poor, they might switch to the ALMS

[Tim Northcutt]

ALMS would be interesting....

I'm not sure how much grip the Dome chassis has, and they would be running some North American courses (Like Sears Point, Laguna Seca, Trois Rivieres, etc.) that are high downforce circuits with shorter straights....they may have difficulty in some ALMS events, but would probably be fine for Petit and Elkhart Lake...

[danhx]

If the performance of the Chamberlain Dome last year is anything to go by then they would definitely have some trouble on the tighter North American tracks. I know that RfH is a higher caliber team than Chamberlain, but it's hard to imagine that they would be able to improve exponentially. Elkhart Lake would suit them, obviously, but other than that they could be SOL. Road Atlanta is kind of a toss up since you need at least a moderate amount of downforce to get through the twisty side of the track quickly, and then you have turn 10 to consider where without good grip AND balance you could just slide right off the track when pushing hard(e.g. JMR and XL Racing at PLM '02).

[paul-collins]

I'd love to see Jan pilot his little Dutch/English/Japanese rocket down Andretti Straight. C'mon, Jan, come to Canada. We love the Dutch! (I even married one!)

[JAG]

Originally posted by danhx
If the performance of the Chamberlain Dome last year is anything to go by then they would definitely have some trouble on the tighter North American tracks. I know that RfH is a higher caliber team than Chamberlain, but it's hard to imagine that they would be able to improve exponentially. Elkhart Lake would suit them, obviously, but other than that they could be SOL. Road Atlanta is kind of a toss up since you need at least a moderate amount of downforce to get through the twisty side of the track quickly, and then you have turn 10 to consider where without good grip AND balance you could just slide right off the track when pushing hard(e.g. JMR and XL Racing at PLM '02).

The RFH Domes are very different to the Chamberlain one. The RFH cars have all the latest parts wereas the Chamberlain car one of the first produced. Just look at the car' relative performance at LM2002 to see the difference.

BTW Lammers said they would like to compete at PLM not the whole series. They would like to compete in the LM Tournamant in 2004 which would likely mean they would also compete at Sebring and PLM to boost there schedule.

[FIRE]

The 1st RfH car (Lammers,Wallace,Bosch) had the 2003 specifications at the tests at Le Mans some weeks ago. The 2nd car had aerodynamic parts from 2001. This 2nd car will be improved to 2003 specifications.

[H16]

Many cars are built with Le Mans in mind. Yet there is a difference between building a car that is built with Le Mans in mind but also with the thought that it might race elsewhere and then building a car so low and little that it is almost useless elsewhere.

The Dome and to a certain extent the Courage C60 are two of those kinds of cars. I can't imagine Dome on many of the American tracks, though it would add to the ALMS.

[Garp]

Don't count on the RfH entry in ALMS. Way to expensive for them.

[FIRE]

According to Lammers they have (or try to get) a budget of 2.8 million Euro this year.

[Tim Northcutt]

Travel wouldn't be cheap for RfH to do ALMS....I'd like to see them race over here, though...Sebring & Petit would be nice....

I still think they would have something to prove at places like Trois Riveires and Sears Point, though....or for that matter, last year's Washington DC and Miami courses....although DC is a moot question, and Miami may run into the same troubles they had last year that almost ended up in court as opposed to the race track....

[JAG]

Dome have developed a high downforce spec especially for tight ALMS tracks.

Remember the R8 and MG were designed for LM, as was the V12 LMR.

Lammers is considering PLM and Sebring within a LM tournamant program, not ALMS only.