What Do ALMS Teams Do After Sebring...

Tim Northcutt · 14 Mar 2003, 22:21 (Ref:536465)

Since Mexico City got dumped from the schedule, the ALMS has nothing on their agenda until July...although there is word of a short event at Road Atlanta to replace Washington DC in late June....after Le Mans

Of course, the invited teams for Le Mans will test there in early May and run the race in June...

But what would be your plans between now and May???

What if you sent an entry, but do not get an invite???

Just to be curious....

Pretend you are a team owner....what do you do?

* Test a Lot on tracks where you can set up sessions between now and the Big One in June?

* Do you test here in April, and somewhere in Europe after the Le Mans test dates in May?

* Enter something on the FIA-SCC Schedule that is either before or after the May Tests at Le Mans to get race time and track time with traffic for handling, additonal fuel mileage and tire wear notes, or even comparisons to the teams you haven't raced at Sebring who will be at Le Mans??? (Racing For Holland, Pescarolo, Courage Competition)

* Do a mix of the above???

* Do anything entirely different that what is mentioned above???

I'm interested in reading your thoughts on this...

Lee Janotta · 15 Mar 2003, 00:37 (Ref:536551)

Spend a week or so at a track with a lot of straights and slow corners, like LeMans, getting the car set up as best as possible, come rain or come shine... Rebuild the cars... Try courting some additional sponsors... Run an FIA GT, Canada GT or a Grand-Am race to make sure everything's in order (only applies to the GT teams, and GTS in the case of FIA and Canadian GT)... Beyond that, not much.

pirenzo · 15 Mar 2003, 00:52 (Ref:536559)

Paul Ricard. Valencia. Test. Boring. Be glad that you can have a holiday in the space.

Tim Northcutt · 15 Mar 2003, 00:58 (Ref:536565)

I agree that a combination of things might be best, but I guess that it all would depend on how well (or badly) I ran at Sebring...

If I were an LMP owner...I'd take a look at an FIA April event and hope it is close enough to the Le Mans test that I'm not spending weeks over there....

then I'd run the test days in May, bring it home to rebuild and make changes based on what I learned from the April race and the May test at Le Mans....

I would then shoot for the week of testing in late May on the type of track you described (Elkhart Lake?) to see if I liked the changes before heading for France

dretceterini · 15 Mar 2003, 03:23 (Ref:536615)

I think it's a choice for US teams between the Mexico replacement race at Road Atlanta at the end of April, or Estoril in Portugal on April 13th, but would expect the vast majority to choose to run Road Atlanta if they have the budget to run either one.

Both European and US teams can run the German round of the FIA on May 10th, but I would expect this round to have the lowest turnout of the FIA season due to expenses (for US teams) and the closeness to the LeMans date (for both European and US teams).

Ultimately, it will depend on budget more than anything else.

Lee Janotta · 15 Mar 2003, 04:07 (Ref:536636)

Yeah Tim, Elkhart's probably the closest to LeMans in terms of it's demands on cars, of the North American tracks. Brainerd's a close second.

LeMans is such a weird, *******ized track these days. I know it's cliche, but that poor track really has been choked to death by all the damn chicanes!

Fab · 15 Mar 2003, 07:58 (Ref:536700)

Quote:

Originally posted by Lee Janotta
Yeah Tim, Elkhart's probably the closest to LeMans in terms of it's demands on cars, of the North American tracks. Brainerd's a close second.

LeMans is such a weird, *******ized track these days. I know it's cliche, but that poor track really has been choked to death by all the damn chicanes!

I don't like the chicanes, but the speed is still 340 km/h for the best cars, before the second chicane or before Indy curve... not so bad for a 'choked to death' track...

Let's hope ACO won't go further in the disfiguration of it...

In Europe, the most practicle track for tests at high speed is Paul Ricard/Castelet track, according to teams assertions... expensive one.

Pescarolo do tests these days on a military airfield around Angers, for aerodynamical choices...

Garrett · 16 Mar 2003, 04:37 (Ref:537792)

Test at Sebring util Le Mans because Sebring is sch a tough and car pounding course, that if anything was to break, even in the littlest places, it would happen at Sebring. I would test everything to make sure that the car would run perfect for Le Mans. Like said before, pratice makes perfect!

**Aysedasi** · 16 Mar 2003, 09:58 (Ref:537909)

Quote:

Originally posted by Lee Janotta

LeMans is such a weird, *******ized track these days. I know it's cliche, but that poor track really has been choked to death by all the damn chicanes!

If the "*******ized" reference was to "sanitized", I can't agree with you. Yes, I'd love to see the Mulsanne Straight straight again, and, to be quite honest, I'd be very happy to lose the extra curves they put in after the Dunlop Bridge last year. But "sanitized", no way. This isn't you're average namby-pamby F1 squirt and brake. The challenge for the drivers in the straight sections before, between abd after the Mulsanne and then, particularly, on the run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis, make this great old circuit anything but sanitized.

Fab · 16 Mar 2003, 11:03 (Ref:537947)

I'll ad that the curve downhill the Dunlop curve seems to be... faster (according to the pilots themselves!) than the straight before ! Could somebody explain that odd thing ? Maybe more regular speed between the small straight before Le Tertre Rouge (for the newbies : the best part of the track at my taste to see the cars, preparing Les Hunaudières).

Something about the word : do you know that Les Hunaudières is much more known in France than Mulsanne ? Just because of the speed in the straight... funny, isn't it ?

rdjones · 16 Mar 2003, 11:07 (Ref:537952)

As an aside, They where saying during the Sebring commentry that this year we might see top speeds off above 200mph, from the Bentley's and Audi' on the Mulsanne again.

Fab · 16 Mar 2003, 11:13 (Ref:537961)

What makes 200 mph in km/h ?

rdjones · 16 Mar 2003, 11:16 (Ref:537964)

200 mph is 321.8 km/h now that is quick.......

Fab · 16 Mar 2003, 12:45 (Ref:538015)

Quote:

Originally posted by rdjones
200 mph is 321.8 km/h now that is quick.......

I hope even more : less download forces, still powerful engines, they could be better in the straight and less fast in the curves, as before... but this is fast indeed...

I'd feel humiliated (as a spectator I mean) if we'd go slow again (losing 5 or 10 seconds per lap in comparison with last year, for example)...

kdr · 16 Mar 2003, 12:56 (Ref:538030)

In Europe, the most practicle track for tests at high speed is Paul Ricard/Castelet track, according to teams assertions... expensive one.

i wonder if it would amuse mr.ecclestone to have a top line aco sanctioned sportscar race on his track?

racer69 · 16 Mar 2003, 12:58 (Ref:538032)

You'd have to do abit of testing, but nothing beats racing to really know how well the car is going. Depending on your class some SCC and FIA GT races would be the go.

Chevyguy · 17 Mar 2003, 00:14 (Ref:538475)

If I were a team owner, I'd invest in a 911 or a 360, and go race some GA. Sad thought, huh?

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