Information Please!

[pettersolberg29]

I assume this is the right place for this but here it goes - feel free to delete if not appropriate Mods.

I don't generally follow GT Racing/Le Mans etc. but my interest has grown recently. However it seems very complicate all the series and entries and stuff.

For example what championship do teams like Aston-Lola and Peugeot Sport Total take part in, and what series does the 24 Hours of Le Mans count as part of? Just wondering because it seems hard to start getting into the sport as nothing is particularly clear.

What series is the 'top' series, who is the best driver in it etc? I'm especially interested in Sarrazin since I suported him in my 'native' WRC!

Thanks for any info you can give, and hope to discuss further in this forum later one.

[wedge]

LMS = Le Mans Series

Le Mans doesn't count for anything, its a race in its own right.

ALMS = American Le Mans Series ie. North America. To further complicate things the series is sanctioned by IMSA and deviates slighty from ACO/Le Mans.

[pettersolberg29]

Thanks - so which generally gets the most interest? ALMS or LMS?

[UltimateDanGTR]

in america ALMS seems more important, in europe LMS seems more important. however as you may notice, sports car racing doesnt get much media coverage outside of the likes of eurosport, Motors TV and RadioLeMans. there is a good website with all the latest sports car news called Planet Le Mans.

There are also other series. in america there is the rolex sportscar series, part of grand-am. There are 2 classes in these races: DP (Daytona Prototype) and GT. These GT cars are less developed than GT1 and GT2 cars of alms and lms series races. Having said that, GT1 has now died out, and from next year both alms and lms will have different gt classes. LMS havnt completely released their plans yet, but ALMS will have 2 LMP classes and 2 GT classes: GT (GT2 cars) and GT-C (GT challenge, sort of GT3 cars as far as i gather). LMPs will be LMP and LMP-C. LMP will be for LMP1 and LMP2 cars, and LMP-C will be for formula-le mans cars, which are development series cars.

GT racing has its own championships: from next year there will be a GT1 world championship, plus FIA european GT2, FIA european GT3 and GT4 euro cup.

each gt class is different, gt1 cars are the most developed and GT4 the least.

hope that helps, sorry if some of that sounds patronizing

[pettersolberg29]

Thanks Dan - not patronising at all because as I said I'm a real novice with sports car races. Le Mans 24 has me interested but as you say the coverage is so bad its hard to get into it...

[tmx]

Nice to see this thread as I don't follow endurance racing much these days so I am sort of clueless of what's going on as well and I like to be up to speed. But here are what I remembered:

LeMans24Hours is a single race by itself, invitation only, and own by the ACO. There are no points to be gain. The LMS and ALMS are based on the LeMans rules and car classes.

LeMans classes are divided into four: LMP1 is usually the most powerful car with 900kg minimum weight, LMP2 being 825kg (I think its used to be 675kg?). Diesel engine is the big thing now for LMP1 cars, which yield very good torque. They require larger displacement, LMP1 diesel engine can have up to 5500cc, but fuel tank at 81litre. Gas engine up to 4000cc with 90litre tank.

Some famous drivers for Audi team are Tom Kristenson (who won LeMans 8 times, currently competing in DTM as well) and Alan McNish (who were a regular ALMS competitor). There are just so many endurance racing drivers though so hard to name them all. And it's more difficult to analyze in endurance racing because usually two or three person takes turn driving the car, so it's a combination of their efforts.

A popular car in LMP2 right now is the Porsche RS Spyder, a pretty successful car and beat the LMP1 car in Sebring 2008 to win overall. Unlike the past where Porsche were more fighting in the top for overall wins, now Porsche is run with more economic business plan by supplying cars for many privateers and they are very sucessful in that business. So many teams are running the RS Spyders (such as Van Merksteijn Motorsport as you know from rallying). Then obviously the most successful GT racing car, the 911 GT3, usually race as the GT2 class in LeMans races. I remembered in 2001 LeMans race that was wet, the Seikel Motorsport team took their 911 GT3-RS to 6th place overall.

A famous and long time team in GT1 is Corvette Racing who are actually very successful with their C6.R. Johnny O'Connell is one of their popular driver, who is a 3 times GT1 winner of ALMS.

I don't know much of what's going on today anymore, I can only reminisce about the past. Nowadays LMP cars are often open cockpit. Long ago there were much more closed cockpit cars, such as the famous Group C class which race in the 80s, which is also introduced by the FIA who introduced the Group B rally cars. They were very fast (up to 250mph), but they became very expensive and over time teams were moving away toward F1. Their onboards are good to watch, infact this video show 5 times LeMans winner Derek Bell driving a Porsche 956 around the old 22.8km Nurburgring circuit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M11GOVfA50. We will never get tracks like this again in endurance racing or F1 for modern days, especially with that carousel.

[pettersolberg29]

Cheers tmx - good info and a great clip. The thing I love about endurance racing is not only the skill of the driver to last for that long at those speeds, but the style of the car, the atmosphere of the race and the variety of entrants - both drivers and cars.

[UltimateDanGTR]

its a shame sportscar racing doesnt have a world championship with the stature of F1, The thing about sportscar racing is that if it was seen as importnat by the media, it would be just as important as F1 IMO.

[Oli_M]

its a shame sportscar racing doesnt have a world championship with the stature of F1, The thing about sportscar racing is that if it was seen as importnat by the media, it would be just as important as F1 IMO.

I agree. Le Mans 24hr gets lots of media attention. However, I think the biggest problem with sportscar races is - the races themselves. The "important" races - Le Mans, Sebring, Petit etc - are all long endurance races (as sportscar racing should be). That makes it practically impossible to cover on 'regular' tv - relegating it to either a "start" and "finish" show, or complete coverage on a motorsport-specific channel (eg Motors, Speed etc). That in itself perhaps reduces the availability of races to the 'general' public.

However, it is good to see more and more races being covered by the likes of Motors and Speed TV, giving us the opportunity to watch them often flag to flag!

[wedge]

Don't suppose anyone know if Group C was on terrestial telly?

BPR GTs got a good following and that was only on Eurosport. FIA GT in its heyday post BPR//ITC was on ITV.

ALMS have done a solid job. Some races covered on the big networks like CBS and NBC which means us NASCAR fans have to again have to put up with Bill Weber