MPruett's avatar
Author:
Marshall Pruett
Login For More
Rate this article:
  • 0/5 Stars
  • Related Photos
SPEEDtv.com Store
Grand National:America's Golden Age of Motorcycle Racing, by Joe Scalzo
Joe Scalzo’s book captures the spirit of the Golden Age of motorcycle racing.
Our Price: $39.95
Visit Button
Buy Button
Man-Made Thunder
The book examines the sport of stock car racing through the eyes and ears of the men behind the wheel and the wrenches.
Our Price: $49.00
Visit Button
Buy Button
Unisex Sandwich Cap
Unisex Velcro back hat with SPEED logo on front. PINKS logo embroidered on left and PAO logo on right. One size fits all.
Our Price: $24.95
Visit Button
Buy Button
Speedway T-shirt
Men's 6 oz. 100% Cotton Jersey Short Sleeve Tee. SPEED logo imprinted on the front center chest.
Our Price: $24.99
Visit Button
Buy Button
Ferrari Red Classic Hat
100% cotton twill. Ferrari shield embroidered on front, piping on the peak and Ferrari logo embroidered on back strap adjuster.
Our Price: $30.00 ($27.00 Member)
Visit Button
Buy Button
Footer Bg
  • Zoom More Photos Button
  • Camera Icon
Marshall Pruett’s ALMS Mailbag 5.14.08
Written by: Marshall Pruett   
05/14/2008
Oakland, CA
 
Pruett promises to post ALMS Mailbags more regularly. If not, he's grounded for life. (Photo: SPEED) » More Photos


Like a bad sitcom on an indefinite hiatus, we yelled at Pruett and told him he was long overdue for another ALMS Mailbag. Actually, we rolled up a newspaper and smacked him on the nose. After he stopped whimpering, the lad got to work on the Mailbag answers below. We promise to keep him in line for now on. ~Ed

With everyone else from SPEEDtv.com joining in on the Mailbag craze while we've been on a short break, I'm back with answers to some fun and some tough sportscar questions.

I think.

Below we have questions on why so many new prototype manufacturers prefer LMP2 over LMP1, if the ALMS will return to race at the nation's capitol, when we'll see the Bell Motorsport Aston Martin return to GT1 competition, and why ALMS GT1 and the Rolex GT cars aren't running in a single unified series. Great stuff!

As always, email your ALMS and Le Mans questions to

Let's get back in the groove with an email I get about once a day in some shape or form:

Why is it that so many manufacturers decided to dip their toes in the ALMS pool on the P2 side? It would seem that the manufacturers would want to develop cars for what would be perceived as the larger, more prestigious P1 class.

Clint A. Costa

Thanks for the email, Clint. It's a tough one, isn't it?

The choice for P2 over P1 is about budgets, the development race, and a rulebook that’s been somewhat unstable until just recently. No one has confirmed the numbers, but it's believed Audi committed between $50M and $80M to develop and fund their run with the dominant R8's almost a decade ago, and even more money being added for the R10 TDI diesels. That's a steep price tag for an interested car maker to match, especially in a post 9/11 economy.

Sportscar fans want to know why giants like Porsche and Acura chose the P2 route--especially Porsche, with their long heritage of building top category prototypes. For Acura, it was an easy decision; after so many years away from sportscar racing, the costs and development of a P2 car, while by no means insignificant, was a better fit for their return to racing. To date, only factory teams use the Acura chassis and engine; they aren't
for sale, and at least in the first few years of the program, Acura is investing money into the program with no plans of recouping it through car or engine sales.

For Porsche, a manufacturer that has almost always sold the racing cars they’ve produced, the marketplace for a P2 car over the past few years has been much stronger than what's been commercially available in P1. That's not to say cars like the swoopy new Lola B06/80 closed-top P1 car isn't a fine machine, but at present, it would take an eight or nine-figure development budget to challenge Audi or Peugeot.

Faced with committing say $75M to be on par with an R10 or 908, most manufacturers would rather make a smaller investment to develop similar technologies in P2 prior to making a move to P1. It’s a smart business plan.
Porsche chose to return to sportscar racing with an LMP2 car for many solid business reasons. A jump to LMP1 is something racing fans would love to see. (Photo: Marshall Pruett) » More Photos

Granted, buying and racing a top P2 car isn’t as cheap as it once was. The Porsche RS Spyder will set you back about two million dollars with all the spares and accessories, so we can't pretend they're easy for everyone to afford, but with the four Spyders racing in the American Le Mans Series and the three in the Le Mans Series, they aren't beyond reach. It's worth nothing that of those seven cars, five are owned and run by privateers.

The last piece of the puzzle has been P1 rules stability. Thankfully, the ACO has abandoned the curious path for the future of prototypes they'd rolled out at Le Mans last year. The LMP/GT hybrid rendering they revealed spooked a lot of manufacturers, and whispers of something odd from the ACO had been rumored for some time. Car companies won’t commit tens of millions of dollars to something unless they know it will have a long and stable shelf life, and that’s why we haven’t seen any new P1 manufacturers join the game since Peugeot started working on the 908 in 2006.

Now that the current rules seem to be in favor for at least a few more years, it's not impossible to imagine Acura or Porsche stepping up to P1, be it with a low volume factory effort, or one that has both factory cars and cars made available for privateers to purchase.

With the current boom in the P2 category, I can only hope that if either manufacturer elects to move up to P1, it won't be at the expense of their P2 programs.

Page 1 of 4
Next Page »
1 2 3 > Last »
View All Comments