2014 United Sports Car Championship
- Thread starter Earth
- 6,133 comments
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- 10,276
- Sacramento CA
- cnd01
- 10,276
- Sacramento CA
- cnd01
The DP was created so that teams could play with the big boys without paying like the big boys. That's why there's so much animosity from the owners. Do they need to be sped up? I say yes, but only because there needs to be a gap between them and the pc field. When team owners are saying it's going to be half a million per car of upgrades, only people who were big boys to begin with can afford that. I'd venture to say that you would be pretty mad if Imsa said that LMP2 cars have to spend 500 thousand to slow down to DP spec...
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
Dude to be honest I DON'T care what a whiny millionare has to spend to play around with his race car!
If they would have made a decent platform out of the DP to start with they would be in the place they are now.
Do I want American racing to be relevant in the global stage? Hell yeah! But it sure won't happen if the top class is slower than a GT3/GT-E car. A top Prototype class needs to be way faster than a GT, road car based class!
Do I want the spending to get stupid like P1? Hell no!! That's the vicious circle that has repeated itself over the past 50 years in Sports Car racing.
The concept of a cost capped top Prototype class makes a lot of sense, but an outdated, slow platform like DP just won't cut it.
If they would have made a decent platform out of the DP to start with they would be in the place they are now.
Do I want American racing to be relevant in the global stage? Hell yeah! But it sure won't happen if the top class is slower than a GT3/GT-E car. A top Prototype class needs to be way faster than a GT, road car based class!
Do I want the spending to get stupid like P1? Hell no!! That's the vicious circle that has repeated itself over the past 50 years in Sports Car racing.
The concept of a cost capped top Prototype class makes a lot of sense, but an outdated, slow platform like DP just won't cut it.
- 44,185
- Blackburn
- Furinkazen_54
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
Thank you! Only thing I personally don't like about the LMP generation cars is that they look nothing like any car from the line/make they are supposed to represent.
Personally I'd prefer the Super GT route, using just two classes with the top class at least looking remotely similar to something in the manufacturer's lineup
Personally I'd prefer the Super GT route, using just two classes with the top class at least looking remotely similar to something in the manufacturer's lineup
- 3,019
- Essex
- 422
- Eastern MA
- Odin_Wednesday
I don't care about it for their sake, but I do care about it from the point of view of having a larger grid. Grand-Am pretty clearly got the cost of a prototype right given the size of the grid they had, I'd hate to see that thrown out in the merged series (which it looks like they've walked it back at least somewhat from the initial proposal).
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
Grid size? Yes, but they had the wrong formula. Having a top class that's slower than other series around the globe slow class is just wrong. That's where the DP formula failed, now that those other globaly used classes are been introduced to the mix is that we see the problem come up.
Want to keep the DP formula untouched? Throw them in with PC, problem solved!
Want to keep the DP formula untouched? Throw them in with PC, problem solved!
- 10,276
- Sacramento CA
- cnd01
How is it just wrong? I'd rather sit in tge stands and watch 14 DP even if they're slower than 3 LMP1 where 2 don't finish, and 4 LMP2 that turns into a L5 parade half the time. That's the options for watching American prototype racing.
If you prefer the alms then to each his own. I prefer grid size. Alms has crappy grid size, so I like grand am.
Btw, DP is faster than gte. Look at lap times if you don't believe me
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
It's not about the ALMS, it's not about Grand Am, it's not about LMP or DP, it's about being relevant on the global stage. If you want to present yourself as cutting edge, state of the art and the best of the best at some point you need to actually back up your claim and you're certainly not gonna do that with a car that's slower than a PC and only became faster than a GT car ths year.
Anyhow, we've have the same argument how many times now??
Anyhow, we've have the same argument how many times now??
- 422
- Eastern MA
- Odin_Wednesday
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
Manufacturer interest. It used to be that the rest of the planet would to follow what we did here with our racing series here in the US and that brought the big manufacturers and their money here.
That's all it comes down to, money which keeps the series alive.
- 10,276
- Sacramento CA
- cnd01
Then lets look at why this isn't the case anymore. Back in the Imsa gtp days, big tobacco promoted the series very well and the economy was lightyears better than it is today. Those series got quality exposure. NASCAR wasn't the giant it is today. It wasn't nearly as hard back then for someone to turn a profit with a sports car team. Cars could cost more back then and it wasn't as big of a deal. Today, 50% of prototype teams at least are funded by either an old bored rich guy, a company either owned or closely related to the owner by a driver of the car or by the team owner, or a south American country. With the lack of big industry sponsoring series, making the cars as cost effective and cheap MUST take precedent over speed in order for the series to work long term.
- 22,551
- Arizona
- HamiltonMP427
I highly doubt that they have nearly as much funds going to them as GP2, the F1 guys and so on. Also with the fact that these new updates are probably going to need more evaluation (for DP) we probably wont see a significant charge forward until mid season next year. Also if we want to talk DP teams the Vette DP cars might be something to watch though I feel they may have new drivers since I'm quite sure they had guys from the factory team also race the DPs. Either way P2 will be the strong force at the start of next year, and I'd be willing to bet on it.
- 5,676
- Ontario
There's that stupid word again being thrown around again.
We get it already. You (and most other ALMS snobs) hate everything that has to do with DPs and want to kill them with fire and never come back. Get over it.
This is the reason I'm quickly losing interest in this series. Not the regulations, not the fact that nobody really knows what's going to happen yet, but that everything has to be a dick measuring contest about who's more "relevant" or who's technology is "faster/cheaper" or which category needs to die a painful death (usually one-sided coming from the ALMS snobs). It's old, it's tiresome, it's annoying, and it's frankly ridiculous by now.
ALMS is dead. Grand-Am is dead. We're supposed to have something better than both, but as long as people keep treating it like penis envy, I wont be around much longer for it.
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
Hmmm... Quick to judge are we?
You know I could care less if it was ALMS or GA, the DP is an old dinosaur that should have never been conceived. Trans Am cars should be that, Trans Am cars, not just a chassis with a body thrown at it to look somewhat like a Group C car and call it the top class.
If you ask me, my favorite racing series is the Continental Sports Car Racing series.
Why? Because they actually race cars and not tube frame monsters or carbon monocoque space ships.
After that, I love what World Challenge T used to be before they let the manufacturers burn it to the ground on the early 2000s... Now they're doing a good job with GT-S and GT but I still prefer GT-E, GT-3 and GT-D.
- 22,551
- Arizona
- HamiltonMP427
- 22,551
- Arizona
- HamiltonMP427
- 3,915
- California
- gdwest1
- 9,765
- OrlandoFL GMT-5
- GTP__Jav
Oh it does sound a lot better!! It's a high revving V-6, not quite the scream of the P1s but indeed a lot better than the constant fart of the Honda V-6
- 2,186
- W-S, NC
- WillyTwoScoops
Geez, every week we have the same issue with DP vs P2! Get over it, DP is an older style of mindset in general and it worked for that series but now we have a whole different ballgame that they are trying to play in and don't seem to like it cost money to up there game. No one ever said racing was cheap, even spec series aren't really going to cap cost anyway as we see who runs upfront.
Do I care if a car has a tube frame or not, no as long as it performs as expected and looks good. If DP's need to be faster, so be it!
Do I care if a car has a tube frame or not, no as long as it performs as expected and looks good. If DP's need to be faster, so be it!
