Anybody out there following the Grand Am?

[TheDomsta1234]

Really? That's interesting because a lot of the Aussies I've come across have been some of the biggest and most knowledgeable petrol-heads.

Since you live near Monza, do you have lots of young or old people that are car loves in your town??? Or do they all love motorbikes

Actully disregard the young people, because my dad I have family in a town near Monza called Schio, I was fortunate enough to go over there in 2010, and all young people cared about was Motorbikes

 

[TheDomsta1234]

The coverage isn't too bad but it could be a lot better though (though F1, V8 Supercar and MotoGP coverage is fantastic). In recent years we've been lucky to get British Touring Cars, WRC, live Grand Am and NASCAR, live Le Mans 24 Hour, DTM highlights, FIA GT1 and GT3 highlights on free-to-air television but most of those have disappeared since our dedicated sports channel has been re-programmed into a "man's channel". I'm still not sure if we're even going to get Grand Am coverage this year, which is a bit disappointing as it's a great, exciting series. It's just too bad many people seem to disregard the series because they don't find the Daytona Prototypes appealing to look at.

YEAH I KNOW!!!

WHY did One have to switch from a dedicated sports channel to what they have now???

I dispute you saying that the v8 and f1 coverage is great

The f1's, we dont even get to see practice and get bombarded with heaps of advertisements, BUT on the flip side we now get pre and after race coverage. So f1 coverage is ALRIGHT now

The v8's on the other hand is not that good now.

When it used to be on TEN it was awsome, me and my Dad used to watch it heaps, loved the commentary team and the drivers/cars

But when it switched over to channel 7 I stopped watching for about 1 and a half years

The commentary team is $hit, Matt White: SERIOUSLY and even though they show practice, you never hear on the news about an upcoming race like channel TEN did.

I recall one race was cut short on the final 5 laps because they had to switch to the footy, the message was "stay tuned for 7 news at 6:00 to hear the final results"

I CANNOT BELIVE that our own series would be dogged on by channel 7 like that!!!

Besides the series is turning into a 1 make with Holden buying out all the top teams to come to them, Ford is losing all the good people! Back in 2002-2003 we had good drives too, but most of them now have gona abroad or retired and now it's left to Whincup to dominate.

I would seriously like for Whincup to go to NASCAR like he was offered to and for Ambrose to come back. Lowndes is the ONLY reason I dont hate triple 888 racing.

In disgust of last years cut to the footy, I now only watch Adelade 500, Bathurst, Surfers Paradise All stars race and sometimes the Finale

I find it hard to understrand why they would cut to the footy though, only popular in Vic and hated everywhere else. It's like american football, half the country hates it. AFL is a Retards game, Soccer has much more appeal both in the crowd and style of the game!!!

 

[Sach]

Since you live near Monza, do you have lots of young or old people that are car loves in your town??? Or do they all love motorbikes

Actully disregard the young people, because my dad I have family in a town near Monza called Schio, I was fortunate enough to go over there in 2010, and all young people cared about was Motorbikes

I don't actually live near Monza... But I do live quite near Pike's Peak. I would not say that there are a lot of petrol-heads in my area (too many hippies), but the Pike's Peak event obviously has a great attendance.

 

[nitrorocks]

I don't actually live near Monza... But I do live quite near Pike's Peak. I would not say that there are a lot of petrol-heads in my area (too many hippies), but the Pike's Peak event obviously has a great attendance.

I was going to go to the hillclimb this year with my dad! But went to the Indy 500 instead. (Which was priceless).

 

[SuperShouden]

Racer's Edge Motorsport's Challenger isn't doing so well. It's practice times are more on par with the ST cars than the GS....we'll see how it does in the qualifying and race...but...I still don't see why the Camaro is doing well and the Challenger is struggling...I had similar issues when trying to adjust cars in GT5...but...that's not real life, and in real life, the Camaro and Challenger are pretty close, performance wise. Whatever, though.

 

[SuperShouden]

Final day of practice for the 24 Hours, and the Viper posted a best time of 1:50.6, putting it only a second off the leader's lap times. Seems like it has promise....unlike REMs Continental Tire Challenge Challenger. It should be interesting to see where everyone qualifies.

 

[TheDomsta1234]

YEAH I KNOW!!!

WHY did One have to switch from a dedicated sports channel to what they have now???

I dispute you saying that the v8 and f1 coverage is great

The f1's, we dont even get to see practice and get bombarded with heaps of advertisements, BUT on the flip side we now get pre and after race coverage. So f1 coverage is ALRIGHT now

The v8's on the other hand is not that good now.

When it used to be on TEN it was awsome, me and my Dad used to watch it heaps, loved the commentary team and the drivers/cars

But when it switched over to channel 7 I stopped watching for about 1 and a half years

The commentary team is $hit, Matt White: SERIOUSLY and even though they show practice, you never hear on the news about an upcoming race like channel TEN did.

I recall one race was cut short on the final 5 laps because they had to switch to the footy, the message was "stay tuned for 7 news at 6:00 to hear the final results"

I CANNOT BELIVE that our own series would be dogged on by channel 7 like that!!!

Besides the series is turning into a 1 make with Holden buying out all the top teams to come to them, Ford is losing all the good people! Back in 2002-2003 we had good drives too, but most of them now have gona abroad or retired and now it's left to Whincup to dominate.

I would seriously like for Whincup to go to NASCAR like he was offered to and for Ambrose to come back. Lowndes is the ONLY reason I dont hate triple 888 racing.

In disgust of last years cut to the footy, I now only watch Adelade 500, Bathurst, Surfers Paradise All stars race and sometimes the Finale

I find it hard to understrand why they would cut to the footy though, only popular in Vic and hated everywhere else. It's like american football, half the country hates it. AFL is a Retards game, Soccer has much more appeal both in the crowd and style of the game!!!

oh and i am talking about the australian free to air tv

 

[Stavelot]

You're joking about soccer right? 5000 people at most games isnt huge crowds (unlike league and union which reguarly draw 3 times that).

 

[lilcat89]

Racer's Edge Motorsport's Challenger isn't doing so well. It's practice times are more on par with the ST cars than the GS....we'll see how it does in the qualifying and race...but...I still don't see why the Camaro is doing well and the Challenger is struggling...I had similar issues when trying to adjust cars in GT5...but...that's not real life, and in real life, the Camaro and Challenger are pretty close, performance wise. Whatever, though.

Buddy of mine works for Racers edge motorsports and he told me tuesday that Dodge pulled the plug on the challenger program. Kinda want to know what the status of the viper program is now though. The viper has been breaking driveshafts at the last couple of tests, so its looking ok considering their semi-pro driver lineup.

 

[Sach]

You're joking about soccer right? 5000 people at most games isnt huge crowds (unlike league and union which reguarly draw 3 times that).

Eh, what? Camp Nou = 99,354 seating, sold out every game.

 

[SuperShouden]

Buddy of mine works for Racers edge motorsports and he told me tuesday that Dodge pulled the plug on the challenger program. Kinda want to know what the status of the viper program is now though. The viper has been breaking driveshafts at the last couple of tests, so its looking ok considering their semi-pro driver lineup.

That's weird. 'cause Racer's Edge still had the Challenger out there in practice. But not having Dodge's backing would simply make them an independent team, and might be why they were trying so hard.

The Viper did awesome in the final test for being a new team. I don't know what FIAT's afraid of with the Challenger. It's not like they've got any other cars in the CTC.

But...the Viper isn't apart of Dodge anymore, so the SRT team might be heading up that program and might have taken old of the Challenger program. I'm hoping this year's Viper team is a big hint that SRT is going to be back next year with the new Viper.

 

[LJC2001]

Here's a couple shots from Saturdays practice at Daytona. It was great to be at the track, I live 45 miles away. Enjoy!

 

[RETROCRX]

HEY! I know those guys in the first pic. I worked the Rolex for AIM Autosport several years ago with the Riley DP....we finished 6th.

 

[Stavelot]

Would prefer the Viper at Le Mans rather than Daytona...

 

[RACECAR]

Would prefer the Viper at Le Mans rather than Daytona...

Given the current shape of things, not many options at the moment. I'm glad just to see a Viper racing at all.

 

[nitrorocks]

I'm confused in what even happened on why the WSC (Previuosly the LMS, ILMC, ALMS, IMSA, and now WEC) don't run at Daytona anymore like the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I heard it was an argument between IMSA and the FIA? Am I correct? I even heard the SCCA was on IMSA's side. Not sure if that's true though.

 

[Joelvan]

I race a Dodge Challenger with NASA. I have won a race in it. Then Challenger can be made competitive but it will take SRT/Dodge backing it 100%
From what I can tell Dodge has no interest in Road racing.
Atlantic autosport built a challenger to Run GS and Dodge backed out on the at the last minute on them also
LINK TO THEIR CAR

http://www.atlanticautosport.com/

Here is a pic of my car I am in need of sponsorship also




!cid_B1206C88-C17A-4A05-8E00-393FDA78F477 by joelvandiver, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[EDK]

I race a Dodge Challenger with NASA. I have won a race in it. Then Challenger can be made competitive but it will take SRT/Dodge backing it 100%
From what I can tell Dodge has no interest in Road racing.
Atlantic autosport built a challenger to Run GS and Dodge backed out on the at the last minute on them also
LINK TO THEIR CAR

http://www.atlanticautosport.com/

Here is a pic of my car I am in need of sponsorship also




!cid_B1206C88-C17A-4A05-8E00-393FDA78F477 by joelvandiver, on Flickr[/IMG]

Awesome, nice to see. 👍

This is my 2010 Challenger.

Do you make it out West for any races? Infineon or Laguna?

 

[RACECAR]

I'm confused in what even happened on why the WSC (Previuosly the LMS, ILMC, ALMS, IMSA, and now WEC) don't run at Daytona anymore like the 60s, 70s, and 80s. I heard it was an argument between IMSA and the FIA? Am I correct? I even heard the SCCA was on IMSA's side. Not sure if that's true though.

If memory serves me correct, their was ownership problems with IMSA.

 

[SuperShouden]

Dodge/SRT might not have a choice in the matter soon, though. If FIAT wants them to race, I don't think they can say no. Hopefully, though, the boys over at SRT DO want to road race and will help the Challenger. And this might be the last year Dodge is in charge of racing. FIAT might be handing the reigns over to SRT and thus, Dodge is a little upset about it.

 

[nitrorocks]

If memory serves me correct, their was ownership problems with IMSA.

Oh. I wish the LMP's and REAL GT's would come back and race there. Better than ugly DP cars, and slow touring cars called GT cars.

 

[RACECAR]

Oh. I wish the LMP's and REAL GT's would come back and race there. Better than ugly DP cars, and slow touring cars called GT cars.

I do agree about GT, I'm not very keen on that class. I wished they would have just went straight to GT3, but I'm guessing its somehow too expensive to the teams already using their tubeframe BMWs, Mazdas and tiringly massive amounts of Porsche GT3 Cup Cars. The Audi R8 and Ferrari 458s are the only reason I will actually pay more attention to GT this year.

DP however, I massively disagree and this is the reason why:

This is what I always thought the DPs should actually look like. Small greenhouse, wide stance and a long sleek body. This (along with the new Riley) have all that, as opposed to the less dull Riley MK XXs that massively populated the DP field.

 

[nitrorocks]

Yeah. After 8 years of hatching ugly ducklings, the DP class finally hatched a swan

 

[Snaeper]

From what I understand, the international sports car scene has largely abandoned Daytona because Daytona doesn't want them there anymore. Since Grand Am is affiliated with NASCAR, NASCAR is controlled by the France family and the France family owns Daytona (correct me if I'm wrong on any of this), they didn't want international cars coming in to steal the show when they were starting up their own companion road racing organization.

I love the improvements being made to the series however, between the new DP's and the introduction of the first two modified GT3 cars, I see Grand Am as growing to the point of out-doing ALMS in most aspects outside of prestige. I hope to see more modified GT3 cars join the ranks and diversify the field from the Mazda's and Porsche's that still seem to populate it.

 

[nitrorocks]

From what I understand, the international sports car scene has largely abandoned Daytona because Daytona doesn't want them there anymore. Since Grand Am is affiliated with NASCAR, NASCAR is controlled by the France family and the France family owns Daytona (correct me if I'm wrong on any of this), they didn't want international cars coming in to steal the show when they were starting up their own companion road racing organization.

I love the improvements being made to the series however, between the new DP's and the introduction of the first two modified GT3 cars, I see Grand Am as growing to the point of out-doing ALMS in most aspects outside of prestige. I hope to see more modified GT3 cars join the ranks and diversify the field from the Mazda's and Porsche's that still seem to populate it.

I would like to see more GT3 cars too 👍

 

[lilcat89]

From what I understand, the international sports car scene has largely abandoned Daytona because Daytona doesn't want them there anymore. Since Grand Am is affiliated with NASCAR, NASCAR is controlled by the France family and the France family owns Daytona (correct me if I'm wrong on any of this), they didn't want international cars coming in to steal the show when they were starting up their own companion road racing organization.

I love the improvements being made to the series however, between the new DP's and the introduction of the first two modified GT3 cars, I see Grand Am as growing to the point of out-doing ALMS in most aspects outside of prestige. I hope to see more modified GT3 cars join the ranks and diversify the field from the Mazda's and Porsche's that still seem to populate it.

I think the GT class is really close to going straight into GT3. The main problem seems to me like Grand-Am wants to go to GT3 rules, but as long as Mazda still has factory money backing tube-frame RX-8s , I dont see it. Im wondering why no one has put the 3-rotor in a DP chassis. You can order one from Riley for the rotary. That, and the fact that they have the rules set just right for competition. A lot is riding on how well the Grand-Am spec Audi and Ferrari do the first half of the year.

 

[RACECAR]

From what I understand, the international sports car scene has largely abandoned Daytona because Daytona doesn't want them there anymore. Since Grand Am is affiliated with NASCAR, NASCAR is controlled by the France family and the France family owns Daytona (correct me if I'm wrong on any of this), they didn't want international cars coming in to steal the show when they were starting up their own companion road racing organization.

You're right about the affiliation as NASCAR Financially supported them before buying them out (Well, Bill France Jr did anyway). However, the international sports Car Scene didn't abandon Daytona because The Frances didn't want International cars (Otherwise Bill France Sr. wouldn't have even co-Founded IMSA, the very santioning body that owned Grand-Am for a time).

I love the improvements being made to the series however, between the new DP's and the introduction of the first two modified GT3 cars, I see Grand Am as growing to the point of out-doing ALMS in most aspects outside of prestige. I hope to see more modified GT3 cars join the ranks and diversify the field from the Mazda's and Porsche's that still seem to populate it.

Here's a perfect example of how apparently serious the ALMS appears to be about Grand-Am's current state: On the same day that the Grand-Am Spec R8 took its first laps, They announce that the R8 can compete in their GT class and even said that its being homolagated for it, as if to steal the attention from a car already in the flesh.

I think the GT class is really close to going straight into GT3. The main problem seems to me like Grand-Am wants to go to GT3 rules, but as long as Mazda still has factory money backing tube-frame RX-8s , I dont see it.

I think another thing is price and performance as well. Supposedly from what I read, the current tubeframe cars are much cheaper and thus have a far less chance of being written off.


Edit: Here's the number of cars for each make (Discounting Porsche because even a 9 year old can see they massively outnumber everyone):

Ferrari: 5

Camaros: 3

Corvette: 1

Mazda: 5

Audi: 3

BMW: 2

Dodge: 1


Already, Ferrari is tied with Mazda just going off this recent test so thats a good start.

 

[Snaeper]

You're right about the affiliation as NASCAR Financially supported them before buying them out (Well, Bill France Jr did anyway). However, the international sports Car Scene didn't abandon Daytona because The Frances didn't want International cars (Otherwise Bill France Sr. wouldn't have even co-Founded IMSA, the very santioning body that owned Grand-Am for a time).

IMSA was originally founded by France and John Bishop with the intention of making a successful road racing series similar to the successful oval racing series in NASCAR. However it wasn't that successful in the very beginning and France started parting out his shares to other investors to help cut his ties. Then Bishop had heart problems, people started playing hot potato with the series and the USRRC was founded by a number of names with the SCCA to compete with IMSA (names including France, Penske, Panoz and more).

Well the USRRC had it's own turmoil and several members (Panoz, Barber) went to IMSA (which was called PSCR at the time). The turmoil was a result of wanting to keep the cars and rules within the United States. Once Panoz and Barber were gone and the USRRC pretty much defunct, they tried a second time with Grand-Am. So the ties between IMSA and Grand-Am are murky at best... but this does show that the ALMS and Grand-Am do share the same parents. (Think Champ Car and IRL).

Anyways, since the France family owns Daytona and since it's up to them to fund the races that take place and approve the events there, they favored their own Grand-Am series instead of letting the competition come in to play in their yard. Why would they found a racing series to let someone else use the most prestigious sports car event there?

Audi: 3

There's APR and Oryx racing... who's the third?

 

[RACECAR]

There's APR and Oryx racing... who's the third?

Audi Sport AG

 

[SuperShouden]

Didn't there used to be a limit on how many cars a manufacturer could enter?