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Just saw the live press conference. GRAND-AM Road Racing and American Le Mans Series are merging into one sports car racing organization starting in 2014. This should be interesting.

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Rob Harvey
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It def should change a few things. I am so hoping for the better!!!

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I have been following this since it was leaked a number of days ago and watched the press conference at 10 AM. Not much in the way of details yet. Many questions about car classifications. For those who have not been following this very closely, this is mostly a buyout of ALMS (Don Panoz) by Grand-Am (France family). That includes Road Atlanta and the lease on Sebring. The saving grace is that apparently Jim France, while running Grand-Am, has been a fan of ALMS and LeMans style Prototype/GT racing. So it is likely that 2014 will not be a clone of Grand-Am of today.

If anything, this should be a kick in the pants for local race fans people to visit VIR to see ALMS that is just days away. My guess is that with the consolidation and as this opens up the potential tracks that a combined series can visit, that it is likely that we will NOT see (IMHO) the new series at VIR in 2014. I don't know if either series has listed their respective schedules for 2013, so I don't know if VIR will be visited by either. I have heard rumors this the coming ALMS race at VIR is a bit of a "see how it will do"

The issues with car classifications is broad. There is similar car classifications, but with slightly different prep levels. It is expected that as the Grand-Am DP teams just finished investing in the new DP, that the DP class will remain top dog in the combined series. But, the DP cars are really not much faster than the ALMS GTE cars (Porsche 911, etc.) And many feel that the ALMS GTE class has the best GT racing in NA and maybe even the world. So there is very much a "if it is not broke don't fix it" with respect to ALMS GTE. ACO/FIA style prototype racing is going through an upheaval at the moment with little participation in "national" series such as America (ALMS), Europe or Asia due to the WEC sucking away competitors. So while the P1/P2 cars are ultra cool, it is sadly unlikely that they will be supported in 2014 in the new combined US series. However they do want to maintain a link to ACO/FIA in 2014 due to the potential for WEC events here in the US. It is unclear to me if they would run the WEC cars and the new US series cars together. Assuming performance similar to today the WEC cars would absolutely crush the DP cars, so its unclear to me if the US organizier (i.e. France family/NASCAR) would be OK with select events with european teams that would obliterate the top level US prototype cars.

It is likely that they may do something to bump up the speed of the DP cars to put some distance between them an a GTE class car (assuming they keep the ALMS GTE class). But the DP cars are not going to really ever run as fast as the pure modern prototypes (particularly a P1 car). It is likely that there will continue to be a GT class that is much like the current Grand-Am GT class. Many think of this as the international GT3 class cars which are very popular worldwide.

There may even be a deltawing class in the new series. Apparently the "suits" have done their bit regarding the merger and now it is up to the people on the technical side to figure out the details.

Overall, It is sad (to me) that it is extremely likely we will loose top level global prototype style racing except for the potential for WEC events to be held in the US, but I also understand that it is a tough class to participate in. It is the sports car version of F1. I think there is a huge potential for things to go right, but also a huge potential to screw things up. Time will tell how this works out. I suspect that next year is going to be a very odd year for ALMS. They couldn't do the merger in 2013 due to existing contractual obligations with the existing series.

Richard

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Richard Casto
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Thanks for the cliff notes version. Should we assume VIR will be dropped after this year.

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I've always heard VIR is too narrow for these cars. ALMS on Grand should be an entertaining race. I wonder how much contact there will be.

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BenchWarmer Motorsports

another one of those damn LeMons heads

just another Chump

we are an Autocross Club Dammit............

Everything is speculation at this point. I haven't looked to see if either Grand-Am or ALMS has published 2013 schedules yet. I am guessing not. I would say 50/50 that we will see Grand-Am and/or ALMS at VIR for 2013 and I think its too far away to say what will happen in 2014.

Richard

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Richard Casto
1972 Porsche 914
2013 Honda Fit Sport
2015 Honda Fit EX
http://motorsport.zyyz.com
Money can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.

They said that 2013 will remain the same and combined group will start 2014 but that is now and then will be then. I am just tired of Spec series'.

And the DP cars on GEast or GWest is stupid. stick them on full. and see if they can reach the condos from the climbing esses.

Boogity Boogity Boogity, lets go GrandALMS racing boys.!!!!!

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At the ALMS test day in June, they ran Full course. I spoke with one of the GT3 drivers there, and he said that they would be running Full during the races as well, FWIW. Grand did seem a bit odd for the large prototypes, even though that was what was initially announced. And with Full being 3.2 miles long, that should be plenty long enough for the prototypes considering they run at Lime Rock.

As for the merger, I'm not sure it's going to be a good thing or a bad thing. From a spectator's point of view, I enjoyed following both series, and I can't imagine that a combined series will have as many events as them both combined, so that would be a downside for the fans I would think.

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