Doc Austin
Back From The Dead
Really enjoyed Laguna and was thrilled for Team Florida. They have had a tough year, but I think they now have that Ligier dialed in. We already know that at lemans the entire P2 field could hardly kill one of those Gibsons, so VF goes into the Petite as one of the favorites. They probably didn't see that coming when they were running the Riley.
Speaking of which, I read the ACO is going to give Riley what amounts to a do over. They are getting both a bodywork and a chassis joker. Maybe not too fair to the other teams, but then again, recent race results shows IMSA knows what it's doing.
I've been telling everyone since 2004 to just stop fretting over things. Enjoy the racing because the split was friendly and wouldn't last. We knew the merger was going to give us a few tough years, but when IMSA rolled out it's finished product it was damm ready to roll. Grand American said from the beginning they would not push the marketing until the series had a good enough product, and now they do. All we need now is the nascar marketing machine to pitch it to the masses and we could very easily see a sportcar renaissance like we haven't seen since the GTP days.
P2
When you also look at the fierce P2 WEC races at Mexico and COTA, it's pretty clear these cars are absolutely the way forward. The ACO is in a bad position because if a P2 car wins Lemans the embarrassment would be unbearable. They are not going to be able to rely on Bykolles to save the day, and given the P2's reliability, a GT car isn't going to get it done either. At this point the only choices the ACO has is to either drop P2 from Lemans (think that won't cause a revolt?), or adopt DPI to run alongside the P2 cars in a dedicated prototype class.
What this would give us is a one world formula for prototype racing, something we have not had since, I guess, forever. This would play out big in keeping the P2 chassis builders healthy, give engine and body kit manufacturers a chance to make money instead of bleed it, and finally thrust the
Speaking of which, I read the ACO is going to give Riley what amounts to a do over. They are getting both a bodywork and a chassis joker. Maybe not too fair to the other teams, but then again, recent race results shows IMSA knows what it's doing.
I've been telling everyone since 2004 to just stop fretting over things. Enjoy the racing because the split was friendly and wouldn't last. We knew the merger was going to give us a few tough years, but when IMSA rolled out it's finished product it was damm ready to roll. Grand American said from the beginning they would not push the marketing until the series had a good enough product, and now they do. All we need now is the nascar marketing machine to pitch it to the masses and we could very easily see a sportcar renaissance like we haven't seen since the GTP days.
P2
When you also look at the fierce P2 WEC races at Mexico and COTA, it's pretty clear these cars are absolutely the way forward. The ACO is in a bad position because if a P2 car wins Lemans the embarrassment would be unbearable. They are not going to be able to rely on Bykolles to save the day, and given the P2's reliability, a GT car isn't going to get it done either. At this point the only choices the ACO has is to either drop P2 from Lemans (think that won't cause a revolt?), or adopt DPI to run alongside the P2 cars in a dedicated prototype class.
What this would give us is a one world formula for prototype racing, something we have not had since, I guess, forever. This would play out big in keeping the P2 chassis builders healthy, give engine and body kit manufacturers a chance to make money instead of bleed it, and finally thrust the
