Muppet News Flash: ALMS and Grand-Am joining forces?

I just got back from the press conference. Let me type up my impressions.

Biggest thing I got out of it was 12 races. Now to me, that is a reduction more then an expansion. Then just the overall lack of specifics. Makes me go .

Well, this will be interesting. Lest we forget, Grand Am is working with the DTM, and has had some talks with the Japanese version of the same thing.

And the ACO is still very much up in the air.

FIA is really moot here, ACO has LeMans, which is basically all of the cards. Everytime they don't like what the FIA does, they go and do their own thing, and the FIA is forced to react. Ironically, they are both French organizations...

The only think that seems clear- the ACO is trying to use a lot less fuel for their races.

Other than that, who knows where this is going to end up.

Ranger50 wrote: Biggest thing I got out of it was 12 races. Now to me, that is a reduction more then an expansion. Then just the overall lack of specifics. Makes me go .

I think the reality is that if you doubled the number of races held in a year, the teams would have a similar response. Getting the cars and crews to the races is their biggest expense.

How much? I talked to a friend today. They field a one-car Rolex team. Total annual budget is about $3 million. Most of that goes to diesel, airfare, tires, fuel and related expenses. The actual cost of the car is a small fraction of that.

David S. Wallens wrote:

Ranger50 wrote: Biggest thing I got out of it was 12 races. Now to me, that is a reduction more then an expansion. Then just the overall lack of specifics. Makes me go .

I think the reality is that if you doubled the number of races held in a year, the teams would have a similar response. Getting the cars and crews to the races is their biggest expense. How much? I talked to a friend today. They field a one-car Rolex team. Total annual budget is about $3 million. Most of that goes to diesel, airfare, tires, fuel and related expenses. The actual cost of the car is a small fraction of that.

So a change between a ALMS GT and a DP GT would be small compared to the cost of running the whole program? Hmmm.

I had thought it was a lot.

. Very exciting news . Thanks for the update .