The Death of Racing Part 1 - If they don't do something, its all over...

 I have been a fan of auto racing since I was very, very young. 

 It has survived everything from a serious accident at Le Mans in 1955 that came close to killing the sport over safety issues; to mid 70's fuel crisis and tightening emissions/noise pollution regulations.

  Now I believe the greatest threat is coming from several directions -

 Gen Y is generally uninterested in racing and cars in general. Traditional racing such as stock cars and Indy car has sunk to all time lows. Some blame the terrible television coverage.

 On this week's Mid-Week Motorsports, a good chunk of the show was devoted to talking about the mishmash that is internet streaming of racing including; horrible highlights packages, geo-blocking to protect local viewing contracts and other shenanigans.

  As was touched on, old media has no clue about new media. Otherwise it would be more widely used. But honestly I think they are protecting senior leadership that operates the cameras and makes the decisions in the production truck.

 Moving to robotic cameras and using three man crews (the call, color and pit-lane) reduces production cost significantly. For example this weekend's Tudor PC, IMSA Lite race at Kansas won't be seen anywhere, unless you go to the track. It could easily be done with two/three man crew and four cameras because its a roval.  

 All that said, giving access and gauging interest are basic marketing failures by all the major racing series.

 There is no explanation for camera and audio problems that plague SCCA World Challenge. What the hell was the TC/TC-B race in New Jersey? One camera on top of the timing tower, really? I mean REALLY???? Since the start of this season they have eliminated post race interviews, forcing fans to watch the highlighted coverage on NBC-SN.

 This is 2014 there should be no excuse for this. What's hard to understand is why the fanbase is so quite about it? 

 In Part 2 like my video -

 I'll break down what all these series can do. One of them is to secure your base before pursuing the mythical casual fan. They could start by NOT REPEATING THE RULES at every single race!

Marginal Long Beach Races Postscript and Lots Of Action In Europe Easter Weekend (Updated!)

 To hear some of the spin coming out of the media on two very marginal sports car races at Long Beach is a bit galling. I understand the desire to make this merger work, but that doesn't diminish the fact that we still have problems.

Tudor United Sports Car Series -

 1) Ed Brown single-handedly ruined what could have been a good GTLM battle. The Pro-Am element rearing its ugly head.

 2) Questionable BoP between Daytona Prototypes and P2 Prototypes

 Sigh, this is why I beat up on Pro Am drivers. When not causing accidents, they get in the way of pro drivers. Even if they are in supposedly faster prototypes, they are tentative in medium speed turns and because of the lack of downforce are actually slower at corner entry and mid corner speed compared to a GTLM car.

 So until GTLM teams had to change strategy to get from behind Ed Brown. In the meantime, Antonio Garcia jumped Brown at the start and put him between himself and the #55 BMW.

 This resulted in a 10 second lead in about 8-9 laps and as we know with the close lap times in GT, that meant game over unless their was a caution period. When we didn't need one at the end of the Sebring race, we didn't get one here and the action on the track suffered a bit.

 Don't get me wrong the battle for 2-4 was very good, only broken up by pit stops which also broke up much of the battling for the podium.

 Scott Pruett won, but didn't I say that earlier?

 Barbosa and Fittipaldi lead the championship by a few scant points. Lots of racing left, but if the P2's can't break through, the murmuring will continue.

  Marshall Pruett said something on Mid-Week Motorsports on Wed (4/16) that I think should be kept in mind when you read my rantings about USC. He said that ESM because of its current makeup is not one of the fastest teams in the paddock. It's pretty obvious that Ed Brown is a typical Gentlemen driver and Scott Sharp is in the twilight of his career. Leaving Ryan Dalziel to do all the heavy lifting in the lead #1 Honda HPD.

 With Pickett/Muscle Milk missing Long Beach, all P2 hopes seemed to be put on the European Oak Racing team. On Twitter somebody said he believed Olivier Pla was the fastest driver in the paddock. I don't disagree, given his single seater experience. Its Oak's lack of track data that prevents me from giving them the nod. But I expect them to factor into the podium at Laguna Seca.

 Pirelli World Challenge -

 This race was about as exciting as the Tudor GTLM race, ho hum... I did expect Team Cadillac to do well, they have 3 years of data here. I picked Lazzaro because I thought if he could find his way past both Cadillacs, he would pull away as his car is better through the tricky bits because of the additional downforce. 

 That didn't happen, so he held station and finished 3rd.

 I don't think any performance balancing is needed. The teams that run GT3 cars need to step it up as Johnny O'Connell has already said, once the GT3 teams find the sweet spot, the Caddies will be toast and I don't disagree.

 This begs the question however, when this crossover happens and the GT3's dominate in the hot summer months, will GM do its typical thing and pull the plug instead of developing (via Pratt-Miller) a GM Customer Racing Program where they sell not just the Cadillac CTS-V R GT3 cars but the Corvette C7R GTLM car.

 That scenario is very possible, as Corvette Racing (P&M) has expressed interest in selling new cars to other teams. Previously they put last year's car up for sale where people could buy them. New cars are built for the team only and aren't available. Some people on the internet would have you believe the cars are available to anybody that wants to pay for them. That's simply untrue because many teams and individuals have expressed interest in buying new cars from GM.

 With the Callaway C7 program being delayed by Callaway Competition in Germany, this leaves a window open for Pratt & Miller to generate some income.

 Now that Dyson is entering the fray with Bentley's, not that Cadillac is direct competition but it certainly would like to be the high luxury brand that can compete with Bentley directly on the race track if not in the showroom.

 This is also a further poke in the eye at Tudor for not accepting full GT3 cars because it wanted to appease Porsche who doesn't have a GT3 based on its new 991 platform. All of it's resources have been burned on preparing GT Cup cars for the various championships around the world, building a handful of GTLM customer cars and of course the LMP1 program which according to rumors has been bleeding personal at a furious pace do to workload.

 The issue was talked about on Mid-Week Motorsports along with Marshall's previous comments about the quality of the P2 teams might be the cause of the lack of P2 success thus far.

 You can listen to this week's podcast here.

 While it seems like a slow Easter Weekend for domestic based series like Indycar and NASCAR, what else would you expect coming from a "Christian Nation"? That isn't the case in Europe as there's plenty of racing action.

 Blancpain Sprint Series (Formerly FIA GT Series/FIA GT1) -

 The new name brings familiar faces as not much as changed from last year. The biggest news coming into this season is the return of former CART Champion Alex Zanardi to the cockpit.

 Other new drivers to the series include Jeroen Bleekemolen who should be familiar to those of us that followed the ALMS, two-time GTC Champion and winner in the P2 class at Le Man back in the Porsche Spyder era. 

 He'll be driving for Grasser Racing along with Hari Proczyk who is pretty quick in these Reiter Engineering Lamborghini.

 If you're wondering why Nelson Piquet Jr. is missing from the NASCAR paddock its because he's returned to Europe to drive for Team Brazil-BMW.

 Seems to me theres plenty of interesting reasons to tune in this weekend. You can watch the stream here. 

 Other series - 

 Like I said there's plenty going on this weekend outside of America.

 As of 2am this morning Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole for the Chinese GP.

 World Touring Car Championship rolls into France as well (joining Blancpain) as it runs at the Paul Ricard TT circuit for the first time in a very long time and the first time in its current iteration.

 They are joined by the European Touring Car Championship as it starts its season.

 Also this weekend is the British Touring Car Champion @ Donington Park with its full lineup of support series.

 Finally the British GT Championship gets underway @ Oulton Park  

 World Endurance Championship (WEC) -

 The WEC season opener is already underway, you can listen to coverage of practice, qualifying and the race on radio lemans.

 Announced yesterday however is that the WEC stream will no longer be free outside of certain markets with connected TV's.

 http://www.fiawec.com/en/news/a-new-and-interactive-way-to-follow-the-fia-wec_1865.html

 In short, there's a app for iDevices and Android devices as well. Its available on both the iTunes store and Google Play Store.

 The live stream is also available for laptops and desktop computers.

 The cost is $27.99 US for the whole season (pre/post race, practice, qualifying and races) including the 24 hrs of Le Mans. I am fairly sure Fox Sports will be carrying the 24hr race so you may opt for the next tier which is $6.20 US. If you know you'll be away from a TV over the Le Mans weekend for $13.80 US you can have full access to the race weekend on your laptop or tablet.

 Some are outraged over this, but frankly considering you get most of your racing either as a part of a overall pay tv package (cable/sat) for which there is no premium cost as Fox Sports (Tudor), NBC Sports Network (Indycar + F1) and ESPN (NASCAR) are all available on most system as part of a basic package. You would pay a premium for HD broadcast, but still its not that expensive.

 You can avoid paying this fee if you are in UK/Mainland Europe as the WEC will be shown on Motors TV.

 These things are connected, let me explain. There is a way you can watch this and everything I mentioned above for free. But you'll need to invest in some hardware to do it. The price of hardware has been reduced to a point that anybody can afford it.

 Since the WEC is the first major series to do this, others may follow if it proves successful. So its best to prepare for future as this sort of thing will become more commonplace especially for Americans wanting to watch series outside the US, which admitted has small audience of its home country (F1 being the exception).

 I will prepare a tutorial on how to build a internet based PVR and also two ways you can get content onto your flat screen if you don't have a connected TV or even if you do. For example if you have a LG or Samsung Smart TV, you have a YouTube app. Unfortunately you can't watch the Blancpain GT series (Sprint and Endurance) because its Geo-blocked but you can watch German DTM in English via YouTube its not blocked.

 So having a smart tv is not a complete solution while mine is. More details to follow and in an effort to increase readership to my blog I may limit access to the tutorial.

 I can already tell you it will cost less than $100, which sounds like much more than the $28 for WEC or $37.30 for a full season of V8 Supercars but it will be less than a season of MotoGP ($137.83).

 I should also mention that if you want to watch WTCC or BTCC there's no more Speed2 and while Fox Sports has created another streaming website I currently don't have the URL for, I don't think they'll be carrying obscure series like the BTCC or WTCC in the States unless its planned for the off-season like they used to do on Speed/Speedvision.

 So the only other way you'll be able to watch this is through my tutorial if you're in the US.

 Keep checking back as I should have this up by the next WEC race at Spa.  

    

A Few Things - Tudor LBGP Mini Preview, BES shaping up to be the best season yet, World Challenge better than Tudor? (Updated!)

Tudor rolls into Long Beach with 21 entries -

There are a few storylines going into the first sprint race of the new Tudor United Sports Car Championship.

 With Malucelli suspended for one race for the unsafe return to the track following his collision with the T1 tire wall at Sebring; Gimmi Bruni has been drafted into Risi to replace him. But that's not surprising. 

 The other driver is TBA. 

 If you remember from last season, the pairing of Bruni and Fisichella in the WEC was broken up due to two questionable performances by Fischella which put their defense of the 2012 championship in jeopardy.

 Ultimately AF Corse was able to defend their title and repeat as champions, but they paired Bruni with his old FIA GT GT2 class championship winning teammate in Toni Vilander who was teamed with current F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi in the other AF Corse WEC entry who couldn't find a suitable F1 seat last season.

 Its very possible Bruni doesn't want to be teamed with Fischi after almost losing the championship and with little track knowledge, maybe its better to bring in two hot shoes since Risi has had two straight DNF's at the two longest races with the most points on offer.

 If they can get a victory here, they could be back in the Team's Championship if the Driver's titles are completely out of reach at this point.

 I would look for Toni Vilander to again pair with Bruni for this race since both have track knowledge and have qualified well here before.

 My picks for this race sometime should be released sometime on Friday as I will be making my annual trek down to the City of Long Beach, the LBC.

 Tamiya is no longer offering completely free entry on Friday. Starting last year you now have to buy up to $10 worth of product or merchandise on their website. You haven't seen it yet on here but I am a huge Tamiya fan and have previously owned several Tamiya R/C cars/trucks. This won't be the first time I will be mentioning them here, so stay tuned.

 Those of you in California looking for reasonable discount on tickets to the Tudor race or the entire weekend, go Goldstar. Since 2011, I have been purchasing my tickets for the race from them. There prices are very good, you don't pay full pop. *Saturday's Tudor Race, Toyota Celeb Race, Formula Drift and Indycar Qualifying is now sold out on Goldstar, $48 on LBGP website. You can still purchase a ticket for all three days for same general admission price for Sunday Only ($55) and $20 less than if you purchased it off the LBGP website.

 DP's have won the first two races and IMSA sees no point in major BoP changes. Ganassi was helped out by one of those phantom caution periods that seem to follow NASCAR around. So in reality, maybe there doesn't need to be any adjustments since the bulk of the schedule will be high downforce tracks. The only team with previous data this weekend is Extreme Speed, since they ran their HPD chassis here last year. The DP's are completely different from how they were the last time they were here, I think that was 2005-2006. That doesn't mean simulators aren't working hard back at GM and Riley Technologies however. That said I expect the Sharp/Dalziel car to be fast right off the truck.

 The entry list dropped from a possible 25 cars down to 21 since Muscle Milk won't be making the grid. In their PR they said it was because they were behind in development, but many think its because they want some further BoP adjustments.

 This just in - Dane Cameron will be in the car with Fischella, here's the presser

 So does that mean....

World Challenge is the better GT/Road Racing series in America after only one event?

Well according to Elton Julian, who said as much after everyone is congratulating themselves for a successful weekend, despite Race #1 being rained out the day before.  Elton has driven cars in the ALMS and been an owner/team manager as well, he would be one to take his statement at face value.

 IMHO, one of the biggest mistakes IMSA made was appeasing its legacy supporter Porsche who had a new version of the its 911 Grand Am GT car already on the drawing board. Porsche is little stretched for resources and hasn't built enough 991 based 911 Cup cars for customers let alone design a new FIA GT3 spec car. Everybody is running the older 997 based car in GT3 spec. There is no ETA on a new GT3 car and they barely build new tubs for CORE Autosport in time Daytona. Falken got their car too late to run at Daytona.

 Its because of this seemingly small decision has benefited Pirelli World Challenge. I will be very interested in the lap times turned by the FIA GT3 cars compared to the GTLM in the Tudor series. GT3 cars because of their traction control (which is on GTLM cars) and ABS (which is not on GTLM cars) they have an advantage on slippery surfaces. A street course by nature is low grip, so I expect these cars to be just as fast if not faster around the Street of Long Beach.

 If they provide a better overall show than GTLM? There will be more questions than answers over in the Tudor camp.

Blancpain Endurance and Sprint Series best seasons yet?

 I will reserve my thoughts on the Sprint series when more news comes out about potential grids.

 The grid for the season opener at Monza for the Endurance series however is shaping up to be a barn burner.

 HTP one of AMG's partner teams has thus far signed Harold Primat fresh off being replaced by Lee Holdsworth at Erebus-Mercedes (who won race 2 this weekend at Winton). The other drivers have been signed by HTP but I would look for defending champion Maximilian Buhk to be back in the car along with Maximilian Gotz (his ADAC GT teammate).

 Thus far there are no strong Ferrari teams as Kessel is focusing on ELMS and trying to get an automatic bid into the big race for 2015. Kessel will still contend in the Pro Am class, but they'll have a hard time beating defending Pro Am champs Nissan GT Academy - RJN, as they return with some of last year's drivers, Pro Am drivers champ Alex Buncombe and resent winners of the competition Nick McMillan (US winner) and Miguel Faisca (European winner). I am an ardent supporter of GT Academy and of course Gran Turismo is one of my all time favorite racing games. 

 These guys are very quick but lack experience so they should be classified as Sliver drivers but of course the true Captains of Industry in the UK who race in the British GT Championship (also run by SRO) didn't want to race these guys, especially after they won a race at the end of the 2012 season.

 There has been some driver movement and driver pairings broken up that I hope to cover with somebody connected to the series, stay tuned.

Its official - SRT will not be going to Le Mans this year, is this connected to car sales or ?

 Steven Cole Smith who's been writing about the ALMS until last year, has been reporting on the combined Tudor series. Last week he reported that it was possible for the SRT team not going to Le Mans for the 24 hr race.

 Well it, its true they won't going. Of course Ralph Giles of SRT won't blame on poor Viper sales.

   

 

 Speaking of Autoline Detroit, Ralph will be on Autoline Afterhours at 3pm PST or 6pm EST, I think that's 22:00 GMT but don't quote me on that. I doubt you'll get any straight answers but if you want to see if you can get a decent excuse out of him, tune-in on Thurs.

 As a long-time Viper fan, sure this is disappointing but not unexpected. After all, Audi, Porsche and Toyota's LMP programs are run out of the engineer budgets. The additional money for racing comes out of increased engineering budgets, not from the adveristing size of the business like it with much of Ford's, GM and Chrysler-Fiat's operations.

 If sales are poor, its best to claw back and focus on beating Corvette at home. I guess that's a decent PR answer, but Vipers are popular with fans in Europe, it would be just as beneficial to race there as it would here.

 I don't know if there is much they can do about sales actually. The Viper is six-digit sport-car while if restraint is used on the Corvette's option sheet, you can get a new C7 for about $60K out the door. Performance is about equal between them - 

 

 That's the main problem, why pay more for equal performance? Americans really love a value and usually see no point in spending more when they don't have too. Especially when there's nothing overly special about the Viper other than its more rewarding to control all that power and its still a bit rough at the limit.

 SRT is going to have to beat the standard Stingray into the ground to justify the higher cost or bring the cost down without making the car harder to control or reducing creature comforts.

 This is a tough task and I wish them well, because of sales don't pick up, there won't be much justification for a halo car in this weak economic climate.

Is the media and fellow teams in GTLM discounting Ferrari?

 Seems as though everybody wants to talk about the direct factory teams and its understandable.

 They have millions invested, great staffs and fast, reliable drivers. However....

 It seems some in the media, okay most of the print, online and TV media is discounting Ferrari and Risi Competizione. 

 Before the huge accident that marred the race, Bruni who started shotgun on the field was able to make it up to first place before handing the car off to Malucelli and getting hit from behind.

 I know some feel the Ferrari F458 is a bit fragile but its still one of the fastest cars with the fewest waviers considering its competition...

 I say, discount them at your own risk. Malucelli was back in the groove, showing no affects from his accident at Daytona and laid down some fast laps in the Krohn Racing Ferrari; who is partnering this year with Risi as Tracey Krohn needs to be closer to his business. They will be doing the Patron North American Endurance Championship, maybe more.

 V8 Supercars - 

 Well it seems I forgot the V8 season got underway down under, I haven't seen the race and unfortunately I know who won. I will watch the race and report back in a few days.

 Change is coming, it is slow but it will be worth it.

Knowing when your on the right track

  I love how people like to ignore things, especially in sports.  It just proves sports for many is an escape from the harsh realities in their lives. However that is no reason to suspend critical thought on issues of morality, fairness and criminal activities.

 It was recently reported that former team owner Greg Loles was convicted and faces 25 years in prison - http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20140226/man-who-embezzled-21m-from-orange-church-sentenced-to-25-years which is just another in a series of White Collar Crimes that auto racing, specifically sports car racing covers up.

 When Greg was first arrested, it wasn't reported on the ALMS' own website. What that means of course is that as long as the bills and entry fees are paid it doesn't matter where it comes from or who is behind it.

 Did I mention since being arrested back in 

 Anybody remember "Solo Al" Al Solaroli (read all three parts) and the Porsche LMP2 that never was? What about John Field's tax issues?

 The list of White Collar crimes committed by these people is astounding. Americans want to be outraged by the nefarious activities of the six largest banking institutions in the country, yet let this sort of stuff slide and keep cheering, amazing.

 There's an even bigger fish in the Tudor United Sports Car Series. Ha, I was recently threaten with legal act for just mentioning this teams name and owner. For the time being I won't mention these people directly until I can get the legalese sorted out here. But I find his threat funny, much of what I am going to end up saying is already public knowledge....

 These are serious issues, because people get hurt by these actives, the least of which are the members of these race teams who support families of their own.

 Wouldn't you like the series you follow to be above board? 

  Site News - I know I keep saying changes are coming, but they are, so stay tuned its about to get really interesting around hurr.

 PS - Thanks to outlets like RACER that selectively report the news makes it hard to take them seriously.

   

Rolex 24 Predictions (Updated!)

 Busy last night so here's a quick and dirty -

 In Prototype I am going to go with Extreme Speed #1 Fuel Economy is going to play a role and these are the safest pair of hands in the field.

 In GTLM, I am going with Risi. Despite my concerns with Fisichella they are going to be depending mostly on Mauchelli and Bruni to carry the water in the overnight.

 In PC, its hard to bet against one of the RSR cars since they have the strongest lineups, but I think I will. Colin Braun has been in the zone since last season in this PC cars and Mark Wilkins is very underrated.

 Finally in GTD, its a complete toss up. The Ferrari's have the strongest driver line ups, so.... Give me the AF Corse or should I say Spirit of the Race #51. Jack Gerber is the difference here.

 Enjoy the race I know I will.... 

 Quick Post Race Analysis -

  Don't care about Chevy's podium sweep, that advantage will go away at Sebring and beyond so they better enjoy it.

 As I said above CORE coming through was hard to bet against and I was right. They are going to be a tough team to beat the entire season.

 Congrats to CORE/PCNA for winning their first time out. Bruni started at the tail end of the field and was 2nd/3rd by the 2nd hour. That horrible accident is a setback for Risi and it looks like Mauchelli will be okay for Sebring, it was fellow California resident Memo Gidley who took the grunt of that accident, speedy recovery to him.

 Totally disappointed with the end of a great final lap GTD fight. Despite my reservations on how Scott Tucker funds his operation and that its only a matter of time before he's indicted and the whole thing comes crashing down (see John Field), his Level 5 operation is first class.

 The #555 should have won, no reason to flag Pier Guidi for non-existent "avoidable contact"; there was NONE! The only thing I can think of was not the 2nd or 3rd time Winkelhock tried to pass him, but the first contact that happen with two laps to go at the bus stop.

 If Pier Guidi didn't make a mistake going into the bus stop on the very next lap, allowing Winkelhock to pass him (he got him back on the banking) and was able to gap him by a second or two, no penalty would have come down.

 This is the very reason why emotional responses should be tossed to the side. We saw this a few years back when a bunch of Brits and Nationalistic Americans tried to toss (still try too) Gimmi Bruni under the bus for wrecking Joe Hand at the end of Sebring when the ILMC joined the ALMS there.

 Video evidence is conclusive, Bruni didn't touch Hand, its really close, but HD cameras show there was no contact.

 Yet Blind Anglo Saxon jingoism keeps Bruni in the doghouse in many fan's minds. Yes I have stooped to name calling because constructive debate in Western Culture does not work; at least not with sports fans who toss intelligence to the wind and run on pure emotion.

 Overall the race was okay. It was disappointing that none of the P2's factored into the final results. Oak was fast and could have factored into the race for the podium if it wasn't for niggling problems.

 Oh well, a full month to recover and reboot, then off to Sebring where I think the tables will be turned on the DP's who have little test mileage there and HP isn't nearly the factor handling and fuel economy is.

 Quickly another reason why Risi and the Level 5 cars should have won is fuel economy, there would have been no final stop for Risi or Level 5 and Level 5 didn't stop....

 Update #2

 It looks like IMSA has reserved its decision post race and reinstated Level 5 as the GTD winners. There is only a Twitter response and I haven't quite figured out how to screen cap Twitter. If you follow IMSA on twitter you will see the updated tweet about the incident. 

  

Tudor Series continuing taking shape

Rolex 24

 As predicted (by me :) ) Nissan will field at least one JRM built Nissan GTR-GT3 modified to ridiculous GT-D rules by mid-season. It is rumored Pickett Racing will be fielding the car. This make perfect sense to me because there are no other teams with links to Nissan in the United States with prototype or international GT experience. Yes Doran is one of those team with tenuous links at best but its likely going to be Pickett to simplify operations.

 Its expected current US GT Academy winners will drive the car. You can read more about this "exclusive" (read: official announcement) here. 

 Thanks to John Dagys of Sportscar365 @johndagys on Twitter.

 Risi has also announced its Rolex 24 line up. It will be Malucelli from last season plus WEC regulars and current champion Gimmi Bruni and Fisichella. 

 I expect soon the second regular season driver to pair with Malucelli will be Ferrari factory newcomer Davide Rigon or maybe Bruno Senna. Senna said publically that he would like to join the newly merged championship last season at the WEC/ALMS double-header at COTA.

 With some of the recent announcements with the single AMR entry for the Rolex race and possible driving lineups for the upcoming WEC season, it seem Senna has been excluded from those plans further fueling speculation on my part about his next move.

  This would also be a perfect place to get in-line for the very possible Ferrari LMP-1 La Ferrari seat that has been seen testing in Spain recently.

 Stay tuned for that development.


Dakar Week 2

 Robby Gordon continues to struggle with his brand new Gordini HST based on one of his SST chassis. He's regularly passed 20+ cars when forced to start down the order. His best finish thus far was 3rd when he started 16th on Stage 4. However he missed a waypoint, so after the time penalty he was bumped down to 6th place.

 Again be sure to follow the rally on Robby's website. Live Timing and Scoring can be followed on Dakar.com

 If things go as planned later this year (Summer of 2014) its very possible I could be on-site for next year's Dakar.

 There some core things I need to do in order to make this possible, so please be patient. 

Robby Gordon starts the Dakar with minor problems but cost him over 2 hours to the Stage Winners and Other Stuff (Updated)

Dakar 2014

 Crowd favorite Robby Gordon had problems right from the start with vapor locking issues. Not just the coolant but other fluids which likely include transmission, diff and power steering as well.

 They were towed that last few miles to the finish (133rd). He said that the problems will be sorted out overnight.

 If you wanna keep track go to Robby page - http://www.planetrobby.com/ and set your DVR to record the 30 min highlight show on NBC-SN (NBC Sports Network). They are roughly 12 hours behind, so if you don't want to spoil it for yourself sort of ignore the internet racing sites.

 Okay I just got the email from Planet Robby and he had to stop again today, he's currently 28th overall though, so he made some progress, however he's 1 hour 33 min behind now. I hope he solves his reliability issues for one of the longer stages tomorrow.

 Roar @ 24

  I was surprised to see Risi pull out of the test but they released a statement saying they had all the data they needed. With the only other GTLM being the Krohn Aviation Ferrari who had the best time of 1:48.xxx which is over 2 seconds off the times set by the factory Porsche, Corvette and Viper Teams, I hope Risi puts together a solid driver lineup. 

 More changes upcoming

 Sometime, the next installment of my series "How To Fix Auto Racing" will be ready in a few days.

 Let me know anything else you wanna see here.

DTM in America??? Full House at Rolex 24, Full House at Sebring??? More Changes Coming!

 I hope most of you reading this thing are staying on top of things. I am trying to develop a regular schedule of posting and the format for the podcast.

 My series of how we fix racing in America will also continue into 2014 as we have less fragmentation but more confusion than ever????

 As a regular follower of racing since my childhood and hardy supporter of the ALMS since it started in late 1998, I can say that having one united series is a good thing, but watching how the sausage was made much how Government law is hashed out in real-time was a bit messy.

 2014 Dakar featuring Robby Gordon

 That said I am excited for 2014 to get started and it kicks off with the Dakar (in South America) Rally. If you didn't know Robby Gordon will be there, not with his Hummer (they have been sold) but with a new car based around one of the chassis he developed Short Course series. The rumor is this new SUV is based on a production SUV Robby will debut sometime in the future.

 You can check out some pictures here, the car, chase trucks and equipment was shipped with the rest of the European teams equipment, cars, etc. So for the first time Robby will have his stuff through customs hopefully with less missing parts than in previous years. This is not the first time I've heard of shady customs in Latin America but I will talk about that another time.

 This narrower, shorter wheelbase car will be much better in the early stages of the rally which runs through river beds and access roads.

 Good Luck to Robby and BJ Baldwin.

 Tudor United Sports Car Championship

  IMSA has released its entry list for the official test session for the Rolex 24 @ Daytona. This list is pretty much has the cars, teams and driver line ups not only for this race but the entire season.

 As I have said in previous post, the premium of drivers will be key to any success next season, especially in the Pro Am classes of LMPC and GT-D. GT-D as expected is oversubscribed and some teams will be turned away, even at Daytona. The Roar list has 65 entries on it (was 67) and there is (to my knowledge) only 60 spaces at Daytona, so some GT-D entries will either have to qualify to get in or won't be invited.

 Some might view that as a bad thing. I think its good, it will ensure a quality field for the race. It will be interesting to see how IMSA handles this and the PR problems it might create with the fanbase.

 While the Rolex Race might be fully subscribed, that may not be the case for the next race which is the Sebring 12 hours. Some teams focused more on their European activities will go back to Europe. That said, some teams have setup US operations, so it will be interesting to see who stays and runs the entire schedule, which is likely if they end up being highly placed in the championship after the first two races which should be double points.

 DTM in America, again????

 One would think with a merged championship, not even a complete rules package there is crazy talk about a United States version of the Pan European DTM series.

 I have nothing to say really, this subject doesn't really deserve a blog post, so tell you what, I will just let The Racing Insiders hash this out for you, ugh.

 Not sure I will be posting again before the end of the year as I am finalizing the transfer over to Wordpress for this blog and submitting content to Motorsport.com. All these changes come with a new look and a new host. The URL will be the same but the register.com logo at the bottom of the screen will disapear.

 I will also be adding some new content not normally featured on automotive websites but its related to racing and cars in general.

 Finally I may turn this thing into a forum/blog hybrid because to really discuss the problems that threaten racing long term really need a better platform so we can share our ideas in a threaded format so its easy to keep track of.

 Until then Happy New Year!

Season Entries Released: Its about as expected

 I've been tracking this since before the season ended for both Grand Am and the American Le Mans Series.

 The only surprise thus far is that Dane Cameron doesn't have a ride yet considering his performance last season.

 Andy Priaulx will be exiting DTM (as predicted by me) to join the Team BMW RLL squad while Maxime Martin (winner at Long Beach with Bill Auberlen) will move into Andy's DTM seat effectively. It's likely we'll see Maxime when schedules don't clash with with DTM because Joey Hand, who I think should be focusing just on DTM will be back as a part-time partner to Dirk Muller who just missed out on the driver's title last year. When schedules do clash, expect to see John Edwards. 

 Dirk Werner was also reassigned and it looks like he'll be on VLN duty the majority of the year but also suspect he might be doing ADAC GT, Blancpain and the Spa 24, if not the Dubai 24 and 12 hours of Bathurst.

 And that folks is just the movement within BMW! 

 I expect Porsche's drivers for both its WEC and Tudor USCC be to announced before or just after Christmas. For Tudor I wouldn't be shocked if you saw the return of familiar faces to driving the factory Porsche cars. I expect Pat Long for sure, but with Marc Lieb looking like he's going to get a shot at driving one of the Porsche LMP1 cars, that leaves a seat open, stay tuned or that.

 But I think you can pencil in a few people besides Long. Hint: Anybody with more than a full season of starts in the ALMS.

 Speaking of Porsche that is one program whose resources are being stretched to the limit. Only four official Jr drivers was recently announced, that leaves two LMP seats open, six GTLM seats open and of course any 12 GT-D Porsches entered into the series.

 This is why I think if you don't have an experienced Porsche shoe in your GT-D car (one of the reasons Potter tied up Andy Lally early) they are going to struggle for pace and will be looking high and low for experienced drivers, even if its only in the regional Porsche Cup series...

 Ferrari drivers will also be busy, as Risi will be running two cars, one the entire season (no surprise) and one with Tracy Krohn. I don't think Tracy will be driving, this is why he's recently tested an LMP2 car for WEC and I believe he'll be trying a PC car sometime soon. So who does that leave? 

 Given Olivier Beretta's struggles last season, possibly be responsible for throwing away a victory at the final Petit Le Mans for the ALMS (while in the lead) and Risi's low tolerance for mistakes (see Jaime Melo) I think Matteo Malucelli will have new teammate. I wouldn't be shocked if Robin Liddell was given the nod. For never have driven a Ferrari before, he led the race in trickey wet-dry conditions during the early stages of Petit Le Mans. As it started drying out, he was near the pace of Malucelli. Malucellli is really fast behind wheel of one of these cars and just as fast as Melo was when his confidence was at its highest (2006-2008) which puts him on par with Ferrari pilot par excellence Gimmi Bruni. 

 I have no idea how they shuffle the deck here. I think Fisichelli will be reassigned as he struggled in the middle of the season (WEC) for pace and was able to only complete single tire stints in the car several times. That is the reason why AF Corse to protect their point lead not only in the team and manufacturer standings but also the driver's title; split up Bruni/Fisichelli and paired Bruni with long time teammate Toni Vilander (former FIA GT2 Champs). 

 So with Malucelli needing a teammate and Bruni needing a teammate, who knows what will happen but I know one person that's in the mix and that's former GP2 driver Davide Rigon. Rigon helped 8Star win the GT-Am Team's title and lead the Blancpain series the majority of the season with Cesar Ramos and Daniel Zampieri even after an engine failure while battling eventually winner of the Spa 24. With a slim point lead going in the final race, a practice crash put them on the backfoot and basically they were uncompetitive all day, a shame. 

 But Rigon has gotten the call up and I doubt will be back with Kessel next season. Last time Risi had two young hot shoes it was Melo and Bruni and yes they were fast (On Pole five times) but only had three victories and DNF'ed I think four times. Melo was penalized a few times for aggressive driving and the straw that broke the camel's back was crashing the car in practice in 2011 in morning warm-up for 2011 Petit Le Mans. The car was so badly damage that it couldn't be repaired in time (ala Allan McNish) to make the race, rumor has it Melo was fired on the spot and left the racetrack before the race started.

 We haven't seen him since, his website is hardly updated regularly but I last heard he was back in Brazil driving in the Brazilian GT3 Championship.

 I don't know if Giuseppe Risi is ready for another possible roller coaster season. Thus far Rigon and Malucelli have been very safe with the car while being fast, so I am going to go out on a limb and say it will be Malucelli, Davide Rigon and Robin Liddell for the longer races.

 I've got quite a bit more to say about the possible driver lineups in light of the season entry list being announced, so stay tuned.

What the Pirelli Tire World Challenge Series got right and up to this point USCC has got wrong with GT3 cars.

 Magnus Racing has taken delivery of the new Porsche 911 GT3 America (somewhere between a Cup car and the Supercup car) and is on the entry list for the Nov test that IMSA has planned in preparation for the premier season of the Tudor United Sports Car Championship.

 He'll be there with Scuderia Corsa will also be there with their Ferrari F458 GT3 "Grand Am" spec car. 

 It will be interesting to see who shows up with a pure FIA spec GT3 car, because IMSA (Scot Elkins) will need all three cars to gauge where and how to slow down the FIA cars because they are up at least 4 seconds a lap faster than the current Grand Am spec GT3 car. The other unknown is how much faster is the 911 America than last year's Grand Am/ALMS GTC Porsche GT3 Cup cars.

 From my understanding, I don't have all the specs, but the America has ABS which the Cup cars don't have (Porsche Supercup cars do) and possibly traction control? I am unsure but Elkins said a few months ago, they would allow FIA GT3 car into GTC with minor modifications. What those "minor" changes are nobody know and not many are even speculating. One rumor has it that traction control will have to be defeated on FIA spec cars but ABS will be allowed.

 This seem plausible because the traction control system is really just a wheel sensor and programmable routine in the car's computer that's connected to the ignition system. While ABS is much more involved and changes need to be made to the brake system itself to either add or defeat it. 

 I don't know if that will be acceptable to many teams that have ordered or have already bought 2012 FIA GT3 cars from Europe.

 This is causing quite a stir among the potential drivers in the GT-D class, like the outspoken Mike Hedlund, who got involved in a twitter discussion with fellow driver Ryan Eversley about allowing pure FIA GT3 car into the series.

 Why the America was built in the first place has likely the due with the fact that current GTC/Rolex GT teams already had to pay to upgrade their current cars, especially the Porsche Cups to ABS, TCS, Single Hub Wheels and other things. 

 There was talk of the FIA cars using a spec rear wing designed by Crawford Engineering in NC. The FIA GT3 cars have tremendous downforce, much more than the Grand Am spec and GTC spec cars. This would give them an advantage at many tracks in the new series, however the reduction in rear downforce on these cars has proven fruitless.

 Example, Fall-Line Motorsport, who took over the Audi R8 LMS program run by APR a well known VW/Audi tuner. They had so much trouble with rear grip that they decided to park the cars and revaulate what needed to be changed by continuing to run one car instead of two.

 When Grand Am wrote the rules to allow FIA GT3 cars in the series, they wanted to keep their current Rolex GT teams from having to upgrade their cars (sound familiar?). So they mandated some changes be made from the European spec already highly developed by the manufacturers who built the cars (either in-house or contracted out). This meant defeating the ABS system, Traction Control, removing the rear diffuser and running open side windows. 

 At first Audi's were forced to use the production V10 clutch assembly which cause both cars to drop out within the first two hours of the race with clutch failure. They had to lobby to use the Tilton racing clutch developed for the car originally. They struggled all that season the few times they appeared. That was 2011; in 2012, Audi showed up armed with lots of German being spoken in the paddock. Alex Job Racing who was contracted to run an Audi for the Audi Customer Sports Program out of Germany for this one race ended up winning his class. 

 It seems downforce was an issue but since Daytona is a high speed track where some downforce is given up for the infield section to get a higher trap speed from the chicane to NASCAR 4, through the Tri-Oval and past Start/Finish, it didn't prevent them from winning (and finishing 3rd) but reared its ugly head at the tracks were downforce was needed and the cars were uncompetitive. A minor cure was during some wind tunnel testing Audi engineers found that running without side windows for which the Europe spec calls for vented but closed side windows disrupted air going over the rear wing. They found changing the attack angle got back some of the downforce they were looking for. Results really didn't change the car was still too loose and burning up rear tires. Brad Kettler who runs Audi Customer Sports North America asked for the R8 LMS Ultra's rear diffuser to be allowed on the car. They allowed the to add it by the Laguna Seca race, one race from the final race of the season and of Grand Am. By Lime Rock they found it helped again, but didn't have enough track time to get the balance right and suffered a bit in overall pace.

  So let me get this straight, they demanded the car be slowed down and did it by removing rear downforce mainly, only to give them back the majority of their downforce later as it proved they were not competitive without it.

 This is why I was in favor of not allowing any Cup cars, the America or any Porsche but the Porsche 911 GT3-R which is the car Porsche teams run in European GT3 championships like ADAC, British GT and of course Blancpain.

 While IMSA tries to sort out this mess or potentially end up with a grid of majority Porsche Americas and maybe only the Fall Line Audis and few Ferraris (the count of Porches is already up to about 9-11 teams with a few running more than one) and a max of 21 cars allowed at the majority of races. World Challenge has announced they will be accepting full FIA spec Porsche 911 GT3-R's into their series.

 There is no team announcements that I know of but its likely you'll see an explosion of FIA GT3 cars now and I expect major factory involvement especially with the additional annoucement that Pro-Am drivers will be given their own podium ceremony and Sportsman Cup for winning the Pro-Am class within the current GT class.

 I expect heavy involvement from Audi who has previously won in World Challenge competition, Mercedes Benz who was involved with Black Swan racing last year, likely Ferrari, McLaren, SRT Viper and others.

 Accepting pure FIA cars is how IMSA went about this. But I guess the cost of adding all the additional hours to the series was just too much for GT-D teams to swallow. The America is $269,xxx that is over $200-$250K cheaper than a brand new FIA spec GT3 car from the majority of companies that offer them. The car isn't really the issue its the cost to run it and it is more expensive to run a FIA GT3 car, very similar to the GTLM (GTE) cars actually.

 While I understand the price issue, ALMS fans have asking for FIA GT3 cars be accepted into the series and that door was always left open by the ALMS all the way until the end.

 Now it seems we're going to get some watered down version again, just to appease a few legacy teams and Porsche who I am sure isn't hurt by the sales of these new cars as it looks like about 10 have been ordered/sold.

 That seems unfair to me.....

Mike Hedlund echos what I have been saying about GTC/RolexGT/GT-D vs FIA GT3 (European Spec)

 Mike Hedlund has made a brilliant observation of the nonsense happening behind the scenes at Daytona Beach. Despite them, it looks like GT-D will hit its class limit (21), which of course makes no sense at all.

 I agree with Mike that if they were going to make the teams spend money on a new car anyway, why not FIA GT3 where the homologation is already set? All they would have to do is maybe slow the cars down a bit with an intake restrictor and rock hard tires.

 He also mention FIA GT3 cars look cooler, I agree -

 911 America (991)

The Euro spec GT3 997

 Since Porsche is a valued partner of both series before they merged, it shouldn't shocking what has transpired.

 So we have clipped Grand Am Spec GT3 cars to look forward too and half the field being Porsche Americans, fantastic! (Sarcasm).

 This month's test at Daytona should be very interesting....

 In the meantime you got Pirelli World Challenge to look forward too which will feature FIA GT3 cars next year including the current FIA GT3 Porsche GT3-R and likely the future 991 based car.

 PWC recently announced a new Pro-Am subclass in GT as its expected that factory involvement will get a major boost next season.

 If you really wanna see FIA GT3 cars in America, pay attention to the Pirelli World Challenge Championship.

 I see grid sizes in GT doubling....

  

Will the Tudor United Sports Car Championship be better than the WEC? YES and here's why...

 Come 2014, the WEC will be in its 3rd season. Like the majority of the other FIA World Championships (beyond F1) however they are poorly attended affairs.

 I've made this statement a few times already that the Tudor series will be much better than the FIA World Endurance Championship and my comments have come under fire not surprisingly from Europeans.

 I am not one to wave Old Glory like my sometimes fellow Conservatives and even some Progressives/Liberals like to do but the facts are the facts.

 WEC is poorly attended, no where near capacity and mighty expensive for the limited TV coverage. I also think the standard and inflexible 6 hours or 1Km format is a bit ridiculous and not TV friendly, which explains why Eurosport only shows you the first hour and last hour of the six hour races. 

 If ESPN did that with NFL or NBA games there would be calling for scalps. You can't even do that with Indycar races and why since the races run about two hours anyway.

 My point is that WEC appeals to the hardcore endurance racing fan only. But until now, the only alternative was Pan European championships like European Le Mans Series which is also poorly attended I might add.

 So its not shocking to me at all when its rumored several teams in both the ELMS and WEC are considering full season if not partial seasons in the new series.

 The WEC paddock got the message when the ALMS race out attended the WEC race by good margin, some estimate 20-25%.  It impacted the WEC paddock so much that drivers like Bruno Senna announced he would like to drive more in America next season. Endurance Info is reporting that several P2 teams, Krohn Racing, Aston Martin and AF Corse are all interested in running here next year.

 Why? Because they'll be racing in front of somebody! 

 Series in Europe have the unfortunate habit of racing at circuits design to house 50-100K of rabid F1 fans. This is especially glaring at places like Silverstone and Monza. It was repeated at COTA, a place that housed 165K F1 fans last season for the first race ever there.

 Most of the tracks the ALMS goes too and that Tudor will have on its schedule next season have much smaller grandstands because the majority of fans use the surrounding topography (IE grassy areas and hills) to watch the cars as they go around.

 The only major test in terms of attendance next season will be the Six Hours of The Glen, which in the Grand Am era was not as well attended as the NASCAR race there (much worse). Even Indycar has done poorly and they dropped it from the schedule. That is an exchange of venues for the Tri-State area as the series will not be returning to Lime Rock, which is very well attended and even that's an understatement its PACKED.

 The Long Beach race is at least 40K and might increase this season, if the races before it (Daytona and Sebring) prove to be exciting as I think they will be.

 The way I see it, you can race in a new series with some momentum behind it, with familiar teams, schedule and tracks or you can do another series in a respected but poorly attended championship with contrived GT-Pro Am class and teams losing interest.

 This is especially the case when budgets are considered. Rumor has it the Tudor series with four very long races and a slew of 2:45 sprint races cost about the same as FIA WEC. According to John Hindbaugh it will cost $1.5M British Pounds more to run Tudor over WEC. I am going to assume that includes shipping the car back to Europe for Le Mans. That doesn't sound unreasonable.

 But it seems some teams don't have a problem with that. Greaves Motorsports has already announced they will enter the new series for the entire season. Others rumored to be coming are Murphy Prototypes (who raced in at Petit Le Mans last season and loved it), TDS Racing and Pecom which is run by AF Corse and I already said they are interested in running at least the long distance races next season.

 When all it said and done as the teams must commit to the Tudor series starting Nov 1st, I think the grid will be at or very close to the 60 entry threshold.

 All the races will be well attended and nothing improves a team's moral than to run in front of supportive and enthusiastic fans.

 Those are the reasons why the Tudor series in ONE season will prove to be superior to the WEC despite its world championship status, which seemingly is only important to Europeans...