Recent updates
14 days
News and results
Hey You!
Michael & Andrew Cotton
CottonBalls
Technical
Scrutineering Bay
Kerry Morse
Not that it's any of
my business

Guests
John Brooks
Notes from the
Cellar

Across the Border
Galleries
Focal Point
Search
Impressum
Contact
Copyright
Sitemap
Home
Home

Mail  to a friend

Stupidity
Penalty Box
Links
Family and friends
Your comments
Postcards from the
edge

Index Index
Index
Back Back
Back
Next
Archive
Top of Page
For the fans


A Brief History of the World                 David Soares on the ALMS



  As international sportscar racing winds down to the last race of the fifth ALMS
season, there have been lamentations in some quarters about thin fields
followed by the one-size-fits-all American knee-jerk reaction: Blame the French. I
feel compelled to take a contraire view of current events and raise my glass to
Messieurs Panoz, Atherton, and Plassart for the collaboration between IMSA and
the ACO.


Why we play Boules with the French…

  There is a reason that Dr. Panoz and company play Boules with the ACO: Le
Mans is the biggest and longest-running sportscar race on the planet and the top
finishers at Sebring AND Petit Le Mans get GUARANTEED invitations to la Sarthe
in June.

  Pardon my French, but these automatic invitations are e-ticket, prime cut, the
invitation to the dance.

  The new-look ACO under the leadership of Jean Claude Plassart has had the
good sense to allow P1 cars to be grandfathered under the 2003 regulations in
the ALMS through 2005.  They are working with IMSA to let manufacturers come
up with a competitive formula so that barn doors like the Cadillac CTS and the
BMW M3 can have a class of their own.

  Even bigger than Black Jack Pershing’s “Lafayette, nous voila,” is the
rescheduling of the Test Day from late April or early May, where it has been since
the beginning of time, to two weeks before the race in June.  This allows the ALMS
to take advantage of their TV package and schedule races between Sebring and
the 24 Hours and go on the offensive in bringing up their ratings.

A matter of choice…

  Given these factors, I don't see IMSA as “subservient” to the ACO -- I think that all
are all playing Boules together for sound business reasons.  Now is not the time
for Grand Am-style go-it-alone thinking.  If people want to cheap-out and run DP's,
more power to them.  They get to run in the Rolex 24.

  Top-rank racing is a business.  Manufacturers have been drawn to the farce that
is Formula 1 because it has a TV package that lets them flog their tin on
international “ empTV “ every other week.  If there is an alternative March through
October time slot that offers a cost-effective, well-marketed, entrant and fan
friendly environment they will come. It was only five years ago that we saw a Le
Mans starting grid featuring Audi, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, BMW, Nissan,
Porsche, Panoz-Ford, and even Ferrari.  They all “get” this kind of racing, they just
need a program featuring more than one race meeting a year. The package is
even more attractive with multi-class racing where four or five entrants can claim a
“win” every race.

Ford fallout or forging ahead…

  Now that the Ford Motor Company has thumbed its nose at Karting-with-Bernie
(and maybe put a spine in some others as well) perhaps we'll go back to the
Glory Days of big-time sportscar championships and Clashes of the Titans at La
Sarthe every June.  When the manufacturer teams come back they'll want to go
after all those automatic entries available at Sebring and PLM and voila, full fields
of highly competitive cars. Ford has already committed its Aston Martin brand to
the series and we’ll see what else they announce at “ Mazda Raceway at Laguna
Seca ” in October.

  This was a tough year for the ALMS.  I think that the ACO has been darned
accommodating but also realize that Panoz took a chance that no one thought
would succeed. The recent announcements benefit both.

Let’s can the negativity and Keep the Faith.  PÈtanque!

                                                                                                 David Soares
September, 2004




ready for my solo
frontal attack
sportscarpros Across the Border


Features on or from Guests
The Champion
trio
wet n' wild
Engineer Scott