2013 ACO rules and Regs & Info

So its been confirmed today -

http://www.lemans.org/en/news/gt300-cars-admitted-to-asian-le-mans-series_8340.html

The organisers of the Super GT series and the ACO, and promoters of the future Asian Le Mans Series, have announced that GT300 class cars will be accepted in the six races of the 2013 Asian Le Mans Series

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So then this will fuel the rumors of GT500 been allowed to le mans 24 hours next couple of years

GT500 will never race at Le Mans. Why build or spend money on a GT500 programme where you can only race at Le Mans and in Japan? Toyota, Honda and Nissan would all much rather spend their money on prototype programmes, in some capacity.

GT300 has a healthy grid of FIA GT3 cars, which is the main reason for this.

lol Nicky I guess you are not hearing what sam collins has been hearing and speaking to the aco and super gt organizers.........

its all about the far eastern market

But in the meantime, it does mean that GT3 cars will be racing in AC run series so one would certainly expect Euro GT3 spec cars to be included for 2013. Le Mans? Maybe. WEC almost certain.

SelectiveRogue wrote:lol Nicky I guess you are not hearing what sam collins has been hearing and speaking to the aco and super gt organizers.........

its all about the far eastern market

See, if you'd put that link in the OP, I'd be better informed, wouldn't I?

But cars of different spec running as invitationals is nothing new. I'll wait and see if GT500 cars come to Le Mans, but I think that it is very unlikely.

Remember the whole DTM cock up?

lol

I'm not doubting that GT500 at La Sarthe would be the dog's danglies though.

Imagine that HSV screaming down into Indianapolis at midnight!

yep gt500 vs lmp2? or lmp500 weight ohhhh

Yeah, that would be an interesting comparison, especially now that the LMP2 cars use stock blocks.

They should have some kind of motorsport world cup as a 24 hour race. Get cars representing every top domestic series, and then separate them into classes based on power and weight. Super GT, DTM and possibly Aussie V8's and NASCAR taking the top classes with BTCC, WTCC, TTA and TC2000 battling it out for the tin tops!

So who fancys going to the 12 Hours of Silverstone next year............... Big change in the silverstone race oh yes

Cheers Louis for heads up

GT500 in garage 56 that hydrogen car wont be there I am saying this in 2012 lets see which GT500 car

nickyf1 wrote:GT500 will never race at Le Mans. Why build or spend money on a GT500 programme where you can only race at Le Mans and in Japan? Toyota, Honda and Nissan would all much rather spend their money on prototype programmes, in some capacity.

Hmm... something to consider: Don't Toyota, Honda and Nissan already have Super GT GT500 operations? Or are those cars privateers? In which case the manufacturers would be represented on someone else's quid. Either way would be cheaper than building new prototypes every time the ACO changes their minds, which seems to be rather frequent.

no it means the gt500 cars competing vs lmp2 etc etc

ALMS & GRANDAM News breaking soon, speed TV reporting ALMS and Grand AM to join forces from 2014.

Pretty shocked lets see what happens dont know if this is v good or v bad

SelectiveRogue wrote:ALMS & GRANDAM News breaking soon, speed TV reporting ALMS and Grand AM to join forces from 2014.

Pretty shocked lets see what happens dont know if this is v good or v bad

There was some chatter of GA and DTM/Super GT doing something... haven't heard another word about it since last year some time.

As for the new rumors, I have heard that GA would control the merged series. If so, the TV coverage will be better than what ALMS has had the past two seasons. Good thing, as there have been a couple ALMS races "joined in progress" an hour or so into the race, and some horrible editing... the 90 minutes of Sebring for example. At least GA has flag to flag coverage, most of the time Live, on Speed TV.

Now I wonder which of their combined 8 classes will be cut. I see no need for GTC, LMPC and LMP2. The two "C" classes are too "Speccar" to keep around, and LMP2 has been weak ever since the ACO neutered them after they beat Audi for overall honors. I'd envision a lineup of LMP, DP, GT2 and GT3.

Quote: There some extra details from Peter Delorenzo - http://www.autoextremist.com/fumes1/

I'll get straight to the point here. I spoke with Don Panoz, the founder of the American Le Mans Series on Monday and he asked me to keep the details of the Grand-Am/ALMS coming together "off the record" until tomorrow's announcement. But since John Dagys has decided to break cover on some of the details tonight (speedtv.com), I can tell you this about the arrangement between Grand-Am and the ALMS.

1. The Panoz Motor Sports Group (ALMS) has been sold to GRAND-AM/NASCAR Holdings LLC. The number? Reportedly around $20 million. It also includes the sale of Road Atlanta and a long-term lease of Sebring International Raceway. A new LLC will be formed going forward for the unified sports car racing entity in the U.S.

2. Jim France (GRAND-AM co-founder and NASCAR Vice Chairman/Executive Vice President) will be the Chairman of the unified series, which does not have an official name as of yet. ALMS founder Don Panoz will be Vice Chairman. And ALMS President and CEO Scott Atherton will be President of the new organization. Both Panoz and Atherton are likely to be on the board of directors.

3. The LMP1 class from the ALMS will no longer be a part of the new series. The ALMS LMP2 class will survive, along with the GRAND-AM's Daytona Prototype class. The DeltaWing will also be a part of this new class as well. The new racing series will equalize those three classes. (Uh, good luck with that.) I'm sorry to report that the Rolex GT class will hang around, but it will come in below the ALMS GT class, which will be retained, intact (thank goodness). A testing program will be undertaken to sort all of these performance adjustments out.

4. There will be a 12-race schedule, with a kick-off being the Daytona 24 Hour followed by the 12 Hours of Sebring, returning major league American sports car racing to its rightful rhythm. The rest of the schedule will be announced tomorrow. Teams will discard points from one of the 12 races. This will allow a team to drop a bad performance, but it will also allow a team to participate at Le Mans if invited.

5. The new road racing entity will kick-off with the 2014 season, as commitments were well in place for 2013 and could not be altered. The two series will operate separately for one more year.

6. There is no official connection to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) after the 2013 season.

So there you have it folks. beginning with the 2014 racing season, major league sports car racing in the United States will be represented by one entity. Right now, I will say this ahead of tomorrow morning's announcement, and that is that I will remain catiously optimistic until I'm given reasons to think otherwise.

Is there an extreme danger that the NASCAR-ization of pro sports car racing will ruin it forever? Absolutely. With NASCAR now in complete control of major league sports car racing in this country the stupidity could rear its ugly head at any moment.

The liklihood of this new racing entity dumbing down what's left of the prototype classes so that they're all on the same footing is high. Go back and look at the times of the LMP2 and DP classes when they ran at the same tracks this summer, and you'll see that it could get very ugly. But that doesn't concern me, at least not yet.

What does concern me and what is already looking to be a bright red flag? That GRAND-Am operatives are insisting that their tube-framed Rolex GT cars have a role. To me that is simply ludicrous and ridiculous. If this new entity screws up the ALMS GT class, which is the best road racing in the world, then I will be the first to bury this endeavor with both hands.

But, and this is a very large B-U-T, these people have a solid year to figure things out and get their proverbial [Censored] together. Let's hope they do exactly that for everyone concerned. - PMD [/qoute]

Short version -

No LMP1 going forward, Pickett likely to join WEC I would think.

Brain trust from Grand Slam wants to keep its DP's and its Rolex GT, smacks of the IRL merger those who are paying for it call the shots.

Performance balancing between DP's and LMP2's that should be interesting, DP's Pole 5 seconds slower than LMP2 pole time at Mid Ohio this season, likely a larger margin at Road America and don't the LMPC's have similar power and also quicker? I haven't check.

14 race season means every track currently shared by both series. Add Circuit of the Americas, Watkins Glen, Montreal and either Indy, Detroit, or VIR to the current ALMS schedule and you pretty much what we'll have for 2014. Canada gets two events which I think the ALMS needed to do since it left Three Rivers some years ago.

They should likely make it 16 races not including Le Mans for the invited teams if they want to include VIR or Indy, I know Detroit will be back on it for the ALMS in 2013 not sure Grand Slam will be there. ALMS adds Circuit of the Americas in 2013 as well and runs at VIR next weekend. We'll see how that all plays out.

Rolex GT likely to replace GTC it seems.

Outside of that and what's not clear is the links to Europe. Current ACO deal runs out in 2013

I still say somebody should adopt FIA GT3 somewhere, the Grand Am spec cars ARE NOT ANY CHEAPER, just dumbed down to appease some rich farts.

Sort of looking forward to the press conference but not really, I give the merger a B at this point in time.

Biggest losers ALMS fans obviously



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OH DEAR BYE BYE ALMS NASCAR......................................

Very sad news, Louis and all ALMS fans suggest you start writing to the ACO and ask them to have them start a IMSA LE MANS Series!!!!!

Hopefully vette will now race in the WEC along with some more established ALMS teams

Will WEC have any American events? That is one unanswered question.

yes maybe no

very sad news but who knows I honestly hope we see a rival series start up

SelectiveRogue wrote:very sad news but who knows I honestly hope we see a rival series start up

No, no, no. Unity is whats best. Yes, NASCAR will own the championship, which is rather unsettling. It also brings up questions over the Sebring 12 Hours inclusion in the WEC. But let's look at the positives. It's not all bad news in my eyes.

Le Mans invites will still be given out to competitors, and Daytona Prototypes are definitely not going to be eligible, so that gives the big Grand-Am teams enough reason to invest in LMP2 and GTE equipment.

We will still have the fantastic GT class with its works teams and driver squads. The Daytona 24 Hours will have some international relevance restored, and return to it's traditional spot of being the first sportscar race of the year (right now it just isn't).

And this isn't exactly going to be like the Champ Car/Indy Racing League merger, where the IRL basically absorbed Champ Car. This will be a proper merger with the same people from the ALMS making the decisions.

hmmmmm P1 driver lol

also p4/p5 at lemans in 2014