Rolex Grand Am Series

after the 2.4 hours of Daytona held a few weeks ago, the (all be it) small success and high amounts of fun everyone experienced. i am wondering if anyone would be interested a full championship, i may or may not count the results from Daytona in the final score (depending on how many i get to join) and the calendar would be (with dates to be decided):
(in nor particular order):
Sebring (although not on the real calendar)
Laguna Seca
Road America
Indianapolis
Road Atlanta
Twin ring East (in absence of COTA)
maybe hockenhiem
Sonoma
Races would be between 1 hr 30 and 2 hrs long
builds would be similar to 2.4 hours of daytona with GT having the creases eased out to make them more equaly (mainly SLS and Aston) and the DP having higher PI (including race wheels and a few other things)
so whats your thoughts? all CnC and ideas is welcome to make this as good as possibe
thanks guys

I would be interested if the races were shorter, as with ISCC coming up and already having races on Sundays that are that length, I may be harder for some people to want to race back-to-back 1+ hour races.

30-45 min would be more enticing for someone me like to hop in a GT car and put the pedal down.

Yea this wouldnt be allowed to go ahead same time and date as ISCC

Interested.

A Saturday 10pm GMT start time would probably work best. By my figuring, that would be Saturday 5pm in New York and Sunday 7am in Sydney.

Racing tires are a must for the DPs. Drag tires could also be considered. And, I still stand by using the #17 Pagani Zonda GR and the #15 Maserati MC12 for DPs.

I would stick to the 6 real life American tracks for the calendar (Indy, Infineon, Laguna, Road America, Road Atlanta, & Sebring). 1 - 2hr race; 1 - 1.5hr race; 1 - 1hr race; & 3 - 45min races

I agree with Bruno the Sat PM (Sun AM Au) would be best for all parties. But, I liked the cars we used in the 2.4H Daytona. With a few minor adjustments, they will work fine. Bruno's also spot on with the track selection, with possible adds of a fake American track or two: Maple Valley Reverse, Sunset Infield Reverse and Sedona Club.

Look at the current DP entries: a few each Corvettes, Ford Rileys and BMWs. Using the Mosler (as it appears the Corvette DP was influenced by it) the Ultima (looks like a Riley DP and has an American V8) and the Maclaren F1 (has BMW power) makes sense. There's no Italian V12s, so I don't see the Maserati/Zonda as suitable realistic replacements to be quite honest.

Having raced in series that require Drag tires, their degradation rate makes pit stops a necessity, eliminating the need for pit stops being "mandatory", and the amount of necessary pit stops makes the races feel longer than they are (adding an endurance feel to a relatively short race) as well as adding some real world tire strategy to the mix.

That being said, I am interested... but you had better get with IRT Darth Mario to make sure this series doesn't conflict with the TASCAR schedule.

make the races up to 1:15 max. I would revisit the Ultima GTR as well, as much as I want to say my pace was reflective of my skill, I think it had a slight advantage over Mosler and Saleen. But I could be wrong in thinking this and giving myself too little credit.

XPR Roadrunner wrote:make the races up to 1:15 max. I would revisit the Ultima GTR as well, as much as I want to say my pace was reflective of my skill, I think it had a slight advantage over Mosler and Saleen. But I could be wrong in thinking this and giving myself too little credit.

I didn't have a tune on the Mosler. That is why you were three seconds faster than me.

In practice for the 2.4, Roadrunner in the Ultima with nearly full downforce was reaching a much higher top speed than me in the Mosler with no downforce. And I was not making anything up in the corners.

The Pagani & Maserati may not sound like DPs, but, they have a shape similar to DPs, they perform similar to DPs (with the 1st restrictor upgrade), and both cars are balanced (same stock weight and nearly same hp).

In testing I had done a while ago, I was able to run lap times in the Pagani and Maserati comparable to lap times of real DPs at Indy, Laguna Seca, and Road America. The Pagani and Maserati in-game have a top speed about 5 mph slower and have higher cornering speeds than real DPs. Drag tires could possibly close the variance in cornering speeds.

Saturday nights ish sounds like a good time slot, if it does not interfere. Still would like to see shorter races than what will be raced on Sundays.

Like Roadrunner, 1hr 15m max sounds good and including the drag tires would ensure the races are quick but not relied on pure lap times making the race seem longer than what it is. thus involving a good strategy and great racing to awesome fun.

yea i'll have to wait and see what time TASCAR and ISCC is,
mikey the problem with drag tyres is yes they will suit the DPs because they all have similar grip levels, but the GTs do not, some have street, racing, sport or stock tyres on, depending on their initial levels of grip, i'll look into all of this for you, and as soundwave said, with ISCC and TASCAR coming up, it's probably better having shorter races, or have them spread out like TEC
time will tell guys, i'll keep you updated

SelectiveRogue wrote:Yea this wouldnt be allowed to go ahead same time and date as ISCC

what if it was a saturday? say after TASCAR (10GMT/BST) for an hour (and 1/4 max)

sounds good to me

speak to mark and see what the Tascar plans are first.

TASCAR starts a week or two after LeMans last I heard.

I'd be interested.

Although I still think Saleen S7s, Nissan R390s, Mclaren F1s and Mosler MT900s would be best, possibly the Mercedes CLK-GTR for diversity. All upgraded stock models.

For GTs, what's wrong with the Britcar PGTs from last season?

dropped the Saleen, only Mosler and Ultima, may look at 1 other DP, but besides that, DP is equaled better now, and GTs are balanced now, Vantage and SLS have been removed

Don't weaken it, mate. Add, don't subtract!

Have you tried to place the DPs to 2300 pounds, 450-500hp, and a common wheel width? Do that and disregard PI, things should be fairly balanced, adjust from there.

yea, i've set them up so they're similar weight and hp
the ultima is 2100 pounds and 565 HP, the mosler is 2000 lbs and 567 HP,
at infineon they run very similar times (by similar i mean 0.1 seconds difference) and hit similar top speeds on the straight at the end of the drag strip, both hitting between 144 and 146 mph, the ultima has better acceleration, the mosler has better cornering, they are very very close, but the PI is somehting like 20 points different!, they're mid R2, so much better than the R3, have racing slicks now,
i was going to try the gumpert but no, that went out the door straight away, i will try the Nissan, and something else
i've also decided to remove the 5% power handicap for the prototypes.
with GT, the average lateral Gs was about 1.065, the aston had 1.4, and was increasingly difficult to lower it, and the SLS was a good 8-10 mph faster but lagged in the corners because it's acceleration and speed was so high, and handling and breaking so low, they were too difficult to balance with the rest of the feild, so i decided to just remove them, i was thinking of adding the 350Z as that is (or at least was) in it IRL

The thing is, that's only 2 cars. That's just...bad. That's why I feel like you need to try to re-homologate the S7 into it, as well as the Nissan and CLK-GTR if possible. Besides, 2000lbs and 567hp is a good 70hp too much and 300-400lbs too light. If anything, try to homologate the cars to the Ferrari 458 GT2.

I'd be happy to try to get some cars to fit and give you the results, if you'd want.


As for GT, use modern cars. No 350Z, use the 370Z instead (if you must). Car list should be based on (per official guidelines, http://www.grand-am.com/Portals/0/Images/PDF/2013%20GT-GCR.pdf Section 10) :

Aston Vantage
Audi R8
BMW M3 E92
Chevrolet Camaro (SS)
Corvette C6 (GS or Z06)
Ferrari 458
Ford Mustang (302)
Infiniti G37
Jaguar XK
Lamborghini Gallardo (near-stock)
Lexus LFA (near-stock)
Mazda RX8
Mercedes SLS
Nissan 370Z
Porsche 997 (GT3)

ok cool as, i'll have a look, once i can get on forza
i'll add some DPs and GTs

will jump on today, once i wake up and start testing everything, gonna take a while...

GT on paper is homologated (0-60, top speed, lateral Gs, weight, hp, power to weight ratio), now I just need to run some laps and see what they are at the calendar circuits and i'll be good,
then DP, that's the difficult one, because they need to have racing slicks or they don't grip enough, but are R3, which is where the Saleen, R390, and McLaren are, but with the slicks, they become R2, but only the mosler and ultima can get there without being over powered,
i'll try something else once i've finished GT