61. Wacky and Weird, the Really Ridiculous
There are plenty of stories out there, but not many of them are new. So, the Bear’s been thinking about, well, all kinds of stuff.
Prototype Builders
Radical, Embassy, Zytek, Porsche, Acura, Courage (Oreca), Lola, Titan, Picchio, Riley, Pescarolo, Chase, Crawford, Dallara, Norma, Panhard, Shaw, WR, Pilbeam, Dome, West, Epsilon, Zulltech, Lucchini, KWM (Creation, Protran) Promec, Tampoli, Audi, Lister, Lavaggi, Reynard, Panoz, Ascari, March, Spice, Tiga, Kudzu.
Current, former (as in “that’s a former parrot” (credit Monty Python’s Flying Circus), or aspiring prototype chassis builders, just off the top of the Bear’s stuffed head. What are world-wide total sales in the LMP1, 2 and DP class of cars? About 60.
Xenophobes
Over in one of the open wheel forums they’re arguing about not having enough “American drivers” in the IRL. That’s degenerated – for some of them – into slamming the whole idea of furiners racin’ in America. Of course they can’t agree whether or not Mario was an “American driver.” (He was born in Italy.)
American Le Mans Series fans would seem to have grown up a bit, not thinking this photo (credit Dan Boyd/ALMS) of the 2007 American Le Mans Series Champions was remarkable enough for comment. From left to right: Germany, France, Italy, Scotland, Monaco, England, Brazil, Finland.
Some Gentleperson Drivers
Do you know who you are? Do you know what other drivers say about you?
It’s not about being slow, of course, it’s about being where you belong on the track, on being predictable, and sometimes about not being on the track at all, but rather in a nearby sand box.
Yeah, yeah, the Bear knows you’re rich. He also knows that George Steinbrenner has as much business playing third base for the Yankees as you have driving a race car in a professional series.
Racin’ and Rodents
The Sam’sTown 250. The Bear was cruisin’ channels. He was already watching one disaster – a predictable one at that – the Rodents at the Big House. The losers from Minnesota were playing over their heads early, up 10-0 into the second quarter. Yes, the same small furry creatures that were beaten by a team from Fargo, North Dakota a week ago, were leading the Wolverines. It couldn’t last, of course.
Anticipating the looming bloodletting of his poor little gophers, the Bear went surfing, checking out the wide world of sports – the ecstasy, the agony – whatever he could find. To his everlasting regret, what he found was the Sam’s Town 250, a Busch Series race at Memphis Motorsports Park on Saturday.
It was the old thing about a train wreck. You can’t take your eyes off it. 25 cautions. For nearly 120 laps, half the race – more than that by the clock. The longest green flag racin’ was 19 laps, at 25 seconds a lap, the longest stretch of racin’ was about eight minutes. The rest was parading around behind the cool Corvette pace car that easily led the most laps on the day. Murphy hopes it gets better for Dario. On second thought, for $10 million…
Adiabatic Engines
Murphy was going to write something here, but he just can’t stop laughing.
Copyrights
There is a law, and “fair use” is not defined as “put my own name on it and turn it in as homework.”
North American Open Wheel
So, y’all think civil war is a good thing? Why don’t you just hate each other into oblivion. More guys with way more money than sense. It’s like a disease, isn’t it?
Obligatory Bear Rumor Stuff
The much discussed new tire supplier may not answer the bell immediately in the coming season, in the opinion of a well-wired friend of Murphy’s. “If they do it like they have elsewhere, they’ll spend at least some of next year testing and planning. I’m guessing we may not see them until we’re into the season a bit.” By the way, if you’re not thinking of a really big-name Japanese manufacturer, you’re on the wrong track.
Murphy’s just plain worn out by the open wheel follies, so he’s just going to see what comes out at SEMA – or doesn’t.
The Bear thinks smallest likely net increase in American Le Mans Series prototype entries in the 2008 season will be five. For those of you given to counting – present or future – don’t bother with the less-than-part-timers. So fifteen regulars rather than the eleven (see Houston, Utah, and Mid-Ohio) we saw in 2007.
Mazda on Deck
Murphy’s opinion department: Mazda’s performance increased incrementally over the season, but Acura’s not only improved much faster, but actually was more capable out of the gate. Porsche made the second-season-vault. What that means is that in 2008 Mazda will again have the most economical tenth-place prototype in the ALMS. The Bear thinks it’s time for this program to step up to the plate.
October 31st, 2007 at 5:30 am
Murphy -
I believe Mazda will step up to the plate. With only ONE car you’re only getting feedback from ONE car and have only ONE chance at victory (or good finish). Mazda’s partnership with AER looks to be successful and continual improvements have finally made them competitive, though not yet for class wins.
Your rumor about Mazda looking to add more teams I believe proves that out and I believe a budget increase would be in order as well to match those additional chassis.
I totally agree about MOST Gentle person drivers, several come to MIND. They supported Sports Car Racing when the OEM’s took their toys and their wallets home (usually after an unfavorable rule change), but in this day and age, you cannot be 2 seconds a lap SLOWER than the slowest Professional and expect to find victory lane.
Just what is the PURPOSE of having a racing team if them goal is not to win? I can think of several more useful ways to burn up a half million dollars a season. There are several great examples in sports that owners belong in the press box or in pit lane where they can take as much credit as they want for a “team” victory as its his/her dollars that make it happen; nobody will take that away from you and maybe you’ll get more “face time” on TV.
They very SELDOM interview the guy that finishes 10th…
I can’t believe some of the hogwash about these driver/owners that some feel they have a place in this form of racing. Even Rick Hendrick knows his limitations and he’s on the verge of another Nextel Cup Title and all the MILLIONS it entails.
Make Money or Be In The Way?
Tough Choice, not
October 31st, 2007 at 9:20 am
Good call on the 250. I can’t believe the article I just read critiquing Dario’s performance. He “bolstered his cred with the good ol’ boys” by getting penalized for rough driving. Say what you will about the Sebring finish, the ALMS has a long way to go before slamming into one another is the norm (and expected by the fans).
Btw, whats the story behind “Copyrights”?
October 31st, 2007 at 10:11 am
The only race Mazda will win is in the Star Mazda series.
October 31st, 2007 at 10:14 am
Bear - the ST 250 radio transmission - why do you punish yourself so? Wasn’ there a music alternative? I love Hindy on Radio LeMans, but if it was the same four corners, lap after lap - even green flag racing would be a total bore. Please don’t do that again; we need Bear to not be stupified and dizzy when searching out the tidbits of Sports Car racing in the U.S.
Copyrights - my guess is someone lifted Bears words and forgot or neglected to properly credit the original author…
October 31st, 2007 at 11:37 am
New tire manufactuer, hmmm/
Yokohama - Already in the Alms.
Toyo - Big name?
Bridgestone - you can tell us Bear
Dunlop - already in the Alms.
Goodyear - American company afilliated with Dunlop. Also been in the Alms before.
Hankook - been guessed, but is actually Korean.
Continental - German
Michelin - THE tire of choice for all sportscars.
Pirelli - I cant hear this word without getting frustrated at the AM fiasco of 2006.
October 31st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Yes, Mazda will do better with a second team, but Murphy hopes for more than that.
If the program can’t win (now, what’s really the chance of that?) what it needs is some “zing,” some “bling,” some “wow.” Something. I mean, who really notices they’re out there?
How about replacing the Lola spyders with the new Lola P2 coupe? Will it win? Nope. Will it be noticed way more than that silly electronic sign over the Mazda tent at Laguna Seca? Damn right.
The Bear would even bet a jar of honey that it would be among the biggest at-track attractions at every event on the 2008 schedule. Want crowds for Mazda? That’s the way to do it. Heck, you spend all kinds of money on nearly-invisible motor sports programs, borrow a little and go for it!
(Note on that sign and display: Step back and take a good look, guys. The message was clear: “We haven’t really raced in twenty years.”)
October 31st, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Mazda will make an impact.
Output was not the problem it seems, it just looks like feedback to make the cars better. They seldom picked up in qualifying, whatever they found in testing went on the car in qualifying and in the race.
Lola needs to improve how the car behaves over the bumps and ripples in the track surface. Fernandez largely struggled with the car when the surface wasn’t butter smooth.
We don’t need program upheaval, stay the course, continue working with Kumho or maybe partner with Bridgestone; there I said it! Bridgestone is the ONLY company that can tackle Michelin and beat them. They chased them out of F1…
The question is will it be under the Bridgestone moniker or Firestone since its performance awareness by the average consumer has fallen off in recent years. In otherwords the name “Firestone” isn’t mention when talk turns to high performance tires. You could even say the same about Bridgestone. For those on a budget its Kumho and Hankook. For those with a little more its Michelin, BF Goodrich and Yokohama.
Just look on Tire Rack, you’re local autocross or HPDE
I am sure Bridgestone wants a bigger chunk of the US aftermarket so why not say “We are the tires that are on winning F1 cars and the winning cars at Le Mans”?
November 1st, 2007 at 9:41 am
Like the Bear said, I would cheer for a Mazda coupe. But we all know Mazda wont spend that kind of money.
Stay the course = 8th place in P2.
November 1st, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Bridgestone did not chase Michelin out of F1, the FIA did that all by themselfs. Michelin believed in competition, not one tire company only for F1. So they backed out, it was sad, because the Michelin tires were much better…
As for Mazda, I agree, they do need to step it up. Its been great seeing them mixing it up with Dyson and the Acuras. A coupe would bring in the crowds, but id rather have two lolas than one coupe.
Has the bear heard what teams are looking at racing with Vipers? I know possibly Woodhouse, thats what they said in their press release, but what about McCann and 3R? Can Tommy Archer finally return to the ALMS? He stopped racing in Speed this year because of the unfair regulations against the Viper compared to the Vettes, Caddys, and Porsches. He would be a great addition to the series…
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I died laughing on this one….superb column!!! I’m wiping Whitbread off of my keyboard after it came out of my nose!!!
But watch out for that Panhard lurking in the shadows….I’ve4 seen “stealth Photos,” and it will be abeautiful race car…
Let’s hope it gets to the LMP2 level, as opposed to a CSR orDSR-class race car…where it will start….
The head honcho at Panhard is still alive and kickin’, Murphy!!!
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:48 am
I get the impression from some of these responses that people don’t realize the new “coupe” some people want to see at Mazda next year is in fact a Lola as well. I’m pretty confident that Lola will not produce open-top P2’s for the B08 campaign. So… if new, legitimately new LMP2 Lola’s are to be purchased by any team they will be in Coupe form… correct? Assuming Mazda is cheap enough to run multiple cars and not want to replace this year’s car, you think they’ll be running B05, B06, and B07’s with update packages from Lola. Probably not, Lola will want this “factory” team to be running Coupe’s to provide exposure.