R8 Rumbles
Is the Road & Track R8-for-ALMS real? Given all the public pronouncements have been of a FIA GT3 customer program, it seems doubtful, doesn’t it? But it may be real. A normally well-informed friend of Murphy’s says a GT2 (or “near GT2,” as lately seems to be a popular class) Audi R8 may reach an ALMS grid in the second half of the season – or earlier. If Audi is sneaking around behind the curtain in this one, who’s the puppet team to run the car? Murphy would have a favorite, but he’s heard there’s no team there anymore. Others say “no way that VAG introduces a competitor for its Porsche.” So if there’s any fire under this smoke, it’s likely a project independent of Audi Sport, isn’t it?
Whither the Grid?
The various racing cyberland fora are just about the most hopeful places, aren’t they? Someone wrote in reference to events after Sebring,”Hopefully car counts won’t suffer too badly. Black Swan, van der Steur, Corsa, Creation, Mundill, and ECOSpeed are the wild cards that could get us to 20 for the smaller events.”
ECOSpeed laid claim to being the shortest-lived prototype program on record (four days from announcement to demise), leaving Black Swan the highest probability of an entry, After that, you might see the van der Steur Radical once or twice over the course of the season (did that ever happen last year?), but not at Sebring. The odds on any more of those making Florida in March? Zero. Murphy’s the probability of losing an entry – or even two – is as great at that of adding one, so even if a black swan happens, the total may not rise above current 27.
Acura Activities
Patron is solid with Duncan’s team, but its other “activation” (Murphy’s up on the latest hip marketing terms) programs are being squeezed. Is the pavilion in storage? He’s a little worried about the girls, hoping the babes haven’t landed in the unemployment line like their Kumho sisters (just when the tire manufacturer “got it right,” too). Amongst the other Acura teams, de Ferran seems unlikely to jump to the IRL, and Fernandez and Lowe’s are still apparently a happy couple.
Potpourri
Here is a special message: The monsoon battered Minami-Aoyama Nichome, and gales decimated Brackley, but the Santa Ana winds have so far been kind to Santa Clarita. (Murphy feels like the BBC in May, 1944.)
And, personal to slick: You figured out how to stay out of Paddock Poop, didn’t you? Good show!
Late last year, about the time Detroit went down the tubes, there were questions about other venues. Chief amongst them was Utah, but that it would leave an interminable gap in the schedule. So other than being a place-holder, what’s to recommend it? So few show up it looks like a Grand Am event. There a lot of good folks up there on the high plains, and the boss will be missed, but seriously, this race needs something – a “signature” of some kind. Any ideas?
Sordid Tale
To read the Lola statement accusing Aston Martin (and its chairman) of “misleading quotes” and of (attempting) “to achieve ‘ownership’ through misrepresentation…” you’d think thereby hangs a tale. There does. Since Stratford-Upon-Avon is just a few clicks up the A422 (Stratford Road) from Banbury, the bear will call on the bard.
Claudio: …hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Is it Much Ado About Nothing? Perhaps, or not, for Claudio himself is the villain of the piece. There is, too, an Irish Brabantio in this play, and though his Desdemona is blameless, her Othello and Cassio’s Bianca certainly are – there’s a Price in that last part.
The players gathered recently to share a leg and quaff a tankard, to put it all to bed. It hath not. In the end, not even the bard could tell as twisted a tale as this.
Dutch High-Wire Act
Murphy’s been amazed at the resilience of Spyker Cars, N.V. He’s questioned the Dutch sports car builder’s viability before, only to watch the company careen from one disaster (F1) to another (an ill-fated SUV) and come out still standing. According to Spyker’s 4th quarter 2008 report, “The total annual production in 2008 amounted to 43 cars … an almost doubling of production as compared to 2007 (22 cars).” How does 43 cars built (not necessarily sold) support 134 employees, say nothing of other costs?
Amazingly, Spyker’s jumping into mobile phones, planning to release no less than four new phones during 2009. But there is some consistency with the way the Dutch company runs its car business: release dates and pricing details for the phones are still unknown.
Lou’s Beef (Updated)
There will be no Corvette in GT2 at Le Mans this season. Is this another place with a “back story?” It certainly is, with the principal characters including a big car company, a pair of constructors, and a small team. The plot revolves around promises, broken promises, and other nefarious dealing.
One thing is clear – even to a stuffed animal. There will be far less capable and far less interesting entries across the classes on the Le Mans grid than Lou’s Corvette would have been. Whatever the criteria on which the ACO bases its invitations, this case would indicate that capability is not always at the top of the list. Murphy has reason to believe this is “A Never Ending Story” (or at least one with many more chapters).
Is the Sebring entry tied to the Le Mans application? The Bear hoped it was not, but learned last night that it might be affected. However, Lou’s working on a retrieval (he’s got a plan), so “it’s not over ’til it’s over.” Meantime this “beef” has now led (as the Bear heard was possible the other day – hey, sometimes he does sit on sensitive stuff) to a Riley lawsuit against GM for those “broken promises.”
I would be shocked to see an R8 GT2 in the states, but if it does ALMS grids will look alot more like GT racing (which I do enjoy) than mutli class racing.
Interesting, On reading the headline, I thought for some strange reason they were bringing back the ‘other’ R8.
If they could bring back the R8 prototype with a rules package from the 2000, then the R8 would still be a formidable competitor. But the ACO gutted the car to even the playing field, a 2004 or 05 R8 would be just another field filler.
I would like to see the R8 engine in a Lola. I wish the Swiss Spirit project didn’t fall apart.