Sushi, anyone?

Down another one – NAVI Team Goh (P2) is a scratch from the Asian Le Mans Series, joining Signature (P1) and KSM (P2) in dropping out of the race at Okayama, Japan. The latter two were gone before the ACO’s recent press release. Speaking of which, Drayson’s Lola Judd coupé won’t be a “debut” either. Does the ACO even read its own press releases? Or is public relations, like Gallic military prowess, a lost art?

Maserati Redux?

Don’t discount completely the rumors of an MC-12 as a 2010 ALMS competitor. Though it remains little more than an idle thought by a current owner, engineers (who can make the hardware fit) and accountants (who can make a check clear) are really quite inventive people. Working together they can do wonders.

Tony Tired?

Tony George to throw in the towel? He’s rumored to have told his Vision Racing team it’s out of business without a big sponsor. What are the implications of that for the IRL? It hasn’t been good. The league’s been cut off from the IMS gravy train (other than the race-specific benefits) by Tony’s sisters, TG’s leadership seems indifferent, and the Versus deal looks worse every day. (It wasn’t all that popular when announced, either.)

Farewell, friend(s)

The end of the 2009 racing season is in sight, and with it, more departures from Braselton’s staff. Some will hurt more than others. Murphy will miss you.

Nagoya nonsense – or not?

Murphy reported on contacts between Braselton and Nagoya last year. Now increasing signs the latter will leave F1, or at least significantly cut its expenditure, give that much-awaited, on-again-off-again prototype some new “legs.”

Legal beagles

Porsche, caught with an illegal engine, complained to the ACO about Corvette’s (wait for it)…illegal engine. That’s balls, isn’t it? At least Corvette was open about its direct injection when it homologated the its new GT2 C6.R, so technically it wasn’t “illegal,” since the ACO accepted it, even if it was outside published rules. Porsche on the other hand…

All Quiet on the Western Front?

Certainly not. Just in case you thought North American Sports Car racing isn’t at war – Murphy wasn’t sure, himself – Daytona Beach put the illusion of “getting along” to bed by putting NASCAR Vice President of Corporate Communications Jim Hunter out as an attack dog on the American Le Mans Series for its proposed “Challenge Class” rules.

In a lengthy blog, he calls the ALMS’s new rules, “misguided,” and “counter-productive,” while accusing the Braselton-based race series of circulating “calculated misinformation and propaganda” to “undermine Grand Am’s success.” Pretty frantic stuff.

The American Le Mans Series (without any reference at all to Grand Am) has created a class that allows cars that meet Grand Am GT specifications (actually all properly prepared Porsche Cup cars regardless of the series they might currently contest, but no other cars now racing in Grand Am) to enter, and another that introduces low-cost prototypes (less cost than Daytona Prototypes) to race alongside other ALMS classes. Let’s be clear. The proposed GT rules affect Grand Am Porsches only, and the proposed prototype rules will make no Grand Am car eligible for any ALMS racing.

Attacking a competing series for doing nothing more than modifying its rules to allow lower-cost entries looks like an act of desperation to Murphy. The panic might be justified; stories circulating point to a DP grid in the single figures next season, and as A.C. wrote in his last column, not everyone on International Speedway Boulevard is happy with the “sporty car experiment.”

Withering away

There are 11 guppies on the Miller Motorsport Park grid. The Bear’s heard from various sources at least five won’t be around next season (though one of those be resurrected). Among the 12 GT entries, Stevenson will be back with a Corvette (actually Camaro – Murphy’s got a “mental block” on that one) body and engine on his tube frame, Greg Loles will enter a single BMW (also a Pratt & Miller project), and the Bear does not believe that TRG will be back with its two Porsches, whatever Kevin said. 23 entries for a series whose claim to fame was robust grids.

BMW

The Bear heard BMW is not happy over at Rahal-Letterman, and though there would seem to be no rational cause for disaffection, it’s said they’re looking around. Is it possible this story is upside down? Or is it simply part of the on-going politics around competition rules? Perhaps the Bavarian’s are upset they’ve had no invitation to the Ed Sullivan Theater?

Bye, bye, Acura

Will Acura return in 2010? Murphy hears the simple answer is “no.” They’ll lease engines (the teams have already bought their ARX-01 and 02 chassis), but that’s all – support for teams and the series, along with HPD work on further development will mostly disappear. It doesn’t take a lot of reading between the lines of the Fernandez Racing announcement of its demise to come to that conclusion, and when the Bear was told that HPD has been laying off folks, well, that kind of clinched it.

Supersomething-or-other

The Don’s supercar is “on the table” again. Literally. The latest flight of fancy will be floated (flown?) at an invitation-only dinner at an undisclosed (but probably obvious) location Friday night of Petit Le Mans. This is a “fund raiser,” a “what we’ll do with the millions you give us” get-together for the unreasonably well-heeled.  In a nutshell, that will be a butanol (Florida algae)-powered road-going “supercar” that will morph (somehow) into a Le Mans-legal racer. (Maybe it’s a Transformer.) The Bear’s invitation to the Friday affair seems to have been lost in the mail. Well, he’d have to turn it down anyway, since he’s already got a social engagement – or two – on that night.

Stupid rules

Well, the Frogs have done it again. More utterly stupid ACO rules. “Petite changes” to chassis aero rules aren’t trivial if you’re the small team that has to pay for them (again).  IMSA has its own problems, it shouldn’t commit hiri kuri with the French for expensive minutia. Braselton should “grandfather” anything currently eligible. Heck, they’re going to run a single prototype class anyway, so what would be the point of such tweaks, particularly with entirely new rules likely for 2011?

Is this the 2010 ALMS Schedule?

Pulling together the stories Murphy hears, his 2010 ALMS schedule might look like this:
Sebring – March 17-20
Long Beach – April 16-17
Sonoma – May 1-2
Salt Lake City – May 8-9
 Lime Rock – July 16-17
Mid-Ohio – August 6-7
Road America – August 19-22
Mosport – September 4-5
Petit Le Mans – September 22-25
Laguna Seca – October 8-9

As always, that’s nothing more than a consensus of scurrilous rumor, and irresponsible speculation.

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