News from Lime Rock Park: Inside Scoop on Grand-Am/ALMS Merge
With ALMS and Grand-Am merging in time for the 2014 sports car and prototype racing season, everyone’s been wondering, What kinds of cars and races are we going to see?
Currently, ALMS runs essentially carbon-fiber F1 cars with fenders, while Grand-Am is cool, thundering NASCAR V8s in sophisticated space-frames.
Well, Lime Rock Park’s intrepid racing detectives, armed with Freedom of Information Act paperwork, a combo magnifying-glass-and-Sherlock Holmes-cap “Fact Pak,” a working knowledge of computer-security encryption hacking, and the ability to bribe the cleaning ladies in both Daytona Beach and Atlanta, we’ve uncovered secret information...
The name of the series has, apparently, already been decided, according to a document we found in the shredder – it took us a week to tape it all back together, and we may not have gotten it totally correct – but it looks like it’ll be “Super And Fantastic Endurance Racing Because American Road Racing Is Excellent Racing.” Or, SAFER BARRIER, for short.
Speaking of endurance, in one memo we saw this: “The Glen’s 6 hours, Petit’s 10, Sebring’s 12 and Daytona’s and Le Mans’ 24 hours just aren’t gittin' 'er done. Endurance racing needs to be about real endurance; let’s make every race 36 hours long. Think of the potential hot dog sales!”
With these longer races, driver fatigue would be an issue. It’s therefor been decided that each team must have a minimum of 12 drivers. Look for a big uptick in racing school enrollments over the next 18 months...
In an email we came across, it seems the new group has committed itself to 17-speed gearboxes. “As we’ve seen the passenger car manufacturers go from 2- and 3-speed transmissions to 4-, 5-, 6- and now 8-speed boxes, we need to prove we are way out in front of this. Besides, Macks and Peterbuilts already have a lot of gears, right?”
Of course, powertrains and fuels have been a big, big question mark. ALMS encourages alternative fuels and hybrids, where Grand-Am is conventional. The technical papers and proposed rulebook we dug up show a plan for 2014 that emulates the old Can-Am days; the rule book explicitly states, “Run whatcha brung!” However, it appears the new series will provide major weight-breaks for “three-cylinder two-strokes” and “plug-in electrics utilizing discarded lithium-ion laptop computer batteries. You know, all the ones that used to spontaneously combust.” We guess the actual wording of the rules is going to be tweaked.
In terms of chassis types, organizers are close to deciding that in the “interest of low cost and planet friendliness, chassis shall be made solely of balsa wood and recycled Dr. Pepper bottles.”
So there you have it, a thumbnail sketch of 2014’s prototype racing.
You don’t have to thank us, by the way. It’s enough if you buy a ticket to this month’s Grand-Am Championship Weekend at Lime Rock Park presented by BMW, September 28-29. Two years from now, you’ll be glad you witnessed the beginning of the end of an era – and the start of an exciting new one.
(If you don’t already know, no less than 11 season titles will be decided over the Grand-Am race weekend. The Daytona Prototypes – Rileys, Dallaras, Lolas and Corvettes powered by BMW, Porsche, Ford and Chevy engines – do battle at the same time with GT-class cars, fire-breathing Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs, Mustangs, Camaros and Mazda RX-8s. Also, the showroom stock cars in the popular Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, where virtually every automaker is represented in the Grand Sport (GS) and Street Tuner (ST) classes, are here. Plus an all-new exciting exhibition race: The Total Performance Showcase "B-Spec" Series. Don't miss the Grand-Am Championship Weekend at Lime Rock Park presented by BMW.)
The ALMS/Grand-Am merger is good news for not only Lime Rock Park but more importantly, it’ll be good for you, the knowledgeable road racing fan. We’re pumped about the prospect of a strong, economically viable and exciting prototype and sports car series that should – will – raise sports car racing’s long-term public awareness and marketability.
Think fast!
Spies Like Us
