2011 American Le Mans Series

Wayne Reed · Mar 21, 2011

Vettel has never been at Suuber being that intill 2 years ago the team was bmw sauber and he never drove for them. His first season was with torro rosso (Redbull in Italy) he had 1 win with them and a pole then when david left f1 he was moved over to the main Redbull team.

Sebastien Bourdais was humped in f1 its as simple as that. He came from a sport where all the cars are the same and is down to the driver to make his own talent shin through. He did that with awesome skill in my eyes i think being champ 4 years on the trot is no easy task when you have paul tracy up ya bum for most of it. But he shot him self in the foot whne he let f1 get the better of him and signed for a poo team You can see he is good in alms. But f1 was not for him.

Damien Walczak · Mar 21, 2011

I agree 100%, except with the, "...all cars being equal" statement - they certainly are not all equal. Hence reason for Ferrari threatening to pull out if Teams with a smaller bugets were allowed to 'stack-up.'

But didn't Vettel start his F1 career in '06, driving for BMW Sauber then moving to Toro Rosso in '07 or am I confusing things here?

Wayne Reed · Mar 21, 2011

I did not mean the f1 where equal lol i ment chapcar where he came from

But yes your are confusing your self lol

Wayne Reed · Mar 21, 2011

I did not mean that f1 cars where equal lol i ment champcar lol And you you are confusing yor self

Damien Walczak · Mar 21, 2011

OK, that happens sometimes, lol.

Chris Butcher · Mar 21, 2011

He did actually do a single race for BMW Sauber in 2007 when Kubica was injured. Then he went back to his test role, however BMW released him so Torro Roso could replace Scott Speed with him.

Damien Walczak · Mar 21, 2011

Yeah, I knew it was something like that. Whatever happened to the days when you just built a car and drove the crap out of it? All these restrictions only serve to limit the potential, for both car and Driver, in my opinion. I think we see a lot more 'great' drivers if they didn't have to worry about binning it ..

Wayne Reed · Mar 21, 2011

Yes I am with you on that I have hated flappy paddle in f1 from day 1. I know they did it I just wish they had not I remember Nikki louder at Monaco when the top of the gear stick came off and he had to race the rest of it almost all of it with it going into his hand he had 18 stitch's for that. (oh dear I think I just wet me self

) See if that was today they would all moan about it and stop racing. Oh the good old days

Damien Walczak · Mar 21, 2011

Hahaha .. That's awesome!

I too remember a race with Dale Earnhardt; he lost 2nd and 3rd Gears and had finished the last 300 laps because he said, " It didn't blow up, so we're good."

OR,

Paul Newman had the shifter snap off at the floor and his Team ran out with a pair of Vice-Grips and pinched it on in a make-shift selector - he didn't Finish well because he had to keep reaching down to shift, lol.

It's incidents like one's we just described that really show the prowess of well polished Team and Driver's ability to cope with different situations. Nowadays, they just put it behind the wall, shame.

Wayne Reed · Mar 21, 2011

Yeah I know what your saying it was in them days where the drivers were the hero's of the day not the car. That's why I love going to see classic racing its awesome to see it really is. You cant beat a ford falken going round paddock hill bend with the ars out. And the best bit is not a bit of TC about its all down to driver skill

Damien Walczak · Mar 22, 2011

...and you just know that the Driver has a big s#!t-eating grin the whole time! I mean, if you look at photos from the early years of racing, especially F1, of Winners circle - the smiles are a lot wider and broader. It was a real sense of accomplishiment for the Drivers with a lot of chest-beating and back-slapping for the Crews. Because while the Drivers competed on the Track, the Crews competed in the Paddock. These were the days when five guys could work 9 to 5 during the week and team up to go race on week-ends. This wasn't lost on the Fans either, with people willing to practically sell their first-borne for Tickets, lol. Heck from what I gather they even built Hot-Rods as school projects. I'm too young to remember any of those so I am envious but old enough to remember Winning came at the cost of tears and sweat, not "my debugging software is better than yours." The only things Drivers have to fight now is boredom.

Now, since practically every year there's a new restriction and the cars get slower - in the name of fair compitition, Fan turn-out is at an all-time low and steadily falling. Even NASCAR has difficulty filling the Stadium for the Daytona 500 and the ALMS has been declining for a number of years now.

*sigh*

I mean could you imagine the look on their faces when the shifter(s) broke, lol? .. and being able to still bring it across the finish-line is nothing short of god-like determination. Be cancelling that order for a timing-belt from Jimmy-Bob's Towing ..

William Levesque · Mar 22, 2011

NOOOOOOO!!!

A shame really... I hate all those "gadjets" that just simplifies the drive...

GT's are gonna be almost the same as P1 in a near future, I'm sure of it...

Grrrrrr...

Rhys Gardiner · Mar 23, 2011

If (or when) GTs become like prototypes as you say, another class will be created to fill the void they left. You can be sure of that, as it has happened in the past: the GT2 cars of the 1990s were the equivalent of today's GT1s.

Damien Walczak · Mar 24, 2011

In all honesty I don't believe the ALMS would survive if the GT Class was removed. As it stands now we have LMP1, LMPC, GT2 and GTC. The GT2 Class is the only 'Class' that supports multiple Manufactures/Chassis. For example, LMP1 is prototype, LMPC are prototype chassis but identicle specs and the GTC are only Porsches, so the GT2 catagory is the only Manufacture-based Class. If we base all competitors on equal models then you can forget about diversity and critical Fan attatchment. People don't buy Mercs because their engines did well in F1 nor do they buy Cadillacs because it's the same motor in the ZR1. If all the cars are the 'same' then how would a Fan or potential Consumer make a qualified decision? Manufacturer-based racing (GT) is a must and keeps Fans supporting their Teams and pushes Manufacturers forward, in the effort to be No. 1. Different Manufacturers use different tech and can be effective with such, switching to tech's not found in production upset the vehicle's dynamics and ruin efficiency, not to mention breaking a connection with Fans - we saw this with Doug Fehan deciding on Paddles.

If you set forth only one set of Rules and regulations, on a broad scale, encompassing more than one form of Motorsport - then you just killed the 'Sport.'

Hiroshi Awazu · Mar 24, 2011

Hi Damien kinda off topic but still concerns Corvettes. If i was to win the big bucks without a doubt a 2009 ZR1 would be the FIRST thing i'd buy then my house.Do you see many of them back east? I think this one might be only one in Vancouver. Well thats what owner claims but i could almost believe him. I want the blue one. This one was parked in front of a Blenz which i frequently go to. This car is bang for the buck when it is compared to supercars. I like supercars but ZR1 is what i want !.

William Levesque · Mar 24, 2011

There was a Black one over here in Levis, Quebec at the Chevrolet dealer, AWESOME car

The principal thing I love about Corvette's is the "What you see is what you get" approache, unlike most other supercars where you have tons of technologies and other complicated electronical thingies...

A bit like the Lotus Exige or most "Underground" sports car where you really have simplicity and authenticity in the build, while still be able to compete with those "computer" supercars...

Damien Walczak · Mar 24, 2011

Yeah, I've seen three - all in showrooms though. One in Oshawa - Blue and two in Toronto - Blue and Red. I agree, Devil Blue for me too. I mean it's even codenamed: Blue Devil, lol.

The Corvette is a supercar built to be driven. None of this drive on Sunday, park 'til Saturday crap. GM isn't in to that. All Corvette's are daily-drivers. They're also meant to be abused, GM designed the Corvettes with durable materials so the enthusiast can have fun. This is why Doug Fehan adding Paddle-shifters is such a huge disappointment, it breaks the connection with the street-machine.