I think they misspoke about Cup car sales...that would be 120 cars for each series. maybe they sell 240 per year, maybe they've sold 2400 in total?
They did say 2400 a year. (Cup Cars) Before the 24 of Nurburgring there was a cup race with 200 of them racing at the same time.
Great racing to have three DP's and five GT's on the respective lead laps after 24 hours. I agree that Riley ought to tailor the styling features of the Ford and BMW-powered DP's to try to build at least some resemblance to the same manufacturer's road cars. (I remember that the old BMW Rileys at least had a BMW-style air intake in the nose of the car.) The new Corvette DP bodywork is stunning, and the new DP's in general look better than the dumpy old bodies, which I hope are retired soon. For a car racing in GrandAm for the first time, and outnumbered 24 to 5 (!), I think the Ferraris did all right, with cars finishing 5th (on the lead lap) and 8th. It was kind of weird to see Travis Pastrana driving like an in-control guy for a change! Maybe if we can't get Ferrari back in the prototype class at Le Mans or in the ALMS, how about a Ferrari-powered DP?
I heard what they said, I just think they were wrong they've been making 997 cup cars for (I think) 7 years...that would mean there's over 16,000 Cup cars in existence. I find that really hard to believe.
the 430 V8 was allowed by the DP rules but nobody ever ran one (as was the maser V8). a shame, really...
Speed was wrong if they made that comment. Perhaps they were talking about total GT3 production. Annual Cup production is no more than 300 per year.
Yeah, about like Speed commentators saying there were 75,000 people there. That's enough people to fill a sold out NFL stadium and their vehicles in the Daytonner infield. BHW
if it weren't for all the cautions (14, IIRC) we would have seen a record set for the most laps completed int he 24. as it stands, the winners were 1 lap away from tying the record (761 vs. 762).
Porsche's press links state 2300 cars produced since 1989. http://press.porsche.com/news/pdf/Jan_25_2012.pdf
Is it just me or is it ridiculous that in a world where most of the top line sports cars that are running the roads all over the world are producing 550 to 700? horse-power stock they still restrict these cars to 450 horsepower? I know they are worried about the speeds these cars could produce, but obviously in the US they don't know how to successfully administer the equalization process. Watching the FIA GT3 races in Europe last year saw much better racing and a huge amount of different winners. It was really great to watch the Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi , Mercedes SLS, Corvette, McLaren etc. Next time you have a couple hours go on the website and on the bottom left you can watch re-edited versions of every race in the series and qualifying. It's very spectator and viewer friendly. http://gt3europe.com/
Um, first off, the FIA GT3 series has it's roots ingredients from Stephane Ratel's various GT series (Blancpain is the latest), that the FIA liked SO much that they stole the series from SRO and started the GT3 series after the failure of GT1. Second, the Grand Am GT class is one of the most competitive on the planet. Ask any of the DOZEN factory Porsche and FOUR factory Ferrari drivers (all paid for by the manufacturers and farmed out to the teams) about this year's Rolex 24 and they all agree this was the deepest field most have ever been in, in terms of talent and competitiveness. Third, the new cars assimilated by Grand Am for GT after YEARS of resistance are all based on GT3 rules in Europe with additional mods, mostly to handicap them to prevent them from upsetting the apple cart and trouncing longtime "investors" and stakeholders in the series. The fact that several of the competitive ALMS GT2 teams have come over to Grand Am is indicative of the SUCESS of the equivalency. No one stands for pissing away a million dollars plus just to enter the Rolex 24 KNOWING that they're at a disadvantage. All they want guaranteed is a shot at victory. And most (except the Mazdas and the half-hearted, no-hoper Mustang and Porsche efforts, IMO) felt they had a shot. This is a huge upswing from two back-of-the pack Challenge cars rolling around at the back last year. I'm no big fan of Grand Am, but I'm a huge fan of competitive racing, the kind that they don't give out the trophies before the end of the race! Great show and foreshadows a great year in US sports car racing. I've been following GT racing in the US and Europe for 30 years, and it's as good as it's ever been. Both ALMS and Grand Am are putting together great fields and the Blancpain and FIA series in Europe (lets not forget Japanese GT) are at a high level right now.
I still would like to see a bit more of the old days blowing through what's left of our hair... Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
And I'd like to give a big thanks to those that have made an effort to preserve that experience and generously shared it with others. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
UM- Sorry to offend you, but I thought I was allowed to offer my opinion on this site, but I guess not. It must be amazing to be such good friends with every one of the factory drivers that ALL of them called and gave you their personal opinion of the racing. I was trying to reference the fact that every major exotic manufacturer was pretty heavily involved in the FIA series, but I guess they stole the idea from somewhere. I have been covering road racing for a while now too and am tired of not being able to rely on the entrants. I can't even tell you how exciting it was to watch the Corvette factory teams battle it out with each other the last three or 4 years in ALMS. The Ferrari factory only built a Rolex car after being guaranteed that someone would race it.As I understand it the development in the Porsche cars have for many years had an amount of support that the Ferrari racers could only hope for. Direct factory support and development , Maybe you can show us some documentation that shows that the Ferrari factory drivers as you call them are paid for and farmed out by the team. I have never seen or read this from a factual basis in many years. In closing I know you have Pro in your name , but your post was quite condescending. I'll try to be much more careful about stating my opinion in the future.
Good racing, nice to see some Ferraris out there. Congrats to team Magnus (based out of Utah) for the GT win
It great that a private team can buy a winning car from their local Porsche dealer for 1/3 of what a Grand Am Ferrari costs and rely on the Porsche factory bringing transporters of spares to the race that you don't have to buy in advance at silly prices and win the GT Class 24 of Daytona.
I'm sorry, Bob. I did not mean to be condescending. I was just offering my observations. I apologize and perhaps I can buy you a beer (or dinner) at VIR when you come down for the ALMS date in September.