Safety

The current Daytona Prototype lacks a dedicated crash structure at the front of the car, and that is another area that could change for 2012.

Creating a crash structure to absorb frontal impacts is another area the Rolex Series is seriously investigating to implement with the various Daytona Prototype constructors. (Marshall Pruett)

A fair amount of space stands between the front of the chassis and the nose of most DPs, but in a frontal impact, radiators and suspension pieces have usually taken the brunt of the crash, destroying expensive components along with the splitter and nose.

As a result, some form of energy absorbing crash structure that minimizes the contact between the chassis parts and the wall is being sought. Such a structure would also increase safety, striking the magic ‘the driver is safer and repairs will cost you less’ balance that every series strives to achieve.

Turbos

If you close your eyes and think about what a Daytona Prototype sounds like in person or on television, a rumbling V8 is probably what comes to mind. The auto industry has changed quite a bit since the original DP rules were written, evolving from a time when large displacement/low efficiency engines were the norm.

Yet with most manufacturers clamoring to offer small displacement/high efficiency powerplants, GRAND-AM is looking to update its engine spec to match the current shift within the industry.

Does that mean V8s are a think of the past in DP? I’d hope not. They are incredibly reliable and inexpensive to maintain, making them quite attractive to teams working from smaller budgets. I’d say to expect a mix of V8s and turbos in 2012.

The fact that GRAND-AM required the use of production-based engines from the outset with the DP class gives them a lot of flexibility going forward. It also makes it quite easy for the series to capitalize on the change of philosophy by the ACO to require the use of production-based engines in the LMP2 category next year.

GRAND-AM has used production-based engines since the inception of the DP series, and allowing turbo engines that conform to that philosophy -- even ones build for other series like Ford's V6 Ecoboost motor -- would be a smart move for 2012. (Ford)

DP engines – from the lone Porsche flat-6 to the V8s produced by Ford, Chevrolet and Porsche – all make somewhere close to 500 horsepower. With what the ACO is mandating for 2011, new twin-turbo V6 engines from Honda and Ford will make approximately the same power, and could fit into the back of a DP as a nice alternate to a V8.

It would be easy to get caught up in the same old ACO/ALMS vs GRAND-AM rhetoric, but the Honda engine, produced by HPD, is being offered for the company to make a profit. The Ford turbo, offered by Roush Yates Racing, is also a for-profit motor. Rather than picking sides or showing bias, I’d have to imagine both companies would welcome the option to offer an engine that could be used in both of our domestic sportscar series. It makes good business sense.

(And those relationships currently exist. Roush Yates currently builds the Ford Daytona Prototype V8s, while Honda is an active supporter of GRAND-AM’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series).

The greatest concern for the current DP owners is that turbo engine costs would quickly get out of hand, but provided they remain production-based and a cost cap is placed on their sales price, there’s no reason to fear forced induction.

Grand Touring

A number of modifications are being discussed for Rolex GT in 2011 and 2012, and the majority of those items are minor tweaks of the current package.

From a technical standpoint, the possible move away from the NASCAR-style 5- or 6-lug wheel mounting system in favor of a single-lug, center locking system is an important one.

GT3 racing cars are becoming more popular each year. Easing the path for European teams to compete in the Rolex GT category, or for existing GT teams to buy and race GT3 cars would be another wise decision by GRAND-AM. (LAT)

Many of the current GT cars that race throughout the globe use a single-lug on their cars, and as the Rolex Series looks to attract new manufacturers and entrants to the GT category, modifying their rules to increase those odds would be a wise decision.

Adopting a single-lug wheel might come across as a small concession to make, but it speaks to another philosophical change that could be on the horizon for GRAND-AM. Where is the GT class is headed, and what kind of identity change, if any, is GRAND-AM trying to create for the category?

The GT paddock is filled with a mix of production-based “Prep 1” cars (Porsches, Corvettes, etc), and tubeframe “Prep 2” cars (Mazdas, Camaros, etc) and but looking at the majority of the new GT race cars for sale outside of America, they started life on an assembly line.

Factory and private GT3 offerings from Aston Martin, Audi, Ferrari, Ford and Lamborghini comprise most of what is sold today, and those cars come equipped with single-lug wheels. Only the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car that races in Rolex GT is eligible to race outside of GRAND-AM, while the rest of the cars in the class conform to a specification that is unique to the Rolex Series.

For the Rolex GT class to grow, making changes to the rules to allow new GT cars – vehicles that have a similar level of performance like those used in the FIA GT3 series – could be the tool to swell the GT ranks for 2011 and beyond.

In the current economic climate, asking manufacturers to build new cars that can only be raced in Rolex GT would be a tough sell, and with a solid contingent of current GT-spec cars already in the field, adding to those numbers by easing the path for GT3 cars to join the series would be another smart move by Daytona Beach.

Keeping the existing entrants happy is vital, and the series surely knows this. Remaining loyal to the current GT paddock and ensuring their cars won’t be rendered obsolete by the likes of Audi or Ferrari is key for the plan to work.

Audi’s R8 LMS is a perfect example of what an updated Rolex GT series could offer its fans and new entrants in 2011. With Audi looking to field factory racing cars again in North America, the R8 LMS weighs heavily into their plans as a customer car. With its driver aids removed (traction control and ABS, specifically), it would fit the Rolex GT class perfectly.

Audi is also known to be developing multiple ECU maps for the car which would allow an owner to race the car in a multitude of series in Europe and America in an instant. The car is also being evaluated to run in the ALMS GTC class for 2011 in the same lower tech configuration, and like the production-based Honda and Ford turbo engines, the R8 LMS could pull double-duty.

With Audi still looking to offer R8 LMS sales in the US, the German marque could provide a popular alternative to the usual Porsches, Mazdas and GM products used in Rolex GT. (John Dagys)

Porsche GT3 cup owners currently enjoy the same flexibility, running their cars in GT or GTC as they desire, and provided the same option exists for the R8 LMS or any other GT3-spec car, I’d expect the sale of GT3 cars to take off in North America.

It might be a strange pill to swallow, but making it easy for GT3 cars to race in Rolex GT is just the kind of medicine the class needs. GT1- and GT2-spec cars are mightily expensive, and with GRAND-AM’s onus being placed on the quality of racing, embracing the (somewhat) less expensive exotics found in GT3 would be a brilliant compromise.

Provided the 2011 Rolex GT rules are written to make sure the existing GT cars will have a home for years to come and won’t become obsolete by new GT3 cars, harmony could exist. It’s not quite ‘cats and dogs living together’ territory, but it if it adds new manufacturers to the Rolex Series, everybody wins.

We’ve seen GRAND-AM allow cars that hail from other GT series in the past – everything from Marcos to Maserati – so this is hardly a new precedent for the series.

A lot has changed within the industry since 2003, and from my vantage point, an inclusionary approach to the new-look GRAND-AM – whether it’s to Rolex GT cars or DP engines – is the right call to make. It fits the rest of their modernization efforts without betraying their heritage or what makes their current cars and rules unique.

DTM

The final piece of the GRAND-AM puzzle involves where the DTM fits in the series’ future. Plenty of rumors have claimed some form of alliance between the DTM, the Japanese Super GT organization and the Rolex Series, with a new global GT spec supposedly replacing both of GRAND-AM’s premier classes.

From our efforts to understand what ties exist (if any), the most likely scenario would have DTM cars racing on American soil, but as a standalone series that offered a sprint racing format to compliment the endurance racing format that Rolex Series and Continental Tire Series fans are accustomed to.

Adding a DTM sprint racing series to the Rolex Series calendar could bring out new fans who've long wanted to see the cars run in anger on American soil. (LAT)

With the DTM series on the schedule (and it’s not clear whether an offshoot of the DTM series would race here or if DTM cars would be sold for domestic teams to field on their own), GRAND-AM would have the most popular touring car-style endurance racing series as the opening act, a wildly popular Euro-centric silhouette series that runs right after it and a modernized version of their prototype and GT series to close the show.

The thought of making Daytona Prototypes sexier, allowing different DP body shapes, introducing turbo engines, incorporating GT3 cars into the Rolex GT series and trying to add the DTM as a new support series might seems like a lot to do at once, but if the modern sports fan has taught us anything, it’s that being safe and conservative is a fast way to be forgotten in the marketplace.

Provided all (or even most) of their plans come to fruition, count me in as someone who can’t wait to hear the chirp of turbo wastegates, to drool over the freaky aerodynamics on the DTM cars and to watch Audis race on the high banks of Daytona.

The more I think about it, I can’t wait for the 2012 season to arrive.


A special thanks goes to Andy Blackmore at AndyBlackmoreDesign for his help in creating the 2012 Daytona Prototype visuals.


Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com’s Auto Racing Editor, and also covers IndyCar and sportscar racing for the site. Pruett grew up at ‘Pruett's Olde English Garage,’ his father's shelter for abused foreign cars, and spent his childhood being dragged across the West Coast to help with his dad's amateur racing exploits.

Pruett spent 20 years working in the IRL, CART, IMSA, and most of the known open-wheel feeder series before retiring from active duty in 2001. And in case you were wondering, he isn’t related to Scott Pruett.

Marshall lives in Northern California with his wife Shabral, and can be emailed . He can also be harassed on Twitter .