PHILLIPS: Two Minds

GRAND-AM

PHILLIPS: Two Minds

Having spent my fair share of time amidst the CART v IRL jihad, I believe I speak from experience when I write about the schism in sports car racing.

David Phillips | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted May 01, 2009 Pittsburgh, PA

Grids have been down on the Rolex Daytona Prototype class in 2009, but compared to its rival series, the Grand-Am series has been flourishing. (LAT)

Having spent my fair share of time on the front lines of the CART v IRL jihad, I believe I speak from a position of some experience when I write about the schism in sports car racing between the Grand American Road Racing Association and the American Le Mans Series.

Although the tenor of the sports car split has, mercifully, never de-volved into the scorched earth policy that characterized much of that regrettable chapter in American open wheel racing, the philosophical fault-lines between the Grand-Am and the ALMS groups are no less clearly delineated. On the one hand, you have the Grand-Am’s focus on close (did someone say “managed”) competition among individual teams and drivers with strict limitations on exotic technology and costs. On the other hand, you have the ALMS’ focus on diverse technologies among multiple manufacturers in an environment where state-of-the-art technology is encouraged and the sky is the proverbial limit where budgets are concerned.

Both series and philosophies have their attractions. Having spent much of my formative years standing atop the spectator berms at Mosport’s Turn Two (but having not paid a visit to the venerable Canadian circuit in 20+ summers), I was simply gobsmacked at last year’s ALMS race to watch and listen as the best of the LMP2 Acuras whistled through that daunting corner flat-out in top gear. I was no less impressed when Dindo Capello topped the ALMS qualifying sheets with a 1:04.094 on a track largely unchanged since a lad named Jim Clark won the pole for the inaugural Canadian Grand Prix with a lap of 1:22.4 in 1967.

Put another way, were Clark in his Formula One Lotus 49-Ford/Cosworth somehow magically pitted against Capello in his Audi R10 at Mosport, the Italian would lap the Scotsman roughly every four and a half laps. That’s what I call technological progress.

On the other hand, even a cursory glance at the ALMS entries and grids for the 2009 season thus far reveals the potential shortcomings of a series focused on diverse technologies and multiple manufacturers in troubled economic times. For while the GT2 category is strong and getting stronger all the time, the LMP1 and LMP2 categories are mere shadows of their former selves in the wake of Audi’s and Porsche’s draconian cutbacks in factory involvement for their prototype programs in North America.

Segue to the Rolex Grand-Am Series and you’ll find the Daytona Prototype and GT classes have also been hit by the recession, albeit not quite as hard. Where 19 DPs took the green flag at VIR last year, last weekend’s Bosch Engineering 250 saw just 16 prototypes start the Rolex Sports Car Series event; and last weekend’s 18 car GT field was down by seven from the previous year. To be sure, the numbers are down but, owing largely to the fact that the cost of campaigning a Daytona Prototype is a fraction of what the likes of Acura, Audi, Porsche, and Mazda spend on their prototype efforts, nowhere near as much as in the ALMS.

On the other hand . . . one look at the Acura ARX-02A, Audi R15, Mazda Lola B09 or Porsche RS Spyder (not to mention the Peugeot 908 HDi) is to understand why they stir the emotions as no Daytona Prototype ever has or ever will, be it Riley or Crawford, Dallara or Lola, Fabcar or Doran. And if Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway or Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course are any indication, on just about any given circuit, the crème of the ALMS prototypes (and GT1 Corvettes) would humble the best of the Daytona Prototypes almost as convincingly as Capello and his Audi would dominate Clark and his Lotus.

Then again, a fortnight or so ago in Long Beach, the ALMS LMP1 race was effectively a two horse affair between the Acuras of DeFerran Motorsports and Patron/Highcroft Racing, one which was decided by a controversial pit lane penalty that all but insured the former of victory. LMP2 at least pitted Acura v Mazda, again won in the pits although not via penalty. GT1 was the last of many Corvette benefits before GM’s post Le Mans switch to GT2 while, for all the manufacturer interest in GT2, that class boiled down to another Porsche v Ferrari tilt with victory going to the German marque, which led some 30s before the race ended under a full course yellow.

Prototypes like the Audi R15 and Peugeot 908 inspire the imagination, but at what cost? Despite a guest appearance at Sebring, both factories aren't competing in the 2009 remainder of championship. (LAT)

By contrast, slightly depleted entry or no, Sunday’s Bosch Engineering 250 at VIR produced a crackerjack race, one in which eight different Daytona Prototypes led the race at one stage or another, an equal number lapped within a second of the fastest race lap and (again) eight cars finished on the lead lap (thanks in part to four full course yellows). The event featured a scintillating pass for the lead when Alex Gurney outfoxed Michael Valiante in traffic on Lap 65, a tense restart with three laps remaining and ten Daytona Prototypes within sight of the leader (thanks again to a late full course yellow) and a final margin of victory of .705s. Meanwhile, the GT race was no less fraught as Robin Lidell took advantage of Paul Edwards’ bobble to take the lead 12 laps from the finish, and the two Pontiac GXP.Rs took the checkered flag separated by just .107s with the Mazda RX8 of Nick Ham less than a second behind Edwards.

And those tweaks implemented by Grand-Am since Daytona to equalize the competition? Spurred by the additional power available through the newly approved intake manifolds, Pontiac-powered Daytona Prototypes finished 1-2 while the Daytona-winning Brumos Porsche was a close third despite having one less gear at its disposal than in the season opener.

All told, it was a pretty convincing argument for the merits of Grand-Am’s philosophy of managed competition, restraints on technology and cost containment. Of course, when the radical Acura ARX-02As finally take to the element for which they were designed (smooth, wide open permanent road courses) at Miller Motorsports Park in two weeks’ time while the Daytona Prototypes struggle to lap within 10 seconds of last year’s ALMS prototypes at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway, I may revise my opinion yet again. Until the DPs stage another rousing race at Laguna Seca, that is. And so it goes.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, SPEED, FOX, or NewsCorp.

David Phillips has written about auto racing for a variety of outlets including Autosport, Autoweek, Motoring News, On Track, Racer and SPEEDtv.com since the mid-1980s.

In the process, Phillips' travels have taken him -- so far -- to 71 race tracks from Ascot Park and Assento Zandvoort, Zeltweg and Zolder and more airports, hotels and rent-a-cars than he cares to remember.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Phillips

SPEEDtv.com

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