Will this be running in the Rolex Series next year????

 

Word has it that its to be a Speed World Challenge GT car.
We looked in to running a GT in Rolex, and were told that we should stop looking, lol.

 

Lol, by Ford or by Grand Am?

 

I thought Ford had advised against the GT in ANY racing series. (Or was that just regarding a Factory backing?)

 

I'm going to plead the fifth on this one.

In all honesty, I believe the decision was driven from a marketing standpoint, which, if you really think about it, makes sense.

 

Yeah I'm reading another thread on CC.com stating the possible reasoning behind that right now.

 

That Ford GT (and the matching Saleen) are sponsored by CaboWabo tequila, owned by Sammy Hagar.

 

I can't drive 55

 

The Saleen is intended for the Rolex GT class.

 

Man, I would love to see the GT in the Rolex

Dan- What car is that in your avatar?

 

Why woud they not want the GT to participaet in the racing?

 

do you have a link to that article

 

It's my service manager's Mazda RX-3. He runs in the GT-3 class in SCCA Club racing. Right now, we're in the process of building a full tube-frame rotary powered Miata, which will hopefully be done by next season. I don't want to be a thread hijacker, so I'll start another thread about that in a bit.

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Why woud they not want the GT to participaet in the racing?[/quote]

Just a guess on my part, but I'm thinking that Ford doesn't want people seeing the GT getting beaten by Pontiac GTOs. To clarify, the GTO.R in the Rolex Series is a purpose built, tube frame race car put together by Pratt and Miller and run as a GM factory team. This Ford GT appears to be a modified street car to be run by a privateer team. In other words, it would probably not be able to challenge for wins against the Pontiacs, Porsches, and BMWs. But to the casual observer, it would look like a $30,000 Pontiac is beating up on a $150,000 Ford, which would make Ford look bad. I think that's what Rara means about the decision being driven from a marketing standpoint, anyway.

 

I hate how stupid people(the general consumers) ruin things like that.

 

Personally, I'd like to see a full factory effort in ALMS and LeMans to compete against the C6-Rs.

 

Oh man... If the GT gets into Le Mans, that would be the best!

 

Doubt it will ever happen. Ford wouldn't want to step on Aston Martin's toes. The rules seem to favor front engine cars, anyway.

 

I don't think it's that. From the outset, Ford's never had competition plans for the new GT, and I think it's b'cause they knew it wasn't suited for it. They knew they'd have to throw gobs of money and resources at it to make it truly competitive on the int'l GT racing scene, which--considering the state of the auto industry right now--is something they just don't have enough of. They'd just as well as be throwing money in an open pit [anybody remember Cadillac's LMP program?]. True, it's inspired by one of the greatest GT racing cars ever, but it's a street car inspired by a race car, not a racing car first, as was with the originals. I'm very interested in how Kinetic M'sports fares in the upcoming season of SPEED World Challenge, as I'd like to see how the GT does in competition, but I know they're gonna have a long row to hoe in order to get results with this one. Here's what they've got going against them:

1. Weight: at nearly 3400 lbs, the GT's a real porker, as race cars go; fine for a boulevard terror, but that's an awful lot of mass to figure out how to lighten up for competition. Just think--the originals weighed only 2200 lbs.
2. Forced induction powerplant: sanctioning bodies usually are much more restrictive on s'charged/turbo powered cars, as far as induction and modification go. I'd expect this one to be pretty well hamstrung by small inlet size/restrictors, in regards to how much power they'll be able to make. Also, that s'charger means more complexity and more parts--more parts means more stuff that can break during a race. I feel sorry for the poor buggers who'll have to work on the bas---d under racing conditions; I'm sure mechanics will come up with some choice names for this one. In their favor though, SWC events are all "sprint" races, only 50 min. long in format.

Here's what they've got going for them:
1. Soundness of design: the original design layout of the Ford GT is definitely sound and proven--it's influenced a whole generation of GT racing/sports cars afterwards. It was so successful they essentially re-wrote the rules to ban it after #1075 kicked **** at LeMans. Twice. Copies/kit cars inspired by the original GT-40 have been competing in National GT series in Europe and at LeMans as recently as the late 90's-early 00's.

I've said it before, and I still believe it in my heart of hearts: I think the original GT-40 potentially makes a better GT racing car--even today, properly modified--than the new GT. But hey, I still hope the Cabo Wabo car goes out and opens a can o' whupass on the competition, which will further vindicate the soundness of the original design, even going on 40 years later...

 

The upcoming SPEED GT World Challenge should be fantastic this season. I'm especially excited to see how the Astons and the GT will fare. I don't think Volvo is coming back to the World Challenge, but they will be in the Touring Series. I wish the S60R would have faired better the last two seasons . . .

 

I saw the S60Rs for sale a few weeks ago. Doubt they'll be back unless a privateer team picks them up. The Caddys are gone, too, as well as Wolf Henzler. It'll be a very different looking series when they take the green in Sebring.

Speaking of privateer teams, a friend of my boss is trying to secure sponsorship to run SWC GT in a 911 GT3 Cup. If things pull through, I may be crewing for him at a few races. So if anyone has a spare $600,000 laying around....