2015 TUDOR United Sportscar Championship

  • Thread starter MonGnoM
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Not much really makes me squirm but the thought of that pretty much made me stop reading for a minute.
 
Annoyingly the solution to the wishbone through leg problem was found years ago in the form of anti-intrusion bars with steel wishbones but it appears they dropped out of fashion when carbon arms became all the rage (mainly because it's rather difficult to do on carbon arms).

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Still, it's good to see there's a solution to this although via a different means.
 
Glad to see those colors again...and glad they're back at least for the 24. Kudos to Dempsey for bringing them back to us with that Brumos partnership.
 
Hi all! It's great to be back! I took a hiatus from following a lot of things, including TUSC, after my son was born last summer. I just got caught up on all the races I missed (finished Petit Le Mans last night - thanks YouTube!), read through this entire thread today (wanted to avoid spoilers till I saw all of last season), and am pumped for Daytona!!!

cnd01
These developments pretty much are what most people thought would happen. LMP2 cars don't race well compared to the DP making it next to impossible to win with. That coupled with there being literally 2 LMP2 teams in the 2012 ALMS season in America while only drawing 1 overseas team this past year makes the merger really just a way to water down the P class grid further because now a DP is more expensive than a LMP2. That's a total mismanagement trying to appease everyone. Whether you like the Grand am model or ALMS model better, it's very obvious to see that IMSA has not done what it needs to in order to keep grids up in the P class. Had the DP been kept as is, there would have been at least 14 full season entries just carrying over from Grand am. Had they gone LMP2 straight away, there would have been in the neighborhood of 8-10 full season probably. Keeping one series's equipment is about the only thing that was done right in the IndyCar and ChampCar merger. Had IMSA done that, we could've seen 18-20 full season P class cars assuming the ALMS teams weren't too cool for a DP.
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This completely! A year ago I was unsure how DP and P2 would get along in one class. The season proved they could not, as DP held the advantage most of the year with the exception of the Ligier. What is that anyway - is it a P2? It seemed to perform more like a DP (quick off starts and with plenty of power) compared with how the open cockpit P2's were so slow on starts and described as momentum-based by the commentators. Or is Yacaman just that much of a beast? I know he did well in the open cockpit model, too, but it seemed like the Ligier has none of the faults of the older model.

At any rate, I totally agree that IMSA should have picked either P2 or DP and just run that. It proved too difficult to balance the 2, or they are horribly inept which would be even more concerning. As a Grand-Am fan, I would prefer the DP - also I lose control of bodily functions when I hear a DP do a proper burn out :embarrassed: - but ultimately I don't care, just pick one or the other! The prototype class has suffered greatly from this mismatch.

Also, PC still needs to go. There was a race last season - Mosport I think - that didn't have PC in it, and it was perfect. There were still plenty of cars but a little more room, and GTD actually got some coverage. Ah well.

More to come... :cheers:
 
Shank has his Ligier right with the front guys. I believe they were second quick to Ganassi in session 2 only 0.1 off. They certainly brought their A-game like to Daytona like they always do!
 
Looked at a gallery from today's Roar Before the 24 session and holy white, Batman:

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Looks more like a flying car then ever, now with tail fins.


Edit: Maybe its just me, but it seems like the Viper GT3-R and R8 Grand Am aren't too far off from the eventual full GT3 specs of 2016.

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Well the Viper GT3-R is a GT3 car...just that the spoiler is different (just neutered by IMSA for GTD). Though that Grand-Am Audi looks a skosh more GT3 like.
 
Thing is, this is what the car looked like last season:

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Just find it interesting that the cars are already being allowed much wider wings then they did last year and its before its all GT3 in 2016. Interestingly enough, the Turner BMW under went an interesting evolution itself with its wing in 2014 from the Rolex 24:

2014-rolex-24-tg-063a-deremer-studios.jpg


To Petit Le Mans:

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They were allowed to run a larger wing closer to the stock wing it runs in FIA spec this year. Guess IMSA is slowly intergrating full FIA GT3. Forgot how small last year's spoiler was lol.
 
You think that's small?

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That's from last year's Roar Before The 24. Its pitiful.
 

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