Sebring 2005 - Way to go Aston!!!

[JNasty4G63]

Just wanted to give Aston Martin a little love. I watched most of the Sebring race today, and they were damn near flawless. Looked at first like the new C6-R was going to continue the tradition of the Corvette dominance, but it didn't happen. I was hoping the Aston team would do well, and they did. But, it should have been expected. With DR and Prodrive behind the team, you know they aren't half-ass about this.

It was a fun race to watch. The Audi team cars were fighting for overall. The Astons and Vettes were going at it in GT1. One of the Saleen cars was doing its best "James Bond" impression at the end and laying down a nice oil slick as the engine ate itself. And both, I say BOTH, of the Alex Job cars broke. That doesn't happen, EVER. But at Sebring, anything can happen, and did. I guess the bad luck from the Dyson team was passed on to Job, because the Dyson team finally finished a race. It was awesome seeing the likes of Aston, Vette, Porsche, Viper, TVR, Maserati, Spyker, Ferrari and the like going at it. Very good range of makes. Overall, it was a good race, and showed a lot of promise for sports car racing.

Again, way to go Aston, DR, and Prodrive. The Vettes looked good, but the Astons looked better, and took the win. Good to see some competition for them. Can't wait to see the action this June when they battle at the 24 over in France.

Hilg

DBR9

DBR9

C6-R

C6-R

Maserati MC-12 (Enzo-R)

Spyker C-8, Aston DBR9, TVR T400R

 

[McLaren]

Whoa! Quitea few cars I've haven't seen there before. The TVR and Spyker are new to me.

 

[DrogoGTO]

You know, I was watching the race today and wondering to myself "What the hell is that orange/silver car? Could it be a Spyker?"

I didn't realise Spyker had a racing program.


Also, the sounds the C6 and Astons made were very, very nice.

 

[JNasty4G63]

Whoa! Quitea few cars I've haven't seen there before. The TVR and Spyker are new to me.

See my new pics attached...........

Also, the sounds the C6 and Astons made were very, very nice.

Holy hell, did they ever!!! I love the DBR9, I think its an absolutely stunning race car. But the SOUND of the 427 in the C6-R is just marvelous. Everytime they showed it fly by, I almost got chills. Great stuff.

Hilg

TVR T400R

Spyker C-8

Spyker C-8

Spyker C-8

Saleen S7R

Panoz Esperante GTLM

 

[PS]

I wasn't up on the race this time, what all hapened to the TVR's? I heard that they both blew their engines/crashed or something?

 

[Rx3]

I feel sorry for the Vettes. They would have walked away with GT1 if not for that brake rotor shattering. The Aston Martins did well in their debut. It will be an interesting season.


The Audis do what they always do. I don't think anyone can beat that car.

 

[pimp racer]

This should belong in the Motorsports area. But anyways great job for Aston!
And here are the results of the race - http://gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=59164

 

[Joey D]

There were some sweet cars there, I sat there and watched the entire thing on TV, yes I'm a loser like that. Any ways I'm really curious on the next generation of Audi, how could they improve that car anymore???

 

[ExigeEvan]

Didn't know that Spyker had a racing team.

I'll probably catch highlights of the race on the many re-runs on MotorsTV. Are the DBR9s looking to compete at Le Mans? I assume they will.

 

[JNasty4G63]

This should belong in the Motorsports area. But anyways great job for Aston!

Yea, I thought about that. But, no one ever seems to post there. And, this is "Automotive News" in essence, so I thought it couldn't hurt. Either way.

....I'm really curious on the next generation of Audi, how could they improve that car anymore???

V10 Diesel, based off the engine used in the Touareg's, is the talk. There have been many car makers toying with the idea of racing a diesel. The diesel engine has much more freedom with restrictor size, boost pressure, and engine size. And, just as in road cars, in a race car, they offer better fuel efficiency. Huge torque, huge capacity, and better fuel economy is a hard thing to just pass off as fluff with a race car. VAG knows what they're doing with diesel engines, so I bet they could master this very quickly if they do try it. We'll have to see.

Hilg

 

[Joey D]

A diesel powered LM car would be pretty sweet, I guess we will just have to wait till next year to know for sure.

 

[JNasty4G63]

A diesel powered LM car would be pretty sweet, I guess we will just have to wait till next year to know for sure.

Well, this wouldn't be the first, but it would be the first from a huge contending team. There was a Lola Judd last year, not to mention a few others before in history.......

http://www.perkins.com/perkins/cda/articleDisplay/1,4094,7___32_____7_10022049,00.html

It eventually broke its gearbox, but ran very well. It could turn 17 laps/tank compared to 11/tank for the other cars. And, when you add up 6 laps per tank, and multiply that over the course of 24 hours, you can see why they are very deeply considering running one. That adds up to about 50 miles more per tank. Thats a lot. You put an engine like that into a chassis like they have now, and it could turn out to be unstoppable.

Hilg

 

[The359]

Spyker Squadron entered into sportscar racing in 2002 with the Spyker C8 Double-12R at the Sebring 12 Hours, based off of their C8 Laviolette. It featured a more powerfully tuned version of their Audi V8 unit and extended bodywork for aerodynamics. A street going version was offered for sale shortly after, named the Spyker C8 Double-12S and available with up to 700hp.

At Sebring in 2002, the car qualified 51st and dropped out in 42nd place after an accident.

The car went on to LeMans in 2002, gaining automatic entry for Spyker's racing heritage as well as the uniqueness of the C8 Double-12R in the GT Class. At LeMans the car qualified 49th and failed to finish due to engine problems.

In 2003, Spyker returned to Sebring to attempt to improve on their lackluster first year. This time they qualified 45th but again dropped out in 39th due to engine problems.

For LeMans, Spyker Squadron picked up the aid of Orange telecommunications as a major sponser and for the first time actually painted the entire car. They qualified 44th and did actually finish the race, but too many laps down to actually be classified.

In 2004, Spyker decided to take a year off to concentrate on production of some of their newer production models but swore to return in 2005. During 2004 Spyker released their C8 Spyder-T, a turbocharged version of the regular C8 Spyder, and the new C12 model, which features a VAG W12 unit inside the bodywork of a C8 Double-12S.

In 2005 Spyker returns with the C8 Spyder GT2-R, a replacement for their aged C8 Double-12Rs. The C8 Spyder GT2-R is based on the C8 Spyder-T, and because of that features an open cockpit with exposed rollcage.

Spyker has also rumored that they could enter into the prototype classes with a closed cockpit car of their own design in 2006.