- 26,911
- Houston, Texas, USA
- JMarine25
The first of the new year's threads will be this one. This is all about the 24 Hours of Daytona that kick off the 2008 rendition of the Rolex Sports Car Series. Five years have passed since the introduction of the Daytona Prototype. This will be the sixth Rolex 24 involving the Daytona Prototypes. This is also my second time hosting a discussion of the Rolex 24. All info, comments, and thereof for this race must be done in this thread. Allow me to provide an intro by using as much as I know about this race.
Introduction to the 24 Hours of Daytona
The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona is America's bigtime 24-hour endurance. It isn't Sebring, it isn't Petit Le Mans, it isn't even Petit Le Mans. This event is a 24-hour endurance race. Some sportscar racing traditionalists would say that this event just doesn't have the same luster and appeal when marques like Jaguar and such were ruling the high banks and the tough infield road course. The Rolex 24 has been around since about 1953. The race has seen everything from sportscar racers using only an oval layout (back in the 1950s and was the ONLY time the full oval was used for the race) to an energy crisis that saw the race be much shorter. What does winning the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona mean today? It means that you conquered one of America's great race tracks as well as surviving a day-to-night-to-day challenge. Sure, it's Daytona. Sure, they race on an oval with an infield road course even while the main story there that time of year is NASCAR. But where else are you going to see bigtime sportscar racing doing a 24-hour endurance in the United States? The ALMS has ties with the Automobile Club L'Ouest. And under the ACO, the longest race outside of the Le Mans 24 is 12 hours. Because this race is run in late January or early February, it means that you race more at night than in the daytime. This is unlike Le Mans run somewhere close to the Summer Equinox. Winning this race doesn't give you to a Le Mans invite. You do, however, race for pride and a chance to get the early advantage in the Rolex Sportscar Series championship.
Most traditional sportscar racing types will say, "well, this race isn't Le Mans. So I can't care less." Guess what? Most Grand-Am types don't care. Most Grand-Am types will say that this is an endurance race where you don't have to worry about any silver and red Audis ruling the race from start to finish. You don't get the amazing prototypes that race in the other major sportscar racing series, but you do get the durable and capable Daytona Prototypes. This year marks the sixth full season in which DP's will race in the Rolex Sportscar Series. The inclusion of newer prototype entries from newer groups will mean much more competition to win the race. The chances of a GT Porsche upsetting the Daytona Prototypes like in 2003 won't happen. You will get to see a garden variety of Daytona Prototypes vie for supremacy.
And what about the aforementioned GT class? It almost seems like most people follow the DP's more than the GT machines. Pontiac brought a very surprising automobile to the GT class and did pretty well. They don't look very interesting, but when you consider they have 400+ horsepower and rear-wheel drive, it's truly a surprising race car that has completed a Pontiac sweep in both classes of Rolex Sportscar competition. Whether or not they can be stopped in GT will depend on if the rest of the Rolex GT pack have anything to say about Pontiac's rule. You can learn more about the Pontiac GXP.R by following this link courtesy of speedarena.com: < http://www.speedarena.com/news/publish/sportscar/article_7263.shtml >. Again, the car looks very plain, but can win some races against the likes of Porsche and BMW.
"Why Should I Care About This Race?"
The reason why you should care is because this is America's only bigtime 24-hour race. The DP's may look horrid to you. The series may seem more like NASCAR's answer to traditional sportscar racing. What this style of racing is, however, is to see one of the classic endurance racing tracks being used again for a competitive race. For those who don't like NASCAR hype during NASCAR's Preseason Thunder, this is a distraction you all will get to enjoy. I've grown fond of Suntrust Racing in Daytona Prototypes. They seem to be a team that knows how to get it done on the track. This even includes some of my other favorite drivers racing for them like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. This, even if in one-off runs.
Prepare to offer your views about this rendition of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona if you please. Here are some new things I want to try to bring to discussions in the 2008 race discussions:
* Let's Build a Car - I may ask you all to help set up a car for a certain track. So I'd be interested in stuff like aerodynamics, transmission, overall strategy, and more in race discussions.
* He Said, She Said - I'll make some views by hypothetical people, and I'd like to ask for how you'd respond to people who say such things. For example: "How would you respond if a hypothetical person said that this year's Rolex 24 Hours was a NASCAR crash-fest with little or no racing?" Then, I'd ask for your comments.
About My Discussions (For the Uninitiated)
I host discussions on GTPlanet.net to help provide my own personal discussion and thoughts of upcoming events. I try to be creative, powerful, and at times... insightful in my comments and reports. I love racing about as much as you do. So what I do is talk about racing events to the best of my ability. I feel the success of ANY discussion or thread is in getting people involved. If there is no involvement, I can't acheive my goal of providing discussing of events. I'm a regular in college sports discussions. And while I love most sports, my first love before any traditional sport is motorsports. I'll make my own reports, observations, and even SOUND OFF if I have to. My Sound Off sessions will be made if there is some critical commentary I want to make about a race event or something discussed in the media. These are usually long comments from me. I'm not asking you to agree with me. I'm not asking you to disagree with me. I'm just sharing my mind the way I see fit. I'll reintroduce FACT OR FICTION, inspired by ESPN material. I'll make a statement about an upcoming event. If the statement in question is likely to happen or will happen, then it's FACT. If the statement is very unlikely to happen and too good to be true, then it's FICTION.
This thread was released in 2007, but it's the first thread of mine concerning a 2008 race. Always remember that all of my race discussion threads go under the mantra of "before, during, and after." Offer your previews (BEFORE), talk about the race as it happens (DURING), and reflect on the race once it's complete (AFTER). I even appreciate any questions you may want to ask me about a race. You can ask me if I think Suntrust Racing will win Daytona, if Pontiac can keep up the good work in Rolex GT, or anything relevant to the race. So share your ideas, have fun, and let's do the 2008 Rolex 24!
Introduction to the 24 Hours of Daytona
The Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona is America's bigtime 24-hour endurance. It isn't Sebring, it isn't Petit Le Mans, it isn't even Petit Le Mans. This event is a 24-hour endurance race. Some sportscar racing traditionalists would say that this event just doesn't have the same luster and appeal when marques like Jaguar and such were ruling the high banks and the tough infield road course. The Rolex 24 has been around since about 1953. The race has seen everything from sportscar racers using only an oval layout (back in the 1950s and was the ONLY time the full oval was used for the race) to an energy crisis that saw the race be much shorter. What does winning the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona mean today? It means that you conquered one of America's great race tracks as well as surviving a day-to-night-to-day challenge. Sure, it's Daytona. Sure, they race on an oval with an infield road course even while the main story there that time of year is NASCAR. But where else are you going to see bigtime sportscar racing doing a 24-hour endurance in the United States? The ALMS has ties with the Automobile Club L'Ouest. And under the ACO, the longest race outside of the Le Mans 24 is 12 hours. Because this race is run in late January or early February, it means that you race more at night than in the daytime. This is unlike Le Mans run somewhere close to the Summer Equinox. Winning this race doesn't give you to a Le Mans invite. You do, however, race for pride and a chance to get the early advantage in the Rolex Sportscar Series championship.
Most traditional sportscar racing types will say, "well, this race isn't Le Mans. So I can't care less." Guess what? Most Grand-Am types don't care. Most Grand-Am types will say that this is an endurance race where you don't have to worry about any silver and red Audis ruling the race from start to finish. You don't get the amazing prototypes that race in the other major sportscar racing series, but you do get the durable and capable Daytona Prototypes. This year marks the sixth full season in which DP's will race in the Rolex Sportscar Series. The inclusion of newer prototype entries from newer groups will mean much more competition to win the race. The chances of a GT Porsche upsetting the Daytona Prototypes like in 2003 won't happen. You will get to see a garden variety of Daytona Prototypes vie for supremacy.
And what about the aforementioned GT class? It almost seems like most people follow the DP's more than the GT machines. Pontiac brought a very surprising automobile to the GT class and did pretty well. They don't look very interesting, but when you consider they have 400+ horsepower and rear-wheel drive, it's truly a surprising race car that has completed a Pontiac sweep in both classes of Rolex Sportscar competition. Whether or not they can be stopped in GT will depend on if the rest of the Rolex GT pack have anything to say about Pontiac's rule. You can learn more about the Pontiac GXP.R by following this link courtesy of speedarena.com: < http://www.speedarena.com/news/publish/sportscar/article_7263.shtml >. Again, the car looks very plain, but can win some races against the likes of Porsche and BMW.
"Why Should I Care About This Race?"
The reason why you should care is because this is America's only bigtime 24-hour race. The DP's may look horrid to you. The series may seem more like NASCAR's answer to traditional sportscar racing. What this style of racing is, however, is to see one of the classic endurance racing tracks being used again for a competitive race. For those who don't like NASCAR hype during NASCAR's Preseason Thunder, this is a distraction you all will get to enjoy. I've grown fond of Suntrust Racing in Daytona Prototypes. They seem to be a team that knows how to get it done on the track. This even includes some of my other favorite drivers racing for them like Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. This, even if in one-off runs.
Prepare to offer your views about this rendition of the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona if you please. Here are some new things I want to try to bring to discussions in the 2008 race discussions:
* Let's Build a Car - I may ask you all to help set up a car for a certain track. So I'd be interested in stuff like aerodynamics, transmission, overall strategy, and more in race discussions.
* He Said, She Said - I'll make some views by hypothetical people, and I'd like to ask for how you'd respond to people who say such things. For example: "How would you respond if a hypothetical person said that this year's Rolex 24 Hours was a NASCAR crash-fest with little or no racing?" Then, I'd ask for your comments.
About My Discussions (For the Uninitiated)
I host discussions on GTPlanet.net to help provide my own personal discussion and thoughts of upcoming events. I try to be creative, powerful, and at times... insightful in my comments and reports. I love racing about as much as you do. So what I do is talk about racing events to the best of my ability. I feel the success of ANY discussion or thread is in getting people involved. If there is no involvement, I can't acheive my goal of providing discussing of events. I'm a regular in college sports discussions. And while I love most sports, my first love before any traditional sport is motorsports. I'll make my own reports, observations, and even SOUND OFF if I have to. My Sound Off sessions will be made if there is some critical commentary I want to make about a race event or something discussed in the media. These are usually long comments from me. I'm not asking you to agree with me. I'm not asking you to disagree with me. I'm just sharing my mind the way I see fit. I'll reintroduce FACT OR FICTION, inspired by ESPN material. I'll make a statement about an upcoming event. If the statement in question is likely to happen or will happen, then it's FACT. If the statement is very unlikely to happen and too good to be true, then it's FICTION.
This thread was released in 2007, but it's the first thread of mine concerning a 2008 race. Always remember that all of my race discussion threads go under the mantra of "before, during, and after." Offer your previews (BEFORE), talk about the race as it happens (DURING), and reflect on the race once it's complete (AFTER). I even appreciate any questions you may want to ask me about a race. You can ask me if I think Suntrust Racing will win Daytona, if Pontiac can keep up the good work in Rolex GT, or anything relevant to the race. So share your ideas, have fun, and let's do the 2008 Rolex 24!
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