ALMS and Frustrated

[VTen555]

I just get back from Atlanta as I was attending the Petit LeMans. It was a tough choice going to the last fall NHRA event in Chicago or going to an ALMS event in Georgia.

It's so sad to see the Viper represented in such a poor manner. I mean no disrespect to Team #71 but there is a ton of money being thrown around by other MFG's but not by DC. Is there anyone else who feels this way?

 

[VardaMan]

I have followed the racing Vipers from their start in 1994 at LeMans, 1996 at Daytona and have attended many ALMS races over the years. It is all over for DC's support. They just don't see the benefits that GM has seen. DC has taken a low cost role with the Comp Coupes & some SCCA racing.
ALMS has always favored the Corvette program. Years ago, they let them race a 7L motor when they could not keep up with their 6L motor. Since then, they have been on top for the last several years and ALMS has done very little to reduce restrictions on the Vipers. GM money & support has bought everything.
Tom has done a great job of continuing in the ALMS program without any support from DC. I don't know his future plans but you may have seen one of his last races. His GTS may soon be retired as the last Viper racing in high level competition.
Sad ending to a once great program.

 

[Paul Hawker]

I believe, now that Dodge is producing a Coupe again, we will see them back supporting the racing events.

Don't believe it made sense to campaign a race car, when all you could buy was convertables. Now that Coupes are coming off the assembly line, I would expect them to begin thinking about LeMans and other venues.

Time to kick some Corvette Butt.

 

[safireviper]

Dodge doesn't care to sponsor the Viper. Only NASCAR.

 

[safireviper]

Oh, and Drifting.......

 

[VTen555]

VardaMan I agree about GM. I was a guest of Compuware for the weekend and no shortage of money or support. Ford is also spending $$ with the support of the Aston Martin team and I believe Panoz has ford power. I know it's a far stretch but Saleen was even capitalizing on the event and had Mustangs on display. The S7 was very fast over the weekend.

 

[VTen555]

Paul I hope you are right. ALMS has expanded Television coverage next year on CBS in addition to SPEED and it would be perfect timing to get back in the mix.

Safire...I see what you mean. But why not try to capitalize on it like GM has. The Earnhart's have long been associated with the Corvette Racing team. Maybe Dodge could do the same.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

I'm keeping the faith. I agree with Paul. Hopefully we will see something next year.

 

[Gus Strakes]

I sure hope you guys (Paul & Chuck) are right, there was nothing better than rooting for the "home team" at these races. I was at Watkins Glen last weekend for the IRL races, watched the Rolex race, and altough enjoyable, it's not the same when you have nothing to root for. If all it took was a coupe to support an ALMS entry, how come there has never been a comp coupe entry? Was it not legal since there was no street version? Several years ago, when the Viper was destroying the competition, ALMS powers would slow it down with added weight and restrictors in an attempt to make GM and others competitive. Now that the Corvette is on top they won't do the same. I think Dodge may want ALMS to level the playing field before they invest heavily in a DC backed car.

 

[Bwright]

There is no Dodge Viper race car for three reasons:

1. Under ACO rules there must be production of 25 roadgoing examples of the vehicle being entered. Clearly the Competition Coupe does not and has never met this standard.

2. The maximum engine size for GT1 entries is 8 liters, making the Viper’s 8.3 liter engine instantly ineligible. As an aside, the limit for turbo/supercharged engines in the GT1 category is 4 liters which is why the Ford GT, in an incredible blow to its own historical significance, will not be campaigned at Le Mans. Ford has to now field Aston Martins when they should have been starting Ford GTs.

3. As I have said a thousand times on this site, the low sales volume of the Viper will one day be its death sentence. As recounted in Dan Carney’s book, Dodge Viper, Dodge’s engineers said the low volume program now simply lacked the cash to continue to mount a credible effort in international racing. They added that they lacked the cash to simultaneously develop both a coupe and convertible so they had to choose one over the other. So Dodge’s lack of an entry has nothing to do with them being asleep at the wheel or uncaring. Nascar is cheaper and pays more so that’s where they are.

So GM is not buying anyone off or doing anything underhanded. The Corvette program is immensely profitable and so can afford the considerable expense needed to mount a definitive global Le Mans effort.

The comments about ALMS not slowing down the Corvettes overlooks the inconvenient facts that the C6-R is restrictor plated (two 31.5 mm plates) down to 590hp from 800hp. In addition, the C6-R was handed a 55-pound weight penalty which started from round seven at Road America on Aug. 21.

 

[pdmracing]

alms sux anyways, gee what 7 gt1 cars & one is a 96 viper So what if the corvette wins, might as well be vintage racing.The petit was a BORE!
Now that Dodge has has a real coupe again, look for Grand Am to add it to the cup & rolex series, where there are 30+ cars in class, not like the 29 cars from 4 different classes that alms attempts to field( with 13+ being porsche gt3r's).
Isnt the FIA french anyways;-)

 

[Fred(DrivingSchool)Kinder]

MZB ignores Chrysler Viper History. How quickly we forget that Chrysler was about to go down(bankrupt) for a second time when the Viper put new life in the corporation. The Viper showed the World that Chrysler had the "Right Stuff" to be a viable non-K-Car automotive manufacturer.

MZB returned to Le Mans in 98 after a 43 year absence from the World's most prestigious automotive event. Remember Wolfgang? He was in charge of AMG Le Mans program. In 1998 the Viper won the GT-2 class(First and Second) and the three MZB's were all our of the race before 8 hours had passed. In 1999 the MZB Le Mans effort brought back memories of worst Le Mans accident in 1955 in which a MZB ended up in the grand stands killing 77. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/low/dates/stories/june/11/newsid_3726000/3726535.stm ) When the 1999 MZB's GT1's started flying during practice and continued to Fly race day. The picture of the MZB Flying over the track barrier's was all MZB could take and pulled in the remaining two cars off the track a loaded them and went home before the race was over. As in 1998 Viper again ruled their class. Wolfgang blamed "Le Mans for being to dangerous" rather than accepting the lack of his efforts failure of aero dynamic performance. When Wolfgang was promoted to run DC he was in a position to kill the Le Mans program. I speculate this(departure of the Le Mans program) was based on his past lack of success at Le Mans. The official Corp. line was they are putting their money into NASCAR and also said the Viper was no longer competitive(an Opinion not shared by ORECA) with the GM Corvette Le Mans program.
Before the Le Mans program was killed. Team Viper had planned to develop the new Coupe from the next Gen. race car. They planned to develop a World Class Race Car(Viper) then bring it to the Viper faithful as a street car with a Le Mans pedigree. Rather then trying to make a "Race Car" based on a street car. Well this changed and the CC was developed to address the grass roots Viper Racing enthusiast. In 1998 and 1999 the VCA went to Le Mans via VCA/Team Viper/ORECA. This was an outstanding experience for those who were able to participate.

I long for the Viper to return to Le Mans to regain their place on the Podium. How do we go back to Le Mans? I wish I knew the answer? ALMS is not as exciting without an official DC sponsored Viper Race effort. I want to see Viper's on the Podium!