ALMS:the best racing on tv

[jcp123]

Didn't think about rallying...I watched the Granada-Dakar rallye some years ago and it was a blast. Had motorbike, car, and truck categories. Really a good watch.

[NSXType-R]

Didn't think about rallying...I watched the Granada-Dakar rallye some years ago and it was a blast. Had motorbike, car, and truck categories. Really a good watch.

Well I don't know which form of rallying it is but I think group C cars need to be road legal.

[pimento]

Top spec Dakar rally machines are purpose-built with producuction derived engines (maybe?) but the lower spec are very much production based everything.

[Cobrafan427]

Looks-wise I think Grand Am GT and ALMS GT are the most similar to their road-going counterparts and there's no arguing the most similar mechanically. Racing-wise, I like how they're all distinct (except NASCAR, i think it's rigged half the time). I like ALMS/LMS bc of the endurance and traffic late in the race, Grand Am bc the GT field usually has a wide array of machines and BTCC/WTCC bc of the beating and banging of NASCAR but with proper road racing and the skills needed to get around varying corners quickly

[Ferrer]

Well I don't know which form of rallying it is but I think group C cars need to be road legal.

Group C?

All rally cars have to be road legal and registered since they drive on the open road between stages.

[faksta]

I could never understand why would people prefer to see production based cars racing. Racing is racing, it has nothing to do with driving out for a piece of bread or being stuck in a traffic jam, so the cars have different purpose and different architecture initially. Clearly any manufacturer wants to advertise its product and racetrack is a good way to attract some new customers, but hey, racing is for enthusiasts, not for accountants (or am I late already?). We all have heard that motorsport is for developing cars and new technologies, but we all also know that it's wrong and is just a justification for those who would like to beat others on track and to get some money for their hobby. The beauty of racing is in its difference.

[LTSmash]

I could never understand why would people prefer to see production based cars racing. Racing is racing, it has nothing to do with driving out for a piece of bread or being stuck in a traffic jam, so the cars have different purpose and different architecture initially. Clearly any manufacturer wants to advertise its product and racetrack is a good way to attract some new customers, but hey, racing is for enthusiasts, not for accountants (or am I late already?). We all have heard that motorsport is for developing cars and new technologies, but we all also know that it's wrong and is just a justification for those who would like to beat others on track and to get some money for their hobby. The beauty of racing is in its difference.

Well said.

ALMS seems to have been lacking in recent years; for me at least. Although it's been a while since I was last at a race in person. I have to say I miss the old GT1/GT2 regulations.

Probably has more to do with the state of the economy. Gotta' cheapen up racing so teams will race.

[Ferrer]

I prefer production based racing, but do not dislike prototypes.

Open-wheeled racing is my least favourite form of motorsport though. Cars are too fragile and usually quite ugly...

[NSXType-R]

Group C?

All rally cars have to be road legal and registered since they drive on the open road between stages.

I knew they had to have headlight and turn signals but I assumed that the powerful Group B cars aren't strictly road legal.

I could never understand why would people prefer to see production based cars racing. Racing is racing, it has nothing to do with driving out for a piece of bread or being stuck in a traffic jam, so the cars have different purpose and different architecture initially. Clearly any manufacturer wants to advertise its product and racetrack is a good way to attract some new customers, but hey, racing is for enthusiasts, not for accountants (or am I late already?). We all have heard that motorsport is for developing cars and new technologies, but we all also know that it's wrong and is just a justification for those who would like to beat others on track and to get some money for their hobby. The beauty of racing is in its difference.

From my perspective it's exciting to see a car on a track that you could buy off a showroom floor.

There's a place for off the wall racing and I feel like there's a place for production car racing too.

BTCC is cool, but I also like watching ALMS.

[Matra et Alpine]

Group B cars were road legal in all senses !!
In the UK the RS200s and 6R4s were being sold as street cars with carpets being added for "comfort"

[Kitdy]

Well said.

ALMS seems to have been lacking in recent years; for me at least. Although it's been a while since I was last at a race in person. I have to say I miss the old GT1/GT2 regulations.

Probably has more to do with the state of the economy. Gotta' cheapen up racing so teams will race.

The ALMS is kinda sad in person. I never cared for spec classes in a multiclass series, and seeing 3 protos as the headlining event when you have mad manufacturer representation in GT makes no sense.

I have said scrap the protos in NA for a few years, but apparently the allure of 3 LMPs and 7 LMPCs is too strong(?) for the organizers and fans to admit that it is half baked and to focus on the one good class in the series: GT.

[LTSmash]

The ALMS is kinda sad in person. I never cared for spec classes in a multiclass series, and seeing 3 protos as the headlining event when you have mad manufacturer representation in GT makes no sense.

I have said scrap the protos in NA for a few years, but apparently the allure of 3 LMPs and 7 LMPCs is too strong(?) for the organizers and fans to admit that it is half baked and to focus on the one good class in the series: GT.

The very last ALMS race I went to Audi had dropped out the year before. I believe this was in 2009 or 2010 IIRC. The prototype field was pretty sad and the GT field wasn't anything worth shaking a stick at (GT1 had just been cut off). Wasn't anything spectacular, but my lady friend who accompanied me at the time made up for the mundane racing action.

[Ferrer]

Group B cars were road legal in all senses !!
In the UK the RS200s and 6R4s were being sold as street cars with carpets being added for "comfort"

On the other hand someone decided that slapping some lights in the grille of a Citroën BX would make the greatest rally car ever...

[faksta]

From my perspective it's exciting to see a car on a track that you could buy off a showroom floor.

There's a place for off the wall racing and I feel like there's a place for production car racing too.

BTCC is cool, but I also like watching ALMS.

Surely there is a place and it provides some great action often. I'm not that extreme to deny that production based racing should exist. It just amazes me that some people think like 'Why should I watch this series when I can't buy one of these cars?'. There are some opinions that remind me of an early Soviet approach to racing - that it is for rich playboys who do nothing in life and waste lots of money into nothing while motorsports could be used to improve mileage of engines or make them more environment friendly or else.

Kitdy, as for what you wrote about ALMS, if they had only GT class, I'd have less interest in the series. I like GT racing very much, but any Le Mans series is for prototypes first and foremost for me.

[Kitdy]

Kitdy, as for what you wrote about ALMS, if they had only GT class, I'd have less interest in the series. I like GT racing very much, but any Le Mans series is for prototypes first and foremost for me.

I want protos, but not if the market can't sustain it. There's the WEC for the big boys anyways.