From Turner's FB page:

This is a FIRST LOOK at the future TMS M3 GT, being built to race the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona and in the 2011 Gran Am Rolex Sports Car Series GT class championship. Body work is 100% carbon fiber.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1291972324.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1291972402.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1291972513.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1291972605.jpg

I disagree. I want to see Risi, Corvette Racing, Flying Lizards, Rahal Letterman & perhaps Cytosport (if they switch from P2 to GT) all fighting tooth and nail.

I am really impressed with those teams and would like to see them all to be extremely competitive.

Wow...Just wow! Very impressive.

What are you disagreeing with? I am saying ALMS competition is way better than anything out there. Even Formula 1. I just want Porsche to win, even though I also am a BMW fan.

I was just disagreeing about the part about wanting the Ferraris to burst into flames...

Work is slow in January so this year I might try to make the Daytona 24. Might be a fun time.

Impressive, yes. But how does it make sense running these in a GT class? the only part that I can see from the production car is the tail light. Make a separate class for the tube frame cars I say.

+1000000000000

Does grand am still restrict Porsches to be basically stock GT3 cup cars instead of allowing them to use factory GT3RS cars while they allow other brands to have fully modified cars with non-stock engine placement etc?

I seem to remember the corvettes, GTO's, BMW's, mazdas, and cadillacs were allowed to have larger engines that were placed further back in the chassis so they were basically mid engined, and have full tubed frames with totally aftermarket suspension and brakes, while all you could do to a Porsche cup car was basically tune the stock suspension.
Oh wait, the guys running Porsches were allowed to make one other mod, install smaller restrictors every time they earned a podium.

IMO Grand am is all about advertising dollars. Anyone who ponies up the money is given an unfair advantage as the rules are adjusted to make sure they have a good showing.

Grand Am is NASCAR based. It is all about the drivers and drama. Hence the stars in not so reasonably priced cars. (Dempsey in the Mazda) And hence the TV ads profile drivers.

In the ALMS, the cars are the stars.

Perfectly stated!!

Turner Motorsports treats their race cars like show cars. See that blue caged tub in the background; every square inch of that is wet sanded and polished. Every racecar gets the same treatment. I spent today sanding and prepping the CF for that car as we'll get the other car's parts next week. It's amazing just how light the parts are. I can hold both rear fenders in one hand... doors too if they weren't so bulky.

If I'm not mistaken the engines aren't even the same. Yeah they're rotary but the race cars are either 2 or 3 rotors. Which ever it is it's one more than the street R8.

I can't see the Bimmers looking to much more different than the ALMS Bimmers, which are absolutely gorgeous cars.

And yeah just a side show for the Francis' to have an arm in road racing. :rolleyes:

In NASCAR the fans know all the drivers, in other series the drivers know all the fans.

I watched Nascar nationwide and GA DP back to back at the Glen in person. Way more fun watching nationwide. Far more competitive.

at the same time, I'd rather watch PEOPLE race as opposed to wqho cab spend their way to the podium.

I think next year I also might try to go to Road America for the Nationwide race. Nascar on that 4 mile course should be really exciting. When they had some old Nascar's years ago for the vintage races, they were fast and fun to watch. Imagine having 30 or so on the same piece of track at the same time.

I watched that on tv....it was awesome! Probably better than sonoma the next day.

I recall watching that too. It was CLOSE racing - almost bumper cars out there. The cars were pretty fast, but looked really out of their element.

It is true. I have been going to races long enough that Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister started remembering me. :)

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_911_fahrer/4533304900/" title="Long Beach Sports Car Racing 2010_Part 2 124 by Max_911_fahrer, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4072/4533304900_947356b181.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Long Beach Sports Car Racing 2010_Part 2 124" /></a>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/max_911_fahrer/4532671977/" title="Long Beach Sports Car Racing 2010_Part 2 136 by Max_911_fahrer, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4532671977_58c8b4b8b6.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Long Beach Sports Car Racing 2010_Part 2 136" /></a>

One of the best things about the ALMS is that you can walk around the paddock and talk to the drivers and look around the cars. For free!!!! :)
They call their motto "for the fans". I have met some of the Flying Lizard team members like mechanic-types. They are cool guys and gals. :)

I read a Racecar Engineering article about the Mazda-engined whatever (can't remember who makes the tube frames). The only way they can really add displacement is to add more rotors. They cannot bore and stroke the rotary, the equivalent parameters are set in the foundry by the Mazda engineers. Hence, the cheaper and easier solution is to double up on the rotors, using the engine that their LeMans group C car used.