Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From The Race Site:
The Preferred Line - Were BMW and Corvette a flop at Sebring?
3/22/2005 - The Preferred Line - Road racing news and commentary
SPEED World Challenge Wednesday Extra (March 22, 2005) By Jim Bourn
"I could run quite a few here (World Challenge TC) but we have to see how competitive we are. If we are not competitive why come back and ruin what we have done. I don't exactly know. I've got a busy enough year and it is up to Will and what he wants to do." - Bill Auberlen commenting on his 2005 World Challenge plans for his Turner/H&R Springs BMW325.
"I am committed to running at St. Pete and Road Atlanta but after that I don't really know what I am going to do if things don't change." - Corvette racer Leighton Reese speaking out about the competitiveness of his Banner Engineering Corvette.
Wonder in Aliceland or is everything peachy in World Challenge?
WRITER'S NOTE: I am usually slow to post negative articles about the series I love most and in fact I feel that this article isn't intended as negative at all. At least I hope that the World Challenge community doesn't see it as a negative attack but as opinion to make the World Challenge Series better and more balanced.
That said these are issues that I feel need to be said and addressed. So first I want to present my opinion and then hopefully I can present what the principals involved in the series feel about this situation.
It doesn't take much of a memory to remember when the WCTC fields were half full of BMWs and they were also the car to beat. The same applied to WCGT as Corvettes were plentiful and very competitive.
That has and continues to change as BMWs, particularly highly competitive ones and Corvettes are vanishing from the World Challenge landscape.
This is a situation that is really hard to grasp as there are few to no cars that can boast of the wealth of performance parts and technical support available to the drivers and teams who field BMWs and Corvettes.
What is the issue here? Has factory involvement and technological involvement rendered the two most popular World Challenge cars uncompetitive? Has SCCA Pro Racing?
Of course it depends highly upon who one talks to but right now, at least in my opinion, the BMWs and Corvettes seem to be getting shuffled to the back of the deck.
Bill and Will who?
I know what you're thinking, Bill Auberlen started 3rd, led two laps and finished second. In actuality had there been qualifying Auberlen might even have had a shot at the pole position! As Ken Dobson told me before the race, "Don't count Bill out just yet!"
Well folks Auberlen's starting and finishing positions at Sebring are deceptive in terms of actual car performance.
The real performance issue with the BMW right now is not being able to cut one or two fast laps, the real issue is where the cars wind up at the end. And to those of you paying attention since the mid point of 2004 all of the BMWs wind up back sliding through the field trying to gamely hang on!
Auberlen was the only BMW even remotely in strong contention for a podium. True Nic Jonsson had trouble throughout the weekend and both he and James Clay in his BimmerWorld entry moved up to finish in the top ten but attrition played a huge role in where the BMWs finished at Sebring.
I submit that had not the fuel pump crap out on Pobst's Tri-Point Mazda, and Kleinubing's engine mapping take a nap on his TSX and Eric Curran's shifter become non functional midway through the race and Crescentini's and Espenlaub's Mazdas succumb to mechanical failures then where do the BMWs finish a race that goes green for the duration?
Auberlen probably finishes 5th or 6th as Clay and Jonsson barely finish in the top ten!
I have a tremendous respect for the talent in Touring but saying that I think I have gone on record as saying that Bill is easily one of the best tin top sedan racers in North America. In fact let me go further by saying that if I was going to field a BMW Bill Auberlen would be my first choice!
And the best he can do in a Turner BMW is finish on the podium after significant attrition? And of course Jonsson and Clay were so far back they couldn't smell the brake dust of the leaders.
Sounds like the BMW 325 is THE car to have in WCTC right now doesn't it! But hey what does Turner know about tuning a WCTC Bimmer or Auberlen know about driving one anyway!
In fairness when the BMW 325 more or less dominated we were talking about Acura Integras and Mazda Protégés and the Acura TSX/RSX and the Mazda 6 are much more potent starting points as the engines are larger and offer more torque and broader power bands while the BMW is basically the same package.
Saying that though weren't adjustments made to make the BMW and the field to bring them into closer alignment? Doesn't it seem justified now to do the same process of adjustment only in an opposite direction?
Corvettes A-Go-Go
Now in GT we have the Corvette. Long a staple of competition in World Challenge GT competition in my opinion there seems to be a severe disconnect between where this car is in terms of competitiveness over the past 2 seasons.
In March of 2003 Phil McClure and his Aggregate Industries 3R Racing Corvette dominated the GT field and won from the pole in race one. Phil won again in race 2 as he was pretty much given the race as many of the faster competitors (no offense Phil but you told me yourself that you were lucky to win at Mosport) did themselves and others in.
A Corvette hasn't won since. Now SCCA will tell you that they have come close but Leighton Reese wasn't going to beat Fellows in race 2 at Mosport (unless a moose ran in front of Ronnie's Cadillac, eh!) and Wolf Henzler was toying with Phil at Infineon.
At Sebring Leighton Reese was the best in the Corvette class finishing a distant 8th with Tom Oates and Sonny Whelen finishing 10th and 11th as Lou Gigliotti blew his car up trying to keep with the lead group.
Is this the best Corvette can do or do the Corvette guys suck this bad?
It was pointed out to me that Reese was lucky to get out on the grid at all after admittedly having a horrifying week of major problems and ran 8th after only one session on the track and Lou Gigliotti was as high as 5th during the race.
Let me point out that one session is more than enough as Sebring is hardly a mystery to Reese's crew chief Joe Kantarik. Remember that Reese always runs well at this track as he was leading the last lap of the Trans-Am race here back in 2000. And Lou has won how many World Challenge races?
Leighton admits that the extra weight killed him at Sebring and that probably a factory effort like Cadillac would have been able to adjust for that saying that it 'put our car over the edge' as he burned the tires off the car just finishing 8th.
With drivers like McClure, Gigliotti and Reese Corvette has amassed one pole (Henzler screwed up and only tied McClure) and zero wins and a handful of podiums in the past 19 races since May of 2003 and haven't come close to a Manufacturer's Championship (Chevrolet finished 4th or last in 2004).
Yet every adjustment made to the Corvette since that point has been made to reduce performance!
Is GM disinterested in the Corvette? Not based on their efforts to get C-6 Z06 bodywork ready for the teams, which is another story in itself, and the people who stop in to visit the Corvette guys.
Are the Corvette guys a bunch of whiners? Maybe, as there is always a bunch of politicin' going on in the World Challenge Series and maybe, if Team Cadillac was Team Corvette I would be singing a different tune. But if things remain as they are don't expect to see a Chevrolet Corvette in the winner's circle anytime soon. No matter who brings one to the track.
Final word
If something isn't done to entice and support the strong independent racers in World Challenge, in both GT and Touring, they aren't going to stay. They cannot afford to stay.
The prize monies have to be greater and go deeper and/or the stronger independent racers have to have at least a shot at running at or near the front. Otherwise they will be gone and the series will degrade to having 4 or 5 factory cars and the rest of the field racing for the fun of competition and hoping to finish in the top ten with a remote chance of finishing in the top 5.
There was already noticeable stratification in the Touring Car field at Sebring and it is beginning to show in GT. If that continues it will be dullsville man! Thanks for listening, or should I say reading and good luck to the SCCA officials who have to figure this mess out.
The Preferred Line - Were BMW and Corvette a flop at Sebring?
3/22/2005 - The Preferred Line - Road racing news and commentary
SPEED World Challenge Wednesday Extra (March 22, 2005) By Jim Bourn
"I could run quite a few here (World Challenge TC) but we have to see how competitive we are. If we are not competitive why come back and ruin what we have done. I don't exactly know. I've got a busy enough year and it is up to Will and what he wants to do." - Bill Auberlen commenting on his 2005 World Challenge plans for his Turner/H&R Springs BMW325.
"I am committed to running at St. Pete and Road Atlanta but after that I don't really know what I am going to do if things don't change." - Corvette racer Leighton Reese speaking out about the competitiveness of his Banner Engineering Corvette.
Wonder in Aliceland or is everything peachy in World Challenge?
WRITER'S NOTE: I am usually slow to post negative articles about the series I love most and in fact I feel that this article isn't intended as negative at all. At least I hope that the World Challenge community doesn't see it as a negative attack but as opinion to make the World Challenge Series better and more balanced.
That said these are issues that I feel need to be said and addressed. So first I want to present my opinion and then hopefully I can present what the principals involved in the series feel about this situation.
It doesn't take much of a memory to remember when the WCTC fields were half full of BMWs and they were also the car to beat. The same applied to WCGT as Corvettes were plentiful and very competitive.
That has and continues to change as BMWs, particularly highly competitive ones and Corvettes are vanishing from the World Challenge landscape.
This is a situation that is really hard to grasp as there are few to no cars that can boast of the wealth of performance parts and technical support available to the drivers and teams who field BMWs and Corvettes.
What is the issue here? Has factory involvement and technological involvement rendered the two most popular World Challenge cars uncompetitive? Has SCCA Pro Racing?
Of course it depends highly upon who one talks to but right now, at least in my opinion, the BMWs and Corvettes seem to be getting shuffled to the back of the deck.
Bill and Will who?
I know what you're thinking, Bill Auberlen started 3rd, led two laps and finished second. In actuality had there been qualifying Auberlen might even have had a shot at the pole position! As Ken Dobson told me before the race, "Don't count Bill out just yet!"
Well folks Auberlen's starting and finishing positions at Sebring are deceptive in terms of actual car performance.
The real performance issue with the BMW right now is not being able to cut one or two fast laps, the real issue is where the cars wind up at the end. And to those of you paying attention since the mid point of 2004 all of the BMWs wind up back sliding through the field trying to gamely hang on!
Auberlen was the only BMW even remotely in strong contention for a podium. True Nic Jonsson had trouble throughout the weekend and both he and James Clay in his BimmerWorld entry moved up to finish in the top ten but attrition played a huge role in where the BMWs finished at Sebring.
I submit that had not the fuel pump crap out on Pobst's Tri-Point Mazda, and Kleinubing's engine mapping take a nap on his TSX and Eric Curran's shifter become non functional midway through the race and Crescentini's and Espenlaub's Mazdas succumb to mechanical failures then where do the BMWs finish a race that goes green for the duration?
Auberlen probably finishes 5th or 6th as Clay and Jonsson barely finish in the top ten!
I have a tremendous respect for the talent in Touring but saying that I think I have gone on record as saying that Bill is easily one of the best tin top sedan racers in North America. In fact let me go further by saying that if I was going to field a BMW Bill Auberlen would be my first choice!
And the best he can do in a Turner BMW is finish on the podium after significant attrition? And of course Jonsson and Clay were so far back they couldn't smell the brake dust of the leaders.
Sounds like the BMW 325 is THE car to have in WCTC right now doesn't it! But hey what does Turner know about tuning a WCTC Bimmer or Auberlen know about driving one anyway!
In fairness when the BMW 325 more or less dominated we were talking about Acura Integras and Mazda Protégés and the Acura TSX/RSX and the Mazda 6 are much more potent starting points as the engines are larger and offer more torque and broader power bands while the BMW is basically the same package.
Saying that though weren't adjustments made to make the BMW and the field to bring them into closer alignment? Doesn't it seem justified now to do the same process of adjustment only in an opposite direction?
Corvettes A-Go-Go
Now in GT we have the Corvette. Long a staple of competition in World Challenge GT competition in my opinion there seems to be a severe disconnect between where this car is in terms of competitiveness over the past 2 seasons.
In March of 2003 Phil McClure and his Aggregate Industries 3R Racing Corvette dominated the GT field and won from the pole in race one. Phil won again in race 2 as he was pretty much given the race as many of the faster competitors (no offense Phil but you told me yourself that you were lucky to win at Mosport) did themselves and others in.
A Corvette hasn't won since. Now SCCA will tell you that they have come close but Leighton Reese wasn't going to beat Fellows in race 2 at Mosport (unless a moose ran in front of Ronnie's Cadillac, eh!) and Wolf Henzler was toying with Phil at Infineon.
At Sebring Leighton Reese was the best in the Corvette class finishing a distant 8th with Tom Oates and Sonny Whelen finishing 10th and 11th as Lou Gigliotti blew his car up trying to keep with the lead group.
Is this the best Corvette can do or do the Corvette guys suck this bad?
It was pointed out to me that Reese was lucky to get out on the grid at all after admittedly having a horrifying week of major problems and ran 8th after only one session on the track and Lou Gigliotti was as high as 5th during the race.
Let me point out that one session is more than enough as Sebring is hardly a mystery to Reese's crew chief Joe Kantarik. Remember that Reese always runs well at this track as he was leading the last lap of the Trans-Am race here back in 2000. And Lou has won how many World Challenge races?
Leighton admits that the extra weight killed him at Sebring and that probably a factory effort like Cadillac would have been able to adjust for that saying that it 'put our car over the edge' as he burned the tires off the car just finishing 8th.
With drivers like McClure, Gigliotti and Reese Corvette has amassed one pole (Henzler screwed up and only tied McClure) and zero wins and a handful of podiums in the past 19 races since May of 2003 and haven't come close to a Manufacturer's Championship (Chevrolet finished 4th or last in 2004).
Yet every adjustment made to the Corvette since that point has been made to reduce performance!
Is GM disinterested in the Corvette? Not based on their efforts to get C-6 Z06 bodywork ready for the teams, which is another story in itself, and the people who stop in to visit the Corvette guys.
Are the Corvette guys a bunch of whiners? Maybe, as there is always a bunch of politicin' going on in the World Challenge Series and maybe, if Team Cadillac was Team Corvette I would be singing a different tune. But if things remain as they are don't expect to see a Chevrolet Corvette in the winner's circle anytime soon. No matter who brings one to the track.
Final word
If something isn't done to entice and support the strong independent racers in World Challenge, in both GT and Touring, they aren't going to stay. They cannot afford to stay.
The prize monies have to be greater and go deeper and/or the stronger independent racers have to have at least a shot at running at or near the front. Otherwise they will be gone and the series will degrade to having 4 or 5 factory cars and the rest of the field racing for the fun of competition and hoping to finish in the top ten with a remote chance of finishing in the top 5.
There was already noticeable stratification in the Touring Car field at Sebring and it is beginning to show in GT. If that continues it will be dullsville man! Thanks for listening, or should I say reading and good luck to the SCCA officials who have to figure this mess out.
