The VIPER is was a major competitor but is now just an “also ran”. ASTON MARTIN has always been a strong competitor but has fallen back as of late. I’m surprised JAGUAR has not made some kind of showing. FORD never got to really field the GT. I’ve seen a couple but they were not running to win. Just another “also ran”. I would welcome some competition to get GM the push the CORVETTE up to the next level. PORSCHE used to run the 911 in GT1 but dropped back to the “modified stock” GT2 class. SALEEN ran the S7 in the GT1 but no more. Maybe the S5S will come in soon.

PANOZ used to run in P1 and was extremely hard to beat. They also used to run GT1 against mainly PORSCHE. When PORSCHE quit GT1 for GT2 PANOZ just kinda faded away from the ALMS and Lemans in general. I would like to see more automakers make a real showing in these races, like MAZDA and NISSAN (No. The GT-R would be DQ’d just for being AWD but they still have the 350Z – soon 370Z).

I would Expect TOYOTA and HONDA to run GT1. If a Supra debuted, then GT2 as well. I see nothing to be expected of HONDA aside from a GT1 and P1, by way of ACURA.

TOYOTA has a strong Formula program, though like most Japanese auto racing it is mostly in Japan. HONDA makes a bigger deal about their racing.

As for IRL/CART it is roundly equivalent to Formula racing in most regards but errs on endurance more than the agility of a typical F1. They are still very close despite racing criteria. I hate NASCAR. Too uniform and too boring. Use the in-field course more than once or twice a year, Dang it!

I don’t think the Rotary Engine is entirely banned from the Lemans racing series. The RX-8 ran this year’s Daytona 24 hours. I also believe the RX-8s all finished very favorably. I’m not down turning what you’ve said, I agree with you.

I’m not sure why various technologies are being banned let and right then overturned in a few years. This is NOT NASCAR.

At any rate the Rotary belongs in racing. Heck most auto makers were seriously considering using Rotary engines in the 1960s and 1970s. They know this stuff works.

Funny how they require so much maintenance and crap on RX-8s but, that 4 rotor Mazda sure works in races.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_787B

Sorry, nowei, Toyota doesn’t NOT compete in F1. Honda does. Toyota competes in IRL and NASCAR, and maybe a few other insignificant motorsports.
928dreamer is right, after last year’s race in Indianapolis I don’t think there’s going to be another U.S. race for a long time which really sucks. Now I have to go to Canada to watch my first F1 race. GAY

We’ll see how the c6 fares in the next few years. I have yet to see a vette with over 100k miles or even 200k miles for that that ran perfect like many other import sport cars. The production c6 is still a great car for the buck though, and the new redesign that is rumored to come soon will hopefully put the overall design in a new sophisticated level. I actually might consider owning one if they step up the design level; interior still needs work.

Oh to F3INT))AP3X’s comment, I’m not going to argue with you on Toyota having reliable engines. However you know this because I’ve seen from your comments you know what your talking about especially when it comes to racing and you know that a professional race prepped engine is very different from a production engine. So Toyota should have a good engine in their racing program, just like they do with their F1 cars, but the real test, is not only countless hours of endurance testing but it’s also the test of other competition. That will be the real test for Toyota on the race track.

Comment by pmpvtkc, posted on April21 at 4:53 pm”

Not so fast, skippy. 1) There are more American cars in junkyards because more American cars were made and sold in the U.S. than Japanese cars. 2) Junkyards are recyclers with limited space. Cars are kept in the yard as long as their parts are worth more than their scrap metal value. American cars often have used car parts worth more than Japanese car parts. Don’t believe me? Ask a junkyard owner.

The GT2 class cars are also significantly modified from stock. The different classes GT1/GT2, etc. regulate horsepower, weight, etc. As far as level of modifications, the classes aren’t much different. The GT2 Porsches and F430’s are far from stock.

The Corvette’s only real competition in GT1 has been the Pro Drive Aston Martins, and they haven’t put up much of a fight.

The Lexus LF-A racing protype is also looking to be highly modified from the stock street version.

To the best of my knoledge, Corvette has been competing in GT1 or equivalent classes over the years. As you know GT1 class cars are SIGNIFICANTLY modified. The most reliable cars in the world are Ferrari’s F430 and Porsche’s 911 (997 GT3 RS). All GT2 participating cars are either one of these, with rare exceptions (Spiker C8?). To sum up it is unprudent to classified any production car as reliable in a 24 Hour race, since only two models have proved or are being used as reliable competitors.

João