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1993 968 Coupe 6 speed, GP White, Black/Cashmere - RSBarn Catback, and chip, airbox mod, Euro turn signals, Koni's, M030 Sway Bars, KLA Strut tower brace, Zimmerman rotors, Hawk HPS, SS brake lines
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Not entered this year. 2007 I think.
1993 968 Coupe 6 speed, GP White, Black/Cashmere - RSBarn Catback, and chip, airbox mod, Euro turn signals, Koni's, M030 Sway Bars, KLA Strut tower brace, Zimmerman rotors, Hawk HPS, SS brake lines
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One class down - in LMP2 - competing only in the US this year. The rumour (in both Pano and Excellence) is that Porsche and Audi have quietly chosen not to directly compete - for now.
The RS Spyder is at heart, much like the 996/997 cup cars, a customer-revenue driven operation. The ultimate goal is to provide successful and well-funded race teams (Flying Lizards, Brumos, TRG, etc.) a way to step up in class and sophistication without leaving the Porsche family. Some teams have left ALMS for Grand Am for just this reason and not all stayed with Porsche. You and I even saw TRG deserting Porsche for Pontiac!
Ralph
2002 Carrera Coupe - Orient Red Metallic
'93 968 Coupe Amazon Green Metallic w/airbox mod (sold 2009)
'89 944 S2 (gone to live in the Midwest)
'77 911S (RIP)
And a whole bunch of VWs over the years...
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Hard to ignore the absence of Porsche from any of the class wins. The 996 GT3RS is just outclassed - even by the Panoz! I must admit it is fun to have both Ferrari and Aston Martin legitimately competing again. The all-Porsche parade had gotten dull th past few years.
Michael Cotton has a very good column on all of this in the latest Panorama. Looks like LMP2 is where all of the action will be next year.
Ralph
2002 Carrera Coupe - Orient Red Metallic
'93 968 Coupe Amazon Green Metallic w/airbox mod (sold 2009)
'89 944 S2 (gone to live in the Midwest)
'77 911S (RIP)
And a whole bunch of VWs over the years...
(This post was last modified: 06-22-2006, 09:03 AM by
RPM.)
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Ralph
2002 Carrera Coupe - Orient Red Metallic
'93 968 Coupe Amazon Green Metallic w/airbox mod (sold 2009)
'89 944 S2 (gone to live in the Midwest)
'77 911S (RIP)
And a whole bunch of VWs over the years...
Posts: 473
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Cheers Graham!
Indeed, points well taken. ACO would be utterly buggered without Audi. Yes, Audi (especially with that incredible chassis) had a huge advantage over the Pescarolos. Diesel reliability, low revs, fuel consumption, etc. etc., all stacking the deck to Audi's advantage. True true true true. Absolutely no arguement here on that!
Historic win?
Well, absolutely. You have to admit, running any vehicle at 90%+ for 24 hours in competition is a huge strain on all its mechanicals. Granted the diesel had huge theoretical advantages, but its not as if Audi just scooped one of their production engines out of an A8, dropped it into the R10, and turned up the wick for some extra go. Given the colossal lumps that most diesel engine blocks were until the late nineties, there was no bloody way you could build a racecar around a 600+lb. hulking engine assembly. They had to computer design the crap out of that 5.5L engine, making sure they had the sump lowered to the last millimeter as well as shaving as much weight as possible from an engine that is running upwards of 22:1 compression.
Was it doable? Well, clearly. Yet at the end of the day, it still is a feat....to win a major racing series race with an oil burner.
Of course, due mention to BMW Motorsport winning the 1998 Nurburgring 24 hours with a DERV 320i E36.
Best,
-Mirror
[quote name='Graham' date='Jun 22 2006, 03:56 AM']Heres my two cents worth.
[right][post="23135"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post][/right][/quote]
1993 968 Coupe 6 speed, GP White, Black/Cashmere - RSBarn Catback, and chip, airbox mod, Euro turn signals, Koni's, M030 Sway Bars, KLA Strut tower brace, Zimmerman rotors, Hawk HPS, SS brake lines
(This post was last modified: 06-25-2006, 01:35 AM by
TheMirror.)