My cousin and I are on a continuing argument as to what racing championship is the most prestigous to win. I thought I'd come over to the motorsports forum to get some opinions.

I believe that from a manufacturer's standpoint, Le Mans is more prestigous because it showcases the reliability of the manufacturer's technology implemented into their race cars. From a driver's standpoint, F1 would be more prestigous to win because it possibly requires the highest amount of concentration, reflexes, stamina, etc... Although Le Mans drivers need a lot of skill driving in darkness at 200 mph...

My cousin's argument that Audi doesn't deserve the recognition is because there are very few manufacture-backed LMP prototype cars which compete against Audi. He is a BMW fanatic, and I pointed out that BMW came out with their own LMP prototype, and Audi still beat BMW that season. He also believes that Le Mans isn't a true showcase of manufacturer's technology, and that the drivers are consisting of F1 reject drivers or has-beens.

My personal opinion is that each racing series (F1, Le Mans, WRC, etc.) takes different skill sets to succeed. F1 requires a lot of strategy in the pitstops, aerodynamics, etc. Le Mans requires night-driving skills, fuel efficiency, reliability, etc. WRC requires drivers with skills for any road conditions, reliability, mechanical durability, etc. Which one is most prestigous??? I'm not sure about that.

 

I think it's a toss-up between Le Mans and F1 for the manufacturers; both are uniquely prestigeous.

 

LeMans? I dunno...has it been that prestigious in recent years when there have only been 1 or 2 competitive teams in each class (other than GT2, aka spec GT3RS until very recently)?

I think in order for there to be any prestige for a manufacturer, they have to defeat another manufacturer. Zytek or Panoz or Pescarolo...those are great racing organizations but to the average consumer, does the fact you beat them mean anything? Where can I buy a Judd engine car? ;-P

Think of the "epic" LeMans races and there were always two manufacturers (at least) vying for a win. And it doesn't count quite the same if that other manufacturer is a different badge on your own cars heh.

At least 2007 will be more interesting with Peugeot in the mix...hopefully there will be more manufacturer interest because endurance racing is at least semi-relevant to automotive technology.
<img src="http://bioage.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/908v12.jpg">

 

You can just look and see that while in F1 there are six major manufacturers, at Le Mans there hasn't been more than two serious factory efforts in a given year since 1999.

 

Back story on this is a guy in England named Graham Turner (who races a replica GT40) bought a South African 917 replica kit. The kit turned out to be pretty wokney and he's a perfectionist and is buddies with David Piper (who drove/raced 917s and lost a leg in the filming of LeMans in one) so they redid the whole thing and made an accurate replica (other than the power plant). IIRC Piper even had access to some body moulds.

Fast forward and Fran Hall got together with Graham and is producing a replicar. Fran told me that he'd want a waiver from anyone who bought one because this thing has virtually no driver protection whatsoever (even with a steel chassis) but it sure would be a cool track-day car heh. Graham said that they pretty much just take their chances with the car he has ;-P<ul><li><a href="http://www.gt40s.com/forum/rcr-forum-rcr40-rcr70-p4-mkiv/19574-rcr917-teaser-pics.html">http://www.gt40s.com/forum/rcr-forum-rcr40-rcr70-p4-mkiv/19574-rcr917-teaser-pics.html</a</li></ul>

 

right... right... right... right... pits... slow down... stop... go go go... right... right... right... right...

 

ditto

 

Follow up: So are ALMS drivers people that are hoping to work up to F1 and/or coming down from?

 

or maybe didn't quite have what it takes to be a top runner in F1.

It can go both ways, but generally if you're in the ELMS / ALMS and not an open wheel series, F1 doesn't really look at you unless there's a factory team. Mercedes and Garry Paffet in the DTM are a good example of that. But it is rare IIRC for a driver to jump from a Sports Car / Touring car series to F1.

Plus F1's kind of like baseball / basketball / hockey. They find these guys really young and groom them up from there in Open Wheel series (see; Heikki, Nico, Lewis Hamilton, etc).

 

:P