Isolationism was a cornerstone of American political philosophy during the 1930s, the people of the United States feeling safe because of the oceans separating them from the rest of the world. But that time has long since passed. Today, with nearly instant global communications and giant international corporations, the Earth has become a single, if at times a troubled community. Yet, in the rush to celebrate and expand this new-found commonality, we tend to forget that there are real cultural differences that do separate us.
Nowhere is this more true than in motorsports, and nowhere in motorsports is this forgetfulness more obvious than in road racing. Five or so years ago, the Grand Am announced it was going to decide its own future in terms of its regulations, regardless of whether it had any links to what the folks at the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile or Le Mans might be doing. How successful that choice ultimately will be remains to be seen, despite the progress Grand Am has achieved. Even so, Grand Am’s initial decision to follow its own path has highlighted the important fact that one umbrella can’t provide universal coverage for all.
As the American Le Mans Series has found, there are very different circumstances in North America that are fundamental to success than can be found in Europe, Asia or elsewhere. Among the most significant of these are distance and the American attitude toward the automobile. Simply put, we here have built our society around the car and have thus made it more of an appliance than anything else. Technology is of little concern, other than the fact that the vehicle should start, and the air conditioning, as well as the stereo, should work without a hitch. Equally significant is the size of the United States — going from New York to Los Angeles is about the same as going from London to Moscow.
Now, we hear that our friends at Le Mans want to review their production-car regulations to reduce costs. The problem is that such potential changes most likely won’t significantly reduce budgets, at least in America, because the actual cost of one’s “equipment” is a relatively small part of one’s overall financial outlay. On the other hand, travel and development are major factors in determining the dollar amounts on the checks written to pay for the expenditures necessary to go racing.
Le Mans officials believe that by cutting costs for the production-car universe, they can attract more entries, and perhaps in Europe they can. However, one doubts that those effects won’t carry over to the ALMS where the top assembly division, GT1, is populated by just two Corvettes. The truth is, as we have noted before, that the American manufacturers and their Japanese counterparts, such as Toyota, already have the NASCAR universe in which to play. Therefore, they do not have much incentive to develop cars for a segment of the sport that is but a blip on the overall American racing scene’s radar.
In previous years, Aston Martin and Saleen have joined in the ALMS production-car wars. But neither has done so this year, and the prospects are neither will put forth full-time efforts in the future. So, while the FIA and Le Mans can most likely produce greater production-car grids for their venues, here the differing circumstances mean that different approaches must be taken. Indeed, even though ALMS representatives have stated that they see a need for two GT categories, the time may be ripe to consider having just one.
And, that, like the idea of balance the two its two sport racing division, LMP1 and LMP2 to effective create a single prototype arena, has not necessarily gone down well at Le Mans from whom the ALMS leases its technical regulations. It seems clear that at some point in the not too distant future the extent of that latitude will be severely tested because what the ALMS needs and what Le Mans authorities perceive as necessary simply don’t match. One can only hope that both sides will accept their differences.