And What About the CET Solari RS Spyder?

Waddle was just thinking on what would happen to the Porsche RS Spyder that CET has, but are apparently not going to race. Some people think that it is going to go to Europe, Waddle thinks that unless it has already been sold it will probably stay here in America. If it has already been sold Waddle thinks that it was to Horag racing, which it was leaked today that they will be getting a RS Spyder for next year. If it is still here in the states, Waddle thinks that it is probably just a matter of time before it is sold, if it is not already. The only way that we won't see it on the 2008 ALMS grid, is if CET sold the car back to Porsche Motorsport North America. Waddle thinks that this is unlikely because CET could get a lot more money selling it to another team that to PMNA. Conzus Motorsport is strongly rumored to be getting a RS Spyder for next year, but this is probably a chassis that they bought strait from Porsche in Germany. So this leaves one major option, and that is CET Solari selling it to another team. Since we have seen the RS Spyder do so well there are plenty of teams that would like to get their hands on that car, but it is going to cost them a whole caboodle of cash. One such organization which can come up with this kind of money is Red Bull. Waddle is surprised with the strong links between Red Bull and VW Group and Porsche AG that there isn't already a Red Bull RS Spyder. Red Bull has more than enough dough to race a RS Spyder at a very competitive level, and PMNA would have no problem assisting them due to their already close ties. This seems to be the only team that would have a very good chance of getting this car right now, but Waddle will keep you posted as this story develops.

Speculation on Grand-Am 2008

Well now that the 2007 season is over, Waddle decided to try and come up with what he could, to try to figure out what will happen in the 2008 season. Now it looks like Chip Ganassi Racing is going to stay for now, and Waddle doesn't think that many teams if any will jump ship to the ALMS. The real big news is that there could be at least two new chassis in the Gran-Am series. One would be a Lola, and the other a Dallara. There are probably going to be some new engines next year, like the rumored Porsche V8, and maybe another. With these new chassis and engines next year, some teams will probably be moving around to a different manufacturer. Waddle doesn't know that names of these teams yet, but some high level teams may be on the move so they can be the number one of their manufacturer. Waddle has seen some evidence that Suntrust could be one of those team, but he does not know for sure. Murphy the Bear thinks that since the Gran-Am series will have a few support races for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, that some big NASCAR teams may want to start a Grand-Am team. There is a possibility of this since the Pontiac engine can also be badger as a Chevrolet, and Ford has some engines already in the Gran-Am and has been reportedly been working a lot more on them. And since Roush-Yates engine shop does practically all the Ford engines, including the Gran-Am spec engines, there could be a real possibility of a Roush or Yates team in the Grand-Am series. Also if Chevy paid RCR or Hendrick enough they would start a Grand-Am team. So it looks like Grand-Am will probably survive for a while longer, but at the cost of becoming more, and more a stock car racing series.

Speculation on News From Silverstone

This is Waddle's speculation on what will happen after the announcements made at Silverstone today. The LMP2 form Embassy Racing, he expects it to do well, the Radical has done well without the best of everything, but he does not think that it will be quite on pace with the other top runners in the grid, unless it has as much development time and money as the Porsche RS Spyder has. It seems like Embassy is intending to sell their cars to other teams, but for next year we will probably just see it in the LMS with at most, four cars. The really big one is the new alliance between Courage and Oreca. They said at the press conference today that they are developing a new LMP1 prototype together. It will probably be a coupe, possibly with a road car manufacturer's name plate on it. If it does have the road car manufacturer's name plate on it Waddle is guessing that it will be Honda/Acura, or some French manufacturer like Renault or Citroen , because both Courage and Oreca are French. The prototype will be ready in either 2008 or 2009, but with the way manufacturers operate it may do some races at the end of 2008, but we probably won't see it until after the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This means that Oreca will probably keep the Saleens for a short while longer. This is what Waddle thinks will happen with these new cars as next season looks very promising for fans of all the Le Mans racing series.

Chip Ganassi Racing to the ALMS?

One thing that has been bothering our fair little penguin is the possibility of Chip Ganassi leaving Grand-Am for the ALMS. Contrary to many others beliefs on this topic, Waddle believes that this will happen. The big question is will it be a venture with Toyota, probably with the Lexus nameplate, or with some other manufacturer. The program would probably take place in either 2008 or 2009 with the later more likely. If it was 2008 it would probably be a LMP2 prototype. This way Toyota can compete with Acura and Porsche. Acura is a big rival to Lexus, and with their supposed high performance cars that they will be coming out with soon Lexus hopes to be considered a rival of Porsche. If it is 2009 it will probably be a GT2 car, the car will probably be based on the IS-F coupe that is supposed to compete with the BMW M3 which is going to return to GT2 that year. This is probably what will happen if they do decide to go with Toyota. An indicator of Ganassi's relationship with Toyota is whether or not he will sign with Toyota when his current contract with Dodge is up in NASCAR. If he does not go with Toyota, I think that he will race a Radical SR-9 in 2008, although the engine manufacture might be a new one that he gets a contract with. This is all that the Penguin knows knows now, but he will keep you updated on what he knows on this very potent situation.

If you have any thoughts, concerns, or the hebetebejebies on this topic please feel free to leave a coment.