MADCAT

from motorsport.com

By Bill Oursler

Charlotte, N.C., Feb. 5, 2005 - A compromise reportedly has been reached between officials of the American Le Mans Series and representatives from the annual 24-Hour Sarthe event that will allow the controversial Maserati MC 12 to compete in the 2005 ALMS tour.

The dispute between the Automobile Club de l'Quest and the Don Panoz-owned ALMS, which leases it regulations from the French long distance classic, is said by sources close to the Maserati camp to have come about after Le Mans authorities backed away from an agreement that would have permitted the MC 12 to race in the GT1 Production category even though it remained ineligible to run at the Sarthe itself.

The ACO originally had barred the Maserati, which is based on the Ferrari Enzo street Super Car from the 24-Hour, because dimensionally it did not meet their regulations. The ACO maintained that position even after Maserati had modified car in an attempt to appease the French rules makers.

Over the winter, ALMS representatives including series president Scott Atherton, negotiated a deal which would have allowed the modified but still Le Mans illegal MC 12 to race in its GT1 category as a means of making the ALMS more attractive to its fans. This past Monday, on the eve of the announcement that the Maserati would come to North America, Le Mans authorities balked, saying the arrangement was off.

This reportedly set off a dispute that saw the ACO go so far as to tell the ALMS that if the MC 12 were allowed to run, that the ACO would pull the plug on its lease deal with the Panoz organization. In the end however, it appears that a compromise will be reached that will allow the current version of the Maserati to run in the ALMS until to June, when a second revised variant, meeting the criteria demanded by Le Mans will be completed.

The settlement brings to an end a situation, which potentially could have caused a serious, if not fatal split between the French and North Americans, ending a relationship that has proved successful for both sides. It also demonstrates a growing - if still somewhat underground influence - the ALMS is beginning to have on the thinking of the ACO.

Several years ago, the Le Mans camp nixed a previous deal that would have allowed the special lightweight BMW M3 coupes to compete in the ALMS even though the BMW - like the Maserati - had essentially been barred from the 24 Hour classic. That move by the ACO was seen as a blow to the then GT category, which was largely an all Porsche show, needing opposition for the Zuffenhausen cars to keep fan interest alive.

With the ALMS facing a lean year on the prototype front, insiders said it was critical to keep the organizations' headlining production car division as exciting as possible, rather than leaving it the domain of the Corvettes. In part the ALMS will achieve that goal with the new Pro Drive Aston Martins. However, those two cars are said to be set for only a limited ALMS schedule, making the presence of the MC 12s even more important to the championship over the course of the 2005 season.

The ability of the ALMS and the ACO to reach an agreement on what was potentially a divisive dispute, according to sources, is an example not only of a maturing in the relationship between the ACO and the ALMS, but a realization of its importance to both parties.

from SPEEDTV.com
c/o RACER staff

Maserati MC12 Gets Another Chance from FIA

The FIA has had a change of heart about Maserati's controversial MC12 supercar, after consultation with the teams of its GT championship series.

The MC12 was banned from FIA GT competition earlier this year, but the governing body has decreed that the Italian car can compete in three of the last four rounds of this year's FIA GT championship at Imola, Oschersleben and Dubai, after securing unanimous support from the participating teams. The car will be ineligible for championship points–not that this is a consideration for Maserati, since the marque is not a title contender.

The car, which has been tested extensively at the Paul Ricard circuit this week, had previously been deemed too aerodynamically extreme for the series. But an agreement on a new homologation process for the MC12 has now been reached.

In order to keep the MC12's performance in check with cars currently competing in the category, Maserati has agreed to reduce the rear wing width to the car's windshield dimensions. The FIA is also free to impose restrictor or weight ballast at any point in the three meetings should the car prove significantly faster than its opposition.

The MC12 is not likely to be run by the factory for the three races, but rather by a satellite team. It is expected to be heavily revised in 2005 so that it will be eligible to compete on a points basis in the FIA series next year.

Maserati had planned to build a shorter, narrower, car to the 2006 Le Mans 24 Hours regulations, but is understood to have brought those plans forward by a year to comply with the FIA's vision of a GT car.

sauceman

Can't wait to see this!

MADCAT

What category of cars will this go against? C6 Vettes? It can beat them in GTS. But no way can these beat the Audi R8 in the LMP class.

Yumcha

Purdyy...And yes, a very sexy whale.

Yumcha

Particularly like this one pic:





Higher res and other pics here: http://www.seriouswheels.com/top-200...C12-Racing.htm

West6MT

NICE x15

Yumcha

Nice vid of how it sounds.