Well, welcome to another edition of the weekend sports cars by the Marshall permit podcast series. Marshall is en route to particular also for the last sub little wee while joined by my deli sports car and racer colleague, Stephen Kilby. Hi Stephen. Hi Graham. How are you? I'm very good. Before we get into that though. Time to say a big thank you to our show partners on the Marshall Pruitt podcast starting with FAFT Technologies, build to print composites manufacturing company or specializing in medium to large scale automotive, motor sports and military applications. Visit FAFTechologies.com. It's P F A F F Technologies.com to learn more about their services and how they can benefit your business. Next, it's the Justice Brothers, makers of premium additives, lubricants and cleaners and servicing the automotive and motorsports industries for more than 85 years with victories in all the biggest North American motor races including the Indianapolis 500, the 24 hours of Daytona. The Justice Brothers products are truly race proven, learn about their vast history and range of offerings at justicebrothers.com. If you're fond of awesome motor racing collectibles including FAFT motorsports McLaren gear and goodies, pay a visit to torontomotor sports.com. And finally, you have a new online merchandise home for the podcast, the pruitstore.com. All the show stickers, models, a racing memorabilia, trying to sell and put towards our fun to buy a house is now live and rocking, the pruitstore.com. So we thought we'd mix it up for this week's edition and we're delighted to be back with a listener question of fueled edition that came in the midst of quite a lot of news, a hecka bunch of news, Marshall would like me to say, but not that accident. Lots going on, exciting time to be doing what we're doing, exciting time to be going to the races we're going to. Let's crack on with what I think it's fair to say on literally dozens of questions with a very short call. Yeah, let's go for it. So first topic, I think is Lamborghini and the future prospects in we can answer. We've got quite a few questions from listeners out there. The first one we'll go to is from Coco Racing says, "Could you please explain the Lamborghini situation? What is the root cause of the issue and is there a team working to take the helm from iron links?" First and foremost, forget that links aspect of it, that's not the issue. The issue is budget and the car, so it's a brand new car for the 2024 season. It has had some flashes of form, but not forget, finished 10th at Lamont, that's no mean feat in what is the first ever entry from Lamborghini in the top class of all time at Lamont 24 hours and has had some good races, particularly in the flyways, we've seen some pace from the car, but there are some underlying issues here. The future underlying issue came reportedly as we understand it from an accident we reported beginning of the year for the car, it was the end of last year, wasn't it for the car? Big shun to pull record, which pretty much destroyed the first test car. That put the test program on the back foot until a new car was available. That meant the modification process was accelerated, which meant that they were really scrambling to get that car homologated in time, which means the SC63, as you see it on track at the moment, is not what we might call in its optimal state. What does that mean? It's overweight, that much we do know, not massively, but significantly. There are some issues we believe, particularly around suspension and damping of the car, that need attention. I have heard from more than one source that there's some issues about the drivability, the engine powertrain of the car, but what that all combines is that the drivers and the team are managing around known issues, and I've been doing that all year and it's getting better, but of course there are disadvantaged the teams with a better, more developed package. Why is that important? It's important because whilst there is the Joker process that allows you to fix that, that comes with the need for testing and development, and that comes with a cost. That comes right at the point where WC has made a decision to come in with a two car rule, which means that they would have to pony up for a second SC63 for a full season next season. You spoke to their management earlier this year, and at that stage, things were looking pretty rosy. Just before them on, they called a media roundtable, and during that conversation, they specifically kind of said that they would scale up to a two car program if they were required to do so, as that was around the time, it was just becoming a light that we were going to get that two car rule. They did confirm 100% that's what they were going to do, but all signs were that they were going to continue, and they reiterated that IMSA was a particularly important pillar to the program, and they still desired to race there as well. But the kind of reading that I got at that time was that WEC was more the priority than IMSA was, but who knows now that we're still waiting on hearing more about the final decision. I think what it comes down to is there are a variety of ways in which this could roll out. They could find more budget, and then everything's fine, and we've got two cars in WEC, and we've got a development testing program, a Joker program, and we presumably joined the Joker program in IMSA. They could do that. They could equally decide to park the WEC program for 2025, effectively take a sabbatical, put the available budget they've got against the WEC program into testing development, and come back rejuvenated in 26 for a WEC program. That is distinctly possible, while still running, of course, their IMSA program. They could decide to do all sorts of things, but the realities at the moment we don't know, but the timing for them to make that decision is pretty much now. And that's not just because the WEC needs certainty to make their plans for 2025, it's because if they're not coming, there's then other opportunities and options for what might replace them. Don't get excited about the potential for any sort of risky knee rebirth. You can see that happening. Don't get excited either. I don't think about, there's been a couple of stories written about van wall, and looking for a way back in. I simply don't see that as being a prospect whatsoever, it looks very much as if that car, and it's supposedly re-engineed and re-engineered state. If it's done any testing, it's done very, very little testing. This is about whether or not there is an opportunity for principally Mercedes-AMG to step into LMGT-3, and that's personal because that car is not currently an LMGT-3 homologated car, and that process takes time. Yes, it does. It's not as simple as just putting a set of other panels with a WEC logo on the side of the car, is it, Graham? You've got the torque sensors that you have to kind of engineer into the car, make sure they work, and aerodynamically it may need some tweaking as did the Lexus when they came along last year and began testing. It's something that needs track testing, and it needs some brain power behind it. And the general time to actually get everything tested, and then signed off. And then beyond that, to get a program together for a series that starts in, let's not forget under five months. Yes. It's just over five months. Sorry, it's under five months. Over a half months, isn't it, until we're actually on track in Qatar. So yes, we know that there are AMG teams that are keen to do this. Yes, we know that there's AMG are keen to do it too. With the existing car, remember, the AMG GT-3 YIVO would be the car for now, at least. That's by the way, another part to this, which is putting that investment into effectively an outgoing car, because I don't think that they're building new cars at the moment for Mercedes AMG. So it's either a spare chassis they may have somewhere, or it's re-engineering an existing couple of cars plus spare for whichever team or teams would take on the Antle. That's why this is urgent, okay? Other things, because I know there's a couple of questions in there, not just about the LMTH program, but also about the Lamborghini GT-3 program. And we make clear that if the LMTH is paused, that that does not mean that the link behind links and the LMTG-3 program goes the same way. No, I don't think the WCA are going to punish them for not having a, trying to continue on in LMTG-3 without having a hypercar program. They're very supportive of the fact that they, like, at Lamborghini as a partner in the championship, and iron links behind it have been very loyal to it. So yeah, I do not see that happening whatsoever, unless Lamborghini decided, internally, that they wanted to step away from racing with a LMTG-3. But I can't see that happening either, because of new cars on the way, and they want to maintain spaces on the grid for that when it launches. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be remotely surprised to see a bit of a split program. There's nothing to say that. For instance, the current 60 crew, or the 85 iron teams crew, need necessarily remain in that camp. Both those crews run in the European Le Mans series with a different team, with a different car. I think there's every prospect that that is in the mix for options moving forward that might still well be two Lamborghinis, but one that might not be pink, for instance. There will certainly still be two porches, but it's certainly an open question as to which of the current squad stay and which don't. So could we see a mix program between what are currently the two Lamborghinis, maybe one of those squads moving to a Porsche? Yeah, I think there's every chance we might. I think it's fair to say that they're not at a very happy time with that hurricane. No, I mean, well, in case the iron dames, and this kind of leads us on to another question we've had, is just the general season has just not gone to plan whatsoever. And as Stein, Paspont says, how many cartoon anvils need to fall on iron dames before someone is forced to responsibility or if something needs to change? I don't think that is necessarily things need to change or people need to stand up and take responsibility. Because when you look down at what's happened this year, a lot of it has been rotten luck. Some of it's been driving. Some of it has been driving, but yeah, it does feel like they need a reset somewhere. Maybe the Asian Lamont Series is a good opportunity to kind of get the whole thing firing again. We should say, by the way, that confirmed the day we're recording this, that's a confirmation that something we expected for one is the iron dames will be making their debut in the Asian Lamont series this winter in Malaysia and then the UAE, December and February. As Michel Gating is mentioned, it's a Porsche, by the way, a proton run Porsche with that. Whilst Michel Gating is confirmed, the other two drivers are not and remains to be seen. Just exactly where this pans out. Are we going to see a bit of a mix up here shuffling the deck chairs before anybody comes to the conclusion? Yeah, yeah, but they don't know what's going to happen with the driver rankings yet. That doesn't matter for the Asian Lamont series because they stay with the 2024 rankings in any case because it's a season that's split across the two years. So no matter what happens with the F.I. driver categorization this year, Sara Bovee will be a bronze if she's part of the Asian Lamont series program. Ralph Rye will be a silver and Michel Gating will still be a gold for that series, no matter what reviews emerge from that process. Shall we move on to the next topic, Graham? I think we should. Yeah. There's a couple of questions here about Mercedes AMG Graham. Why? Otter says, when asked why Mercedes didn't start a hypercar program, Graham's reaction was for a substantial period of time that Mercedes didn't want to make the needed investment. What's changed? Did I? The Damien Peachman says, "Did I?" Where has the Mercedes AMG hypercar come from? Okay. Is that the only one? Are we got moves? Roving Tigers is, would a mock program be a full in-house factory effort or would it work with a service provider and who is in the running for the latter? Okay. So that's a good start. It's all very, I don't recall saying the answer to the question to the point at which this story emerged was, well, they're not doing a hypercar program because they don't want to. Now we're in the position where what we know is, there have been some significant conversations about what a hypercar program might look like, what the options are, what the budgets are. Effectively, this is a formal evaluation of the options going forward to Mercedes AMG. Do I expect to see a Mercedes AMG hypercar on track in '25, no in '26, no in '27, who knows?' It's a straight answer. You could list beyond this the same questions around McLaren, around Ford, around Honda. They're just three more that you could basically say the same options are sort of there for all three of those manufacturers. All this does is it adds another name on that list, okay? Here's a prospective potential near future contender in the top class of sports car racing in the WEC, in IMSA, or and/or IMSA. That's where we are with this. To answer one or two of the points that have been raised both by our questioners and by the combined genius of the internet, no, we've not made this up. We have thought long and hard about exactly where this story sits, how it should be written. We write these things very carefully. I can tell you this has been literally months in the making from the first conversation I had with someone where this was mentioned as a real-world perspective. It is not as confusing it with an incoming change for Mercedes-MG's GT3 base model. That's not this. This is exactly what it said on the team. Mercedes-MG at a reasonably senior level, as far as we're aware, have been in conversations with a number of people seeking answers to some particularly pointed questions. Are they looking at it? They most certainly have been looking at it. Are they going to continue to look at it and deliver a programme? That's for them to answer. I can tell you that there's been full disclosure in conversations with Mercedes-MG about what we were about to write, how we're about to write it, and without revealing sources, the weight of evidence we had behind the facts that we presented in that story, and there was not a no comment, there was no comment. There's a difference between someone saying no comment and someone providing no comment, but I can tell you right now we've been absolutely fair and transparent with the good folks at Mercedes-MG. I expect that to be further conversations, I can expect that to be people that will pour cold water on their story, but the answer here is, ladies and gentlemen, we wrote it because we know it to be true. Well that covers that, doesn't it, Graham? Wow! So let's go on to Aston Martin, because we've actually had some news today just before we're boarding, so Daniel Nikon says, "When do you see the Aston Martin Valkyrie joining the IMSA grid?" Well, we just had confirmation that they're definitely going to bring the Aston Martin Valkyrie to GTP next year, and we've got a racing. I think there's still some questions to be asked and answered about testing, not very much of late about how that testing program is rolling further out. The car is due to be at the IMSA test at Daytona in November. I think we'll hear before that just what the aspirations are in terms of when that car will be homologated, whether or not that car will debut at Daytona. I'm not saying these things because I've doubts about it, I'm saying these things because I simply don't know. So we've not had a chance to catch up with Ian James without racing crew to this point, but I can tell you that we'll be doing this coming week, this week in fact, a road at Atlanta. Great news though that they've confirmed the Valkyrie for the season. It is a full season entry, we believe, in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportsguard Championship. Whether or not that means it'll be ready for the first race. We simply don't know because that's not been confirmed. We also know, by the way, that heart of racing will leave GTT pro at the end of this year and they're contending for that title this weekend up to take them on, although titles rather, will put in a single GTD entry for an Aston Martin Vantage into the WeatherTech Sportsguard Championship next year, so two-class effort by heart of racing and that is to be welcomed. Hockey Hawkins 96 says with Aston coming next season, Genesis on the horizon and AMG now looking, who do you think is next to make a statement about Joint IMSA or WC? We always hear about McLaren looking, but surely the time is of the essence before the end of the regulation cycle in 2029. Think about this, I mean, even if you talk about 2029, clearly no one else is coming in 2026 that we don't already know about, which leaves three more seasons. So there is time to get ahead of this curve and the more opportunity that those chassis manufacturers have with the caster out there to have at least some level of basic data, the easier it becomes for people that follow, I think it's fair to say. They will certainly know some things that don't work, for instance. Who do I think will be next? McLaren? I think decision making is imminent, pretty literally imminent about their potential entry from 2027. The other one that I'm expecting to see still removing forward or just be put to the sword is Honda. Do I think they've still got aspirations to do something in WC, I fundamentally do? Do we know much more than that? We know a little more than that, but not enough yet to write the kind of story which you saw on Delhi Sports Car this week with Mercedes AMG. I'm not party to the level of discussion that would give us confidence, yes or no, to 26 for 27. Do I think there's aspirations to do it? Yes, do I think they're targeting 2026? Yes, I don't think we're talking 27. I think we're talking 2026, Honda. Mattox Connolly says, "Do we have any news regarding who's going to drive the Joe to Cadillacs next year and as well for heart racing with the Valkyrie?" Well, okay, let's deal with heart racing first. We have a broad idea of some of the drivers that they have tested. You can go back and look on DSC and racer for some of those names. Principally, it's the heart of racing family of drivers. It's the Aston Martin Racing family of drivers and a couple of additions. I mean, I don't know how to take off for instance as driven the Valkyrie. He's quick. I've heard he is. I've heard he's quick. He talks a good game. He talks a good game. What do you think more about Harry Tingle? I don't care what people say about Harry. I think he's a nice bloke. And he's not too tall, is he? No, no, that's an outrageous thing to say. He's what? 9 foot 2? Aerodynamic development. Developed. I think that was what we were saying. Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely man. I think that fulfills the terms of the injunction. As for Cadillac and Jota, what you can see is a combination of existing Cadillac talents and existing Jota talents. I would say that not necessarily all the names that have said they're interested. And I'm going to say no more than that. Reesby famously, I don't mess with drivers' careers. Oh, go on, Graham. Go on. Yeah, pop. Come on, pop for Tingle. But they've made it reasonably clear they're going to keep things in the family as best they possibly can and why there's a lot of real talent around there. So expect to see some familiar names and faces as they reshuffle the pack, not just there, but right through the hyperco and GTP marketplace in the year to come. And by the way, expect to see some surprises in terms of who's going where and when as we move into 2025. I don't mind myself what makes you was for a moment there. The senior moment. What 2024, it still feels like we've only just started that year. I can't believe it's October. Francisco Beta 1 says, "With the arrival of Aston Martin and Genesis, and with possible arrivals from Mercedes, Humber and McLaren, plus the introduction of hydrogen cars, how can the WC solve the issue of grid space? Is separation between a hypercar and GT4 championship possible and then combination at Le Mans?" I think any talk of the being prospect for an all hypercar WC grid, the answer is no. It's been made very firmly clear. At every single point, mixed class racing is what this is about. That's what makes this special. The reality is here that there is ebb and flow. If you look at when manufacturers tell you they're committed to in certain type of program, the answer is they will say it's a long term commitment. If pushed, they might say it's two or three or four year commitment. Some of the cars we've currently got running inevitably in two or three years' time will not be part of the world championship. That's just the way of the world is they'll have ticked that box. It'll have achieved what they want it to do, particularly in marketing terms and the marketing budget will move on to other things. I think they're counting on that and they're sort of future proofing the championship by keeping these things on the boil. They're all sorts of things. You could extend the grid, but that has a knock on effect in terms of the grid for them all. Yes, we know that the grid for them all is likely to expand marginally in the coming years, potentially to 64, 65 cars, but that doesn't solve a bigger problem. It's not the difference between there being 40 cars or 39 cars and 50 cars for the world championship, because that's going to impact on your ladder, the way in which the ACO, in this instance, encourage teams to look onwards and upwards from LMP3 and GT3, up to LMP3 and LMP2, up to hypercar. It needs husbandry, it needs care, it needs for there to be a sensible transition of real sets and racing opportunities, and it needs to be opportunity is the key thing. Running an LMP2 car, particularly in the modern day with the depth of competition in the years, is not cheap, and if you're going to do that, you're investing in the future. The future involves the big cash cow for many commercial teams, which is Le Mom. El Giorgio says, "The WC has come down firmly on the side of no sprint races with hypercar class growing and limited chance for privateers to run the cars or circuits who want to host big grids or can host big grids." Is it time for the ACO Sanctions sprint series to come about aimed at non-factory teams? I'd be interesting, but I can't see it. I can't see it being a series. I could see that being the potential for a one-off event or, you know, stand on an event somewhere. We already know that the ACO President Piafion has mentioned the potential for hypercarping added to the Asian-Lemon series in future years. I think that's principally a matter of playing to the marketplace in Southeast Asia, both pro-am, potentially, and with emerging manufacturers in that area. That's interesting, but what's even more interesting is making it firmly that there are no plans to do it in the European-Lemon series. No plans whatsoever. Do I think they need to show some care in terms of further future-proofing and finding a way for more privateers to get into this marketplace? Yes. Do I think they're turning away a long and winding queue of teams desperate to get to the WC with a privately funded hypercar? No. No, they're not. The reality is the budgets here are very substantial indeed. This is one of the reasons why, and I think we've got some questions a bit later about Silverstone, one of the reasons why they're really careful about expanding the calendar. The cost of this sport at the moment is spiraling. You know, wherever you are in the world, cost of living as we're all aware, painfully aware, is going up, and going up in pretty sharp moves as well. Whether or not that's what you pay for, your petrol and your gasoline, it's whether or not it's what you pay for your energy, what you pay for your shopping basket. Your mortgage. Your mortgage, he said bitterly. Whatever it is, it's all going up. And let's be blunt. You know, motorsport is not protected from that principle, and if anything, it's probably ahead of the curve in terms of things like logistics. It's one of the big massive growth areas in terms of expense and budget for these teams. So the answer is, would I like to see them taking the odd risk and doing something a bit left field? I'd love to see that, but they're not going to risk what the moment is a runaway success. Why would you risk it for the next year, two years, maybe three years? Why rock that boat if it's working? With the exception of Qatar and Bahrain, it was pretty much seen record crowds everywhere else in the WC this season. I think I'm right. And I don't see there being massive change to that formula whilst it's still successful. If they start to see cracks at the edges, then maybe. What I would say is, on this subject, is that they've clearly, when it comes to privateers down the line and privateers who are invested in the prototype space, they've got a nail LMP2, they have to nail the new LMP2 formula and keep the foundation there so that if and when factories do pull out, there is a band of privateers ready to go. But I will also say, Graham, and I wonder if you'll agree with this. When you've been walking up and down the paddock in ELS recently, there's a kind of change in the attitude from some of these teams when it comes to hypercar. We've gone from we could never do that. I'm thankful they're not going to introduce hypercar into LMP2, into ELS. Two teams actively mention the fact that they're positioning themselves so that if, in three or four years, private or hypercar to a car, thought, if there was a class for hypercar in ELS, they'd be ready to take that step. I think the conversation is more and more and more now. They're not as dismissive. Since the capability is absolutely there, there's complexities to do with the systems, do the hybrid systems that need to be significant investment. We've heard particularly from the IMSA teams that that level of investment surprised them. That surprised them not in a good way. The reason why I think it's a very long bridge to cross is the sheer budgetary impact. So number one, it's the acquisition cost of those cars. Now, you might say, but yeah, but we've got used Porsche 963s on the marketplace. This is a 2.9 million euro car compared to a car with its full spares package that's about a million euros. Don't the oracle? So it's tripling the budget for the car before you even start. That's assuming that the parts from oracle are the same costs as parts for, let's say, Porsche, which, by the way, they are fundamentally not. Then you've got the operating costs and the running costs, so it's effectively doubling the crew, because you're generally speaking, got crew that are attending to the hybrid systems and the crew that attend to the rest of the systems. It's all sorts of investment levels at that point. That assumes that we're going to get to the point where a hypercar is going to be programmed, that you have anything other than a platinum gold or silver driver. So there's lots of questions to be answered before we get to that point. Do I think sprint races would be good at it? I'd love to see a one-off go at this in the same way that I think a brilliant idea for the ACO at Lamont would be some kind of time-attack challenge with alternative fuels. I'd love to see that, because it's going to take a long time for some of those alternative fuels to get to the stage where they can go endurance racing, so let's grab the stage, one of the biggest stages in the world, and just see what an all-electric prototype can do, just see what a hydrogen fuel cell car can do at this stage. Or whatever else you want to chuck at it, hydrogen combustion, what can it do? I think that could be quite cool. They'll have the concerns in terms of safety, of course, but in terms of grabbing the headlines, I think that's the way to go for it. Properties and hypercars, it's not lifted off in the way that I hoped it would. That's principally to do with budgets. But also grid space. There's going to be a level for the few teams who could, theoretically, put it all together if they really pushed and did everything they could to be like JDC or Proton or Jota. For those teams, and there are a few of them, there's going to be a level out of pension that you're going to make all this investment to all that planning to find there's no space on the grid. All have to do IMSA, and that's a massive... And if you're in Europe and you're based in Europe, going and racing in IMSA is not as easy as just keep flying people. No, it's as simple as this, isn't it? Which is we're already in that situation with teams with LMP2 cars. Now, to give you, for instance, what that means. If you've got an LMP2 car and a full spares package, that is a significant low-end or lower-end seven-figure Euro sum. That's what it is. And if you then have got that in place to apply for the opportunity to go racing in the European Le Mans series, then the answer there is, the answer you get is we haven't got some room at the end, you're still then one and a half, two and a half million euros invested in something. You can race nowhere else until maybe the Asia Le Mans series in December. But that's a big call to make. And by the way, that's not just putting my finger in the air. There are multiple teams that have found themselves in that position. Multiple teams have found themselves in that position. And probably more again this season than having to weigh up that option as to whether or not they make that commitment or not, whether or not they'll actually get the place. We're seeing it in a smaller scale with the introduction of the new LMP3 cars, aren't we? 100%. There's limited space on the grid in both Le Mans and Coppernier-Le Mans. There's new cars coming. You've got to reinvest. There's no guarantees you're going to get those entries just yet. You've got to find the budget to make those updates. You've got to find the budget from customers who want to race them. It's an edgy time, and it always is. And they're always going to be teams that, I guess, take these new rules, set some run with it and make success of it. And there are going to be teams that don't go all together, but that's just the way it is. I think to answer the question you've not asked there, George, do I think the time is right to take a look at the structure of the racing that we've got around the world? Yeah, I do. There's a hell of a lot of racing around the world. But there is more demand than we can currently fulfill on the grids we have available. I think it would be, time would be right for the major sanctioning bodies to take a look and see if the space was something more. But that needs to take into account two of the factors. One factor is what is driving this demand. And the fact what's driving this demand is let's be blunt, Lebon, without a shed of a doubt in Europe. So there needs to be a road way forward to Lebon, if that's going to the case. And the other factor is they do not want to mess with the levels of professionalism and safety that are demanded both on pit lane and on the track with the talent you're drawing in at a level at LMGT3 or in LMP2. Let's move on to the next topic. We've had a couple of questions with people asking about FAF based on the story that Marshall wrote. I think Marshall wasn't it on race about FAF essentially. They need the solution. They need the fast if they want to be on the grid next year. So we've got Ryan Walker and Daniel Nikon are both both asked relatively similar questions. Ryan's question is what should take on FAF potentially shutting down shop at the end of the season? And do you think the switch from Porsche to McLaren has had an effect cost wise? And Daniel Nikon adds that with the increased popularity of sports car racing, they're one of the most popular teams in GTD. We always see people walking around with their merchandise. Are they having that much difficulty to get OEM and sponsor support? Well first things first. I mean there's multiple reasons why FAF made the switch. One was that they weren't particularly happy with the Porsche product in year one with a 992. They did have some success with it of course but it was a shaky year for that platform. It now seems to have matured and is now as we could see around the world doing much much better. So applaud it to Porsche for that. The other thing is the link with FAF automotive from FAF automotive are McLaren dealers. There is a solid business case for McLaren to be part of that program. Where's it gone wrong? I just think things change. I mean it could McLaren provide more support? Surely it could. Is that McLaren's agenda after us then? But pretty clearly Steve bought a lot in his faithful crew are struggling at the moment to draw together the threads of either GTD Pro or GTD for the 2025 season. I hope they do because they're fabulous people. By the way one of the reasons why you are seeing so many people with FAF merchandise is they've got a really open-minded attitude to that and are good friends and sponsor this podcast onto motorsports. A big part of that push at the major imps and meetings as well. So well done to them. I hope they find a way forward. Deal's not done yet and by the way if anybody's listening from the European networks and industry that we service with this podcast and with DSC and you've got aspirations of finding a way in to the MSU, whether it's a sports car championship, pick up the phone to Steve Bortolotti he's got an answer to that question about a shadow of a doubt. I suspect that might be one potential angle that could come to the fore. So are they out the woods yet? No they're not. Are they working hard? Yes they are. I suspect there'll be a lot of meetings in Atlanta this coming weekend with FAF and potential backers and I'm sure they're going to be busy and if we can help in any way we can be pretty close to the front Thank you. Let's talk about the India eight hours briefly. We had a question from Dan Wertertich of Dan Wertertich who says I was watching the India eight hours on Saturday and I noticed pre-race that Robert Wickens was in the garage is spending a lot of time with the owners of core of the DXTT racing course. I know you've reported recently about Wickens' desire to grow beyond TCR. Is this what he's looking at? I think he's looking at a range of things as well as sorts of questions about could it be a prototype program? Could it be a GT program? Look whatever it is I think I speak for you and just but everybody else out there which wishes him well with one of the next step is going to be we've seen some amazing steps forward with a whole range of programs for people with a variety of physical challenges you know looking at starting with Rob Paul-Draisson and you know blindness in what I for Paul-Draisson debt perception that changed a lot in terms of the licensing of racing drivers. Fred Sosahe and the amazing stuff he did with Gary 56. Sonati you know tearing in the eye as I think about his situation but what a difference he made to people's attitudes about the possible and Robert Wickens is just picked up that button and is moving forward with it so delighted to hear he was in conversation with the excellent people at DXTT and their course new team manager for next year which is Brian Sellers. If that's where he's going that's great news for them great news for their program great use the Corvette great news for wherever DXTT are taking that program as GT will challenge America champions from the season but if it's somewhere else he's going to take a big fan base with him and more power to you Robert Wickens. 100% let's talk about the LMS at Silverstone and first off there's a quick question I can answer very quickly from Colin Bull he says with the LMS returns Silverstone in 2025 do you have any ideas on the circuit and which pits that we use well someone in the organization originally told me it was going to be the wing and then swiftly told me shortly after the cameras are announced it's not it's actually the national pits okay so they're using the national pits as they always have done for the LMS yeah so even when we had the double headers with WC, WC cars were in the wing and the national pits were LMS quite like the national pits yeah the little bunker the little pressure and bunker quite like that Daniel Sanders Gill says what does Silverstone and the ACO need to do to ensure that the LMS has returned to Silverstone is a success it's been reported that Silverstone charges astronomical prices for parking food and ticketing why not go to Spa if cheaper well look we're going to Spa as well of course but I think the key to it is this this has been a long hard road and there's been many turns on it and many factors that need to be taken to account budgeting it is absolutely one of them I did see someone writing something fairly recent that said all this stuff around Brexit being a part of this was nonsense no it wasn't it was absolutely a fact if you've not got certainly about the ease it ease with which you can clear borders with all the logistics required for something like the European lemon series or in the future the WC then absolutely it's a factor but one of the principal factors beyond that right at the point where that became a factor of course was then Covid and all the stuff that came there so what this is is it's the LMM management team who by the way every single year since 2019 when we've had those announcements has made the point of coming to be saying really sorry it's not Silverstone blah blah blah every single year they've been firmly aware there is a fan base here in the UK that they are aware is loyal and hungry for this racing so I'm going to say again before Stephen pops in and explains why this is not a near immediate future prospect I'm going to say again what I say every single time this comes up on the weekend sports cars please come please come to Silverstone if you can please come to Silverstone if you're a fan of sports car racing please come and show them what we've got here in the UK in terms of the awesome fan base the awesome volunteers around motorsport please come have a great time enjoy some the best endurance racing on the planet right now but please come because if you are looking to make the case that when the next decisions need to be made about the WC calendar that this should be further up the list there is absolutely you know a better way of doing that than showing them that this is a great play style motor race 100% 100% and I think we covered some of this last time you and I sat down to do a podcast but yeah I mean this isn't a straight trial for one year and then they're going to add it to WC in 2026 it's more complicated than that because essentially in the moment with budgets and the way that the contracts have fallen with with all the circuits they've got currently are that they would need to essentially expand the calendar and add an additional European race to get sucked in there and right now it's a really tough ask for the teams who are struggling as it is in some cases to get on the grid with the eight-race calendar to make it nine as much as all the teams and drivers would love to have an extra race as much the organization would like to have an extra race they've got to be sensible and the sensible option is to hold fire and see what happens for me it's a it's a part of this wider conversation about is what we've got in terms of a racing structure appropriate for the level of demand that we've got moving forward and I'm not giving you the answer to that question because it's not my question to answer but I do think we should be asking the question if there's demand demand from manufacturers demand from teams demand from drivers demand from fans are aren't we just being sensible if we look at the options moving forward that don't necessarily completely align with what we've currently got yeah so let's carry on by taking a question from Alexander Brown since I was pretty excited about the new Mustang GT3 this season everybody was yeah the car mainly Multimatic have made progress lately but it started off rough this year how would you rate the cars progress and the season would you consider it a dud if they don't win a petite but you're not to that one yeah I mean I don't think it's a dud no I think fish on the bottom I think it's yeah I think there's always to go with the car I still think we haven't seen the best of it yet the progress they made with the iratum fix to the rear end was a massive change or was it relatively minor change physically in terms of what the difference it made to the teams operating those cars I think was a pretty substantial one but going forward I think I'm sure we can't wait much longer before we share that car win a race I think a few times it has sniffed it but yeah the I think you could argue the most underwhelming part of this has been the factory effort in GTD Pro I thought that I thought the results would be better than they've turned out to be this season actually that you know at times we've seen what proton had been able to do with that car in in world challenge and in work as much as if you ask Christian Reed have you had a fantastic season with the Mustang you'd probably be a bit more sensible and say oh it's been absolutely amazing and we're we're thrilled with it um I think they've had you know decent races here in there it's probably it's just yeah but then you could say that about so many other manufacturers especially if you're looking at LNGT3 and in WEC you know it's the same with with McLaren and until last race Ferrari yeah it's not easy now get on the podium in any of these championships I think you have a thing to say about the Ford it is multimatic they're massively experienced but it's an absolutely brand new platform with pretty much no other yardstick if you think about the Ferrari 296 all the data they had from the 488 before it okay the same with the Aston Martin this is an evolution version of the the previous car and you look up and down the field Lamborghini have been racing GT3 cars for what is it a decade and a half now almost two decades now so but the Ford whilst the Mustang is a known known this is a completely different kettle of fish for multimatic and forward so they're starting from the basis of a lower data point than anybody else and look them what happens in hypercar year two I'd be expecting them to see yeah significant steps forward literally everywhere that car did have some developmental problems mentioned problems in early testing for that car that meant everything that put the testing program back and we were talking about this were we not but another manufacturer just a few minutes ago we are seeing progress the bits falling off it as you quite rightly said was fixed and fixed quickly once they establish what the problem was and the choices that were available to be made I would expect these cars to show a burst of form moving forward in 2020 it feels like it's on a similar trajectory to me as the Bentley Continental program when that first started you know you could see in year one it wasn't quite there but you could see there was real potential in that car and certainly you know back then the guys at m Sport running the Bentley's top class yeah great driver line-ups yes and they did just suddenly come and even though they're racing in championships like a world challenge europe like proton is now where you've got a grid of 60 cars and you've got one car on the grid or two cars on grid you can still get results but it is brittle and by the way but the another example of a car that when you look at it you think what you put this up against the audio rate or a Lamborghini hurricane you mad it's that same good thing which is it's the big bruise risk that yeah yeah sounds fantastic different style of class absolutely that's what makes GT3 racing so it's what makes GT racing for as long as I can remember so the answer is look for progress as multimatic and their customers will be looking for coming into 2025 Chris Ward once talk about he's on vacation in the smoky mountains in Tennessee one might found places in the world so enjoy your time there do visit gallantberg great place says with word on the wc side of penske porter potentially looking to cut down to drivers for the six hour races for 2025 which drivers need to worry the most um and I think there's a wider question and topic here to be to be discussed which is the impact and you know competition wise in terms of the driver market that that would have we start to see manufacturers going down to drivers for all the shorter races uh it's certainly going to make the driver market an interesting place and a more competitive one that I said earlier in the show you're going to see some interesting um announcements and changes at the end of this season and that's not unusual we now you know end of year two for very many of these programs they've bedded in and we now begin to see drivers more comfortable in their surroundings some of the drivers may be a little bit less on that curve but I'll give you one great example which is I think if you'd polled the uh the undoubtedly successful strategy of the internet earlier this season um and you'd have heard me say it on commentary and I've said it on this but you know uh I remember at Qatar um was it Lars van der that was saying uh described I want this t-shirt by the way past his best estra 80 year old uh lotra and second best fan sore and they're going to go into the final race of the season um one end on the trophy with one end on the trophy and I want to talk particularly in this context about Andre Lotra um Andre was getting hammered flayed on social media earlier this season and he's put in the last couple of races a couple of the best stints at the wheel in terms of both pace and in terms of looking after the car which is increasing me obviously the key to success in hypercar that I can remember him doing in many a year and whether or not he chooses to continue I hope it's in his hands but what it showed was judging up on the basis of a performance or two performances fundamentally incorrect you can't but there's a case of anything especially in sporting terms people are so quick to have knee-jerk reactions to literally anything first race of a new car new program like it's rubbish it's going to be you know it's just talking about Ford yeah you think if we don't it wouldn't surprise me if in we're sitting in here here in in 12 months time talking about multi-mastery romping their way to GTD pro success people complaining that they've got a little fair advantage yeah and if they want to call that you're absolutely right so I mean here's the thing are they gonna be changed just yes there are okay first things first yes there are do we know more than we get a right hundred percent we do um are we going to play with that marketplace no I don't it's a straight answer I'm not when you've got professional drivers who go out there and put their reputations and for that matter their lives on the line um to entertainers put them under more pressure by me giving an opinion that they are or not or might be at risk of losing their livelihood that's not what the job is here um I equate that to how would you like if that happened in your workplace okay that's the way I equate it to we've got plenty of readers enough readers thank you with what we do write about and I don't feel a burning need to write about that and I'm not criticizing those that do they can live with their own choices that's that's not my concern I choose not to do it okay there are a number of drivers today that I could tell you will not be driving for their current teams next year and I will be right but I'm not going to do that because we're not at the end of the season we're not at the end of that contract and things can change dramatically for all sorts of reasons so do look out for we're in that that moment at the moment Stephen Ware we've got this this free sort of excitement about factories and makes and what's coming and that's going to be seamlessly translated in the final weeks of the season into the driving market place that's great I like that once we're at the stage where we can start to say I've just seen this guy testing in that car you know if I've seen that I'll write that we'll show you the picture of it okay we've done that time and time again but I'm not going to call a driver's career over before that driver tells me his career is over so does that mean to put it in different terms that if I was underperforming or you were going to fire me but you are um you wouldn't write that story and put it up on day sports car and announce the new deputy I tell you first quite you would tell me first quite you and just put it out before I went into a round table with like a senior person or before you walked in with Thomas Lanan back and and address ruse and by the way Stephen there's something I'd tell you anyway it's over so all over again when we finish recording this can we all word um next up we've got esta bam um can we well this is kind of a similar thing about shakeups in top-class lineups but he's asking us with the angle of there being so many clashes next year and people doing dodgy that is a massive factor in it's a factor I mean look then even if you look at something like GTP and LNP2 okay we've got I think I'm right two clashes between emsa and wek next year and we've got a clash between emsa and the elms next year at least one then you bring in things like world challenge the fact we've got this ludicrous three week period where you've got the three major european 24 hour races what else the other that's just plain nuts change it please it's just but it failed it's as simple as that there's been a major failure there in terms of the planning that's gone on between the organizations concerned so I know it's a source of huge irritation to drive us that's before by the way we've talked about Formula E which is a long benefactor in this I know it's a source of major irritation to the drivers who are affected by this I'm going to give you the counterpoint I'm really sorry guys if you can't do two or even three full seasons of something but that all that means is you should have the ability through what you wield in contract negotiations so these get paid enough to offset that we are in a position as we've said in two or three other points in this this show where you and I know what cars are going to be there before we turn up because it's full okay and that's not boring but it does remove that free son of uncertainty about what you might see when you turn up the turn style in one small way getting a little bit of fluidity with the driver line-ups is actually quite nice the fact that you will see a driver that maybe hasn't had a full season drive the fact that you might see a driver that maybe gets the outing here and there and get covered and show us what he's got and then maybe make his case for a race or drive next season I quite like that I quite like the fact that to be blunt we've got a little bit more used to write that you can you can take a point of view of somebody that maybe has not been doing the last two or three races as to what the level of competition is how tough they're finding adapting between the car that were driving last week of the car that driving this week it just makes it a little bit more interesting I I'm gonna get I'm sure really rude text messages and phone calls from a number of people and yes I'm talking about you fully beyond the Kirk on Gavin probably just anyway yeah I get that anyway it doesn't matter if it's anything controversial yeah but obviously I mean that the restraining order just did not work um but I like it I don't think it's this big a problem this is made out um I'm not a massive fan of competing races uh clashing but in that one small thing I quite like that mmm toffee boy um wants to talk about lemon and and ticketing for the lemon to browse I know that the sales coming up isn't it next month I think the pre-server tickets since the event's been over subscribed for the last two years and it's negatively impacted the spectator experience in his opinion are they going to count the tickets in 2025 well haven't they done that well they have well there's two three reasons well the fact that he says he's over subscribed means it has so it's no it's no change so okay the way it works is this any major public event operates against a safety certificate it's the level at which the powers that be the local authority the emergency services will allow a number of people in a particular space for a particular time and that's worked out against I'm sure an extremely complicated formula on a number of fronts including just how much resource you need to pour into accommodate those people traffic management safety security um the ability of emergency services to to access and egress from those venues all sorts of things so the answer there is I'm really really interested as to how it's affected the spectator experience because that's not something I'd heard okay I've had all sorts of of comment about the way in which they've made the choice about how the tickets are sold but I had some comment about the way they're managing camping and how many places there are left and which areas are being squeezed for hospitality now I'd love to hear that I'd love to hear that because here's the point that's not something I see or it's not something you much see you know your family still go to Le Mans yep but you know my experience at Le Mans is not that of a fan and that's not me being arrogant it's just different so our experience has changed of late because we've had to move around where we stay on site because of things like the major soundstage and the drone display and the fireworks displays that's all impacted in terms of some of them I knew sharp what we do please do tell us what it is that's uh that's been affected here if toffee boy is uh uh because it's an evertonian thing because it's the toffees are Everton the famous done successful British football team I say that my grandmother a proud evertonian born and bred um but do tell us what that's about and I'm more than happy to expand on that or indeed to take that to ever we can to to pass on that uh that comment dumbbrek fan I think this is going to be our last question it's Tomoko hey Tomoko Kobayashi by the way Tomoko I'm just about at the uh the end of the massive bag of what was it this is yes Tomoko that's Tomoko all right and so the massive bag of snacks that we've been munching our way through to follow the marmalade toast things marmalade toast things were amazing they were really good I've got a moment I'm on the butter chicken rice crackers any good yeah the rice crackers the taste of butter chicken brilliant yes that's great to me he wants to ask she she sorry she do apologize um first off when does practice start lemon is I'm assuming this is because they want to know about attending or what days right so we get the test day don't we on the sunday and then the practice starts on the dot on track is Wednesday Wednesday yeah we get monday and tuesday so on track we have all day sunday there is there is action including the news european series that race on test day then we've got all sorts of shenanigans at the circuit monday tuesday the so-called days off wednesday thursday uh practice and qualifying friday we now have uh support races as well and all sorts of stuff i wouldn't say as if you are looking to go and and you're looking at the time time when you go there's no point in going before do practice um because there's nothing nothing on that is a really good opportunity for like the autograph sessions you're getting close to the cars and drivers so if you're if that's something that interests you that is quieter yeah and there's really good opportunities on those days and to mocha and by the way i've known to mocha for my entire life journalistic professional career five years way more than that and if you are planning to come to lemond's mocha please let me know and i absolutely guarantee you we'll bring you a bag snacks yes indeed we'll bring you a bag of stacks and then you'll understand yeah uh but do let us know if you're coming because i'd be great if you did turn up with your friend mackey i think mackey is to mocha's good friend that we see it's uh food she every year and i've seen uh to mocha a number of other races around the world as well but if lemond is happening for you for twenty twenty five please please let me know and we'll see what we can do to add something to the experience uh and yeah so the second part of this uh and this will be the proper final question is why do they play at lemond twenty four hours and other race and wc and i'm going to butcher this but go for it i'll so spatch zara spritter spritter spritter spritter spritter at the start of each race uh because it sounds cool and what what that piece of music does is to the way that music is played as the cars come to the final parts of the final formation i love it and basically it's about enhancing drama before the racing engines take over and you could say that maybe it's a bit you know contrived i love it so i love it i think they should only do it in the bomb because it is like that is the race of the year no i'd like to do it we do it now at the uh the semesters yeah i think yeah i think we should do it literally i think the the uh mr lemond captured do it i think nisha europeans do it like that time i want to finish touring cars they should do it without a shadow doubt there was a time you out there if it was me and marcel went to pull record for blunt pound endurance uh in the one the very very early years of that championship and they played the thing to the bunny hill plate and they put on the speakers in the paddock as and you'll know this at a pull record gram the paddock has big tanois speakers yes it does like music you do well they they got that so it's got themselves into a complete mess that weekend and this has been 2014 i'd say where they put on get lucky by daft punk and there was a fault in that space system and it played repeatedly for the entire weekend one song oh that sounds a little bit like the road trip i was on where every we didn't we're for us in the car uh cross europe um in fact it was and now i think about it it was going to island silence this funeral and every time we turned on the uh stereo it was playing mr blue sky and we couldn't work out why it was playing mr blue sky by elo couldn't work it out and we're all completely knackered okay you can say drunk but what it emerged it was it was a algae eight um long wheel based car so for the most part we're chatting away but on the odd occasion i think four five six times we turned it on during two days we're in this car going to denmark and back from the uk and every time we switched it on it was mr blue sky it's like something out of groundhog day um it was only maybe elo and denmark it was only when we got quite close to home that we realized what it was unbeknownst to us that the car had paired with i think it might have been my phone just because i jefflin and it was and it was just it was just the next thing on but because i'd obviously pressed play it was all playing every time and then you turn it off and it's pause it and of course this suit it was also playing just a one song or it would then repeat the same song it's not a playlist it was just the song it's a very long way of saying that must be really irritating it was pretty irritating yeah but not irritating by the way as two o'clock in the morning at the spa 24 hours where from whatever reason at very high volume they generally play some kind of i believe the kids call it jungle or techno wow do you remember the days when you used to go to the Nurba Green 24 hours and they would play David Hasselhoff songs in the press room or was that just the years that it was a year or two i would remark with lurch and they'd literally play David Hasselhoff songs instead of commentary during the race it's the name they love it they actually love it they are thinking of replacing the National Anthem with David Hasselhoff songs but that's what we look forward to that when Porsche win Andre Lothar was crowned champion of the bar and beach absolutely they played David Hasselhoff might be their in person might be well it's a beach he swims his name very much well he runs up down the beach i wouldn't go that far either way that's been the weekend sports girls thanks so much to everybody for submitting the questions really sorry if we didn't get to yours there will be another opportunity thanks to Daniel Summersgill for very rapidly putting that that was together thanks again to you Stephen for making the time to come over and record this show we hope post particular Mon to welcome back Marshall Prout next week i know he's keen to get back into the saddle and each other plenty of news and gossip from particular Mon to add into the mix i hope to be putting that show together as a um a list of question led show as well by that stage i should be on site in Porti Mal for the European Le Mans series finale you'll be a completely different finale yeah finale Mondi Ali so that by the way would make one good t-shirt but that is the end of season celebration of all things Ferrari you've never been have you i've never been i'm looking to you like Ferraris i do now you're going to be seeing a lot of Ferraris like imagine the number of Ferraris you could see and it's more than that yeah i'm really looking forward to it just great opportunity so there's lots going on and more to come beyond that but for now i've been great good but he's been Stephen Kilby this has been the weekend sports cars part of the Marshall Prout podcast podcast excuse me collection we will speak to you next week
