Paul Drayson to ALMS (with Aston?) - The Race Forums - A Social Network for Fans of the American Le Mans

mariantic · 11-07-2007, 09:17 AM

This is an interesting story. Lord (Paul) Drayson the UK's Minister of Defence Procurement has been given "leave of absence" to race in the ALMS next year en route to a Le Mans entry in the future.

See BBC:

For those who don't know Drayson owns a GT3 Aston Martin DBRS9 which Barwell Racing have run sucessfully in British GT this year. He is also very rich!

So what will he be driving in ALMS? An existing team? Which class?

Bear in mind he is aiming for Le Mans, so my guess is a new team with the chance of winning an autobid- has to be GT1 doesn't it?

John Dagys · 11-07-2007, 10:19 AM

Sounds like it will be with a bio-ethanol car. But, effectively, all ALMS cars are that (E10).

(Just speculating) - Maybe Barwell is pushing ahead with Prodrive to develop a GT2 Aston for next year. With the latest news from DSC on the "Generic Test Car", perhaps it will become a reality quicker than we expected. This is just speculation though..

I'm trying to dig deeper into this story from one of my British colleagues who covers the British GT series and knows Paul pretty well. I'll let you guys know if I come up with anything.

HORNDAWG · 11-07-2007, 01:23 PM

Barwell as a 'supported' team in the ALMS with DBR9(s)? With Prodrive almost certainly shot out of the water for F-1 in 08 then maybe this will be an incentive for them to return to the ALMS next year, if nothing else as a support role for Barwell.(?) As his stated intention is to reach LeMans and GT-1 being the easiest class in the ALMS at the moment to achieve this, simply for lack of competitors(#'s) in the class. With AM be the weapon of choice for Lord Drayson and Barwell in British GT this year maybe a "works" prepared DBR9 or two are in the cards.(?)

John Dagys · 11-07-2007, 01:37 PM

yes, GT1 looks to be the ideal class to enter. That's my opinion though..

DSC has an article confirming that Drayson is in negotiations with Barwell for his ALMS program. Choice of car has yet to be confirmed.

Marcel ten Caat · 11-07-2007, 04:33 PM

What DBR9 would that be? Barwell entered a DBR9 in FIA GT this year, but that car is no longer theirs, Gigawave Motorsport will run it in FIA GT in 2008.

Will they get a 'new' DBR9 from somewhere else or as John said will they field AMR's first GT2 car?

John Dagys · 11-07-2007, 08:51 PM

I guess it could be a new DBR9 if they wanted it. Barwell does have close links to Prodrive so I wouldn't see a problem.

The question is now this: Would it be better for the series to have a GT1 DBR9 or a GT2 DB9 -based model? Whether to have "a" competitor for Corvette, or to have another potentially serious competitor going up against Ferraris, Porsches, Corvette (Z06s), and maybe a Panoz in GT2?

If it was me, I would pick GT2, unless the DBR9 project was a real serious one ("works supported" as Larbre and BMS are in Europe)

HORNDAWG · 11-07-2007, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Dagys

I guess it could be a new DBR9 if they wanted it. Barwell does have close links to Prodrive so I wouldn't see a problem.

The question is now this: Would it be better for the series to have a GT1 DBR9 or a GT2 DB9 -based model? Whether to have "a" competitor for Corvette, or to have another potentially serious competitor going up against Ferraris, Porsches, Corvette (Z06s), and maybe a Panoz in GT2?

If it was me, I would pick GT2, unless the DBR9 project was a real serious one ("works supported" as Larbre and BMS are in Europe)

But is it not his ( Lord Drayson) stated intention to seek a LeMans entry? And even a non 'works' backed GT-1 team that ran the entire season should score enough points to recieve an auto entry from the ACO as there is no other cars in GT-1 save Corvette. So is not the most probable way to achieve his goal by running in GT-1? And I do not believe that $$$ is an issue. (?)

John Dagys · 11-07-2007, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

But is it not his ( Lord Drayson) stated intention to seek a LeMans entry? And even a non 'works' backed GT-1 team that ran the entire season should score enough points to recieve an auto entry from the ACO as there is no other cars in GT-1 save Corvette. So is not the most probable way to achieve his goal by running in GT-1? And I do not believe that $$$ is an issue. (?)

Yes, good point. I completely forgot that a GT1 entry would get an auto LM entry granted they finish right behind the Corvettes (and also granted that Corvette get their 2 auto entries from either a 1-2 finish at Le Mans and/or a Petit LM win). That would leave the "GT1 Championship" auto entry open for another team to take up.

So, this looks to be indeed leading towards a GT1 effort.

WMUCarGuy · 11-08-2007, 02:56 PM

Does anyone know if he's a capable driver? Or would his car just be the Robertsons of GT1?

Nick Koske · 11-08-2007, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Does anyone know if he's a capable driver? Or would his car just be the Robertsons of GT1?

Well the car he drove came in 2nd in the British GT championship. Got to be worth something. Here's the results http://www.britishgt.com/results.php?action=showresults

2 firsts, 3 seconds, 3 thirds in 14 races...doesn't seem bad.