Sebring Entry List

[BigH]

Without googling, I'd say it was early nineties, maybe 92.

Martini,
The year was in fact 1992, I can't believe I guessed right!
The ACO yearbook has 14 cars marked as finishers, although I think that's giving them the benefit of the doubt and they are in fact trying to talk it up a little. As usual, some of the last cars were walking wounded, pushed out of the pits just to make the last lap and therefore qualify as a finisher. The last recorded finisher is shown as being almost 100 laps behind.
This was Peugeots first victory, and it must have been Jean Marie Bastardos' remit to make sure a French car took the win, after all, a Japanese car won it the previous year, and that was a bit hard to take for the ACO.
To be fair to Peugeot and Jean Todt though, they thoroughly deserved their final win in 93, the 905s were truly spectacular. I can still vividly recall standing about 100m up from the start of the pit straight at around 2am Sunday watching them squirm out of the Ford chicane and then pile on the noise and power through the gears. It was very, very impressive, - their fastest lap was 3:21, compared to Audis 3:37 last year...
H
Oh, and don't be scared of Fax, he's just been a bit grumpy since he discovered James Hunt had a very active feminine side, and Emmo liked arranging flowers in his spare time.

[Nordic]

Martin,
37 cars on 3.7 mile circut is plenty busy.  Last time I checked, it was mostly a ALMS sweep of the top spots on the podium in each class at Le Mans.  Funny thing about the guys who race at Sebring, they actually race the rest of the season as well, might explain why they wipe the floor with the Euros when they go over.
Fax

It may have been a clean sweep, but only one win used a car not made in Europe. Not sure how many cars on the grid this year at Sebring have roots in the US, maybe only Panoz and Corvette? the rest come from european companys (ok some may have been put together in the US like the M3).

The Porsche LMP2 car was paid for by the US importer, once the European teams get hold of them then we will see just how fast they are, Penske pah!...

BigH is right about the 905' the TS010 where very good cars as well. As Fax says its about quality and 92 had that.

However it pissed down that year and my tent leaked, the BRM made a fleeting return visit using a 20 year old engine and lasted about 20 mins, it was not all great I suppose.

[Fax]

My point all along is that big grid counts are over-rated.  At Daytona they start massive grids for the Rolex (70-80 cars) but two-thirds of them cobbled together death-traps and are gone within three hours.
At Sebring the grid count stands at ONLY 37 but its a very, very high quality grid, I'll take that over a grid of 50 or 60 rolling disasters any day.  At Le Mans they start fifity something cars but I've been there several times when, by seven o'clock on Sunday morning you've got eight cars circulating at any one time.  On a circut that long, you want to talk about gaps between cars!  Noridc, as for Penske Racing, their record speaks for itself.
Fax

[Fax]

On other quick point about the grid size, with a handful of exceptions, that will be the entry list for every ALMS race this year!  You won't hear me complaining at Mid-Ohio in May with that line-up sitting on the starting grid.
I was fairly or unfairly taking a swipe at the teams that show at Le Mans for their only race of the year.  I won't be a hypocrite though, trust me its worse for the Indy 500.
You end up with a garage area full of cars that look like they were assembled by racoons.  The poor bastard who decides to try and qualify one of these usually ends his month of May in Methodist Hospital.
Fax

[Nordic]

I was fairly or unfairly taking a swipe at the teams that show at Le Mans for their only race of the year.  Fax

I totally agree, they really piss me off as well, spending loads to build or buy a car that sits in a garage for 99% of the year is crazy.

The ACO needs to support the teams that do come out more, it may hurt some and I am sure there will be whines when some 'big shot' team is left out, but in my book you either show up or shut up.

[Nordic]

On other quick point about the grid size, with a handful of exceptions, that will be the entry list for every ALMS race this year! 

Some good news (I think)

Audi Sport North America will run the entire ALMS series

Champion will work closely with Joest at Sebring with the R10's, then ASNA will run the R8's at the three following rounds.
Champion will then run the new R10 when it returns from Le Mans (subject to getting an entry, yeah right) from Salt Lake City.

[chop456]

On other quick point about the grid size, with a handful of exceptions, that will be the entry list for every ALMS race this year! 

Some good news (I think)

Audi Sport North America will run the entire ALMS series

Champion will work closely with Joest at Sebring with the R10's, then ASNA will run the R8's at the three following rounds.
Champion will then run the new R10 when it returns from Le Mans (subject to getting an entry, yeah right) from Salt Lake City.

Here's a link from the ALMS page:

http://americanlemans.com/News/Article.aspx?NewsID=1762