Grand-Am Road Racing
 | |
| Sport | Sports car racing, Touring car racing |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction |  United States Canada |
| Abbreviation | Grand-Am |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Daytona Beach, Florida |
| President | Ed Bennett |
Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an
Overview
The Grand American Road Racing Association was established in 1999 and was located in Daytona Beach, Florida, near the homes of NASCAR, International Speedway Corporation (ISC), and Daytona International Speedway. Although originated by some members of the NASCAR community, Grand-Am centers on different styles of racing including sports car racing and touring car racing on road racing circuits throughout North America.
On September 4, 2008, NASCAR Holdings announced their buyout of the Grand American Road Racing Association in an attempt to merge communications, research, and marketing resources into a single entity, while allowing each organization to continue to control their own racing series.[1]
On September 5, 2012, the series announced that they would be merging with the Braselton, Georgia-based American Le Mans Series. Both series stayed current in 2013 and began a combined series in 2014.[2]
Rolex Sports Car Series
The premiere series of Grand-Am was the
In 2003, the series replaced its Sports Racing Prototypes with new Daytona Prototypes, a custom-built class built specifically for the Rolex Series. These cost-effective race cars offer a relatively economical racing environment in which technology is carefully controlled to ensure close racing and approximate parity between different chassis and engines. For the 2012 season, the Rolex series rolled out Gen-III prototypes with new bodies, engines and chassis. These new chassis were designed to keep costs low while also creating body shapes with more brand characteristics. The new chassis were headlined by Corvette and new Ford prototypes.
The GT classes were also simplified over the years, allowing for a variety of American, European, and Japanese manufacturers to participate including Audi, Chevrolet, Ferrari, BMW, Porsche, Ford and Mazda. Rules allowed tuned production cars or custom tube frame chassis to be used, letting participants save cost if necessary.
In 2013 the GX class were introduced running with alternative fuel and new technology that was not already in use in GT cars. The contending manufacturers were Mazda, Porsche, and Lotus.
Daytona Prototypes and GTs usually shared the track although do occasionally race separately, typically at shorter circuits.
Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series
Originally based on a Canadian series before being acquired by Grand-Am, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (originally known as Grand-Am Cup) is a production-based
Ferrari Challenge
Grand-Am was the sanctioning body behind the North American arm of the international
Shell Historic Challenge
Tied together with the Ferrari Challenge series, the
Grand-Am iRacing.com Online Sports Car Series
Grand-Am also sanctioned an online racing series through the
Series defunct before the merger
Formula Renault 2000
Grand-Am initially sanctioned the North American arm of the Formula Renault series under the 2.0 Litre formula. However the series was later reorganized and came under the control of the National Auto Sport Association (NASA) where it currently runs under the Formula TR name.
Ford Racing Mustang Challenge
The Ford Racing Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup was a series which started in 2008. A one-make series similar to the Ferrari Challenge, this series used identical
The series held its final event September 12, 2010 at Miller Motorsports Park.
SunTrust Moto-ST Series
The only motorcycle series run by Grand-Am, the SunTrust Moto-ST Series was an endurance racing series launched in 2007 for production-based motorcycles. Races ranged from three hours to eight hours. Motorcycles were four-stroke, two cylinder models and broken into classes depending on power and weight. Teams of riders were used to run an endurance event. From 2009 the series was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association.
References
- ^ "NASCAR Holdings Announces Plan to Acquire GRAND-AM". Grand American Road Racing Association. 2008-09-04. Archived from the original on 2008-09-07. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ "GRAND-AM: ALMS Merger Made Official". Archived from the original on 2012-11-23. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
- ^ "GRAND-AM to Sanction Multi-Class Online Racing for iRacing.com". grand-am.com. October 25, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-01.
- ^ "Mustang Challenge // Series News". Archived from the original on 2010-07-25. Retrieved 2010-09-25.
- ^ FR500S Vehicle Technical Specifications[permanent dead link], SCCA Pro Racing, 11/16/2011, accessed 1/30/2012
- ^ "Untitled Document". Archived from the original on 2010-08-21. Retrieved 2010-09-07.
Grand-Am, American Le Mans Series Merger Details
External links
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| National | |
