Adam R:
I'm also worried about the simple gentleman's aspect of the class/series. The Ford GT was created with waivers from the ACO and FIA and they obviously sandbagged in order to get a favorable BoP. With this GT and Porsche running a bastardized 911, I can easily see this turning into the late 90s GT1 class all over again, complete with a big spending war.
I think the regulators have slowly been painting themselves into a corner with the GTE regulations (and the trend is starting to spread to LMP1). The whole BoP fiasco is a mess, and unless they sort that out quickly, you may find some of the manufacturers loosing interest because they will feel that it is the BoP that determines the winner and not the engineering behind their cars.
Contrary to popular belief (and here Futch will most likely not agree) Manufacturers are the back bone of any good professional series such as the WEC. Without Porsche, Audi ,Toyota, Ferrari (GTE) , and Chevrolet, there simply would be no WEC (as we know it).
The Fords will never race in GTE-AM (at least not in the foreseeable future) and I wonder if the "bastardised" 911 will ever race in that class too.
Spending wars and cost control: I am very, very wary of regulators regulating costs. They have a nasty habit of regulating costs when it comes to performance enhancements, but have no issue what-so- ever in allowing exorbitant cost increases when it comes to things that they think that they can control. (i.e safety, slowing the cars, etc). An example of this can be seen when they instituted the Fuel-Flow meters (LMP1). Rumors suggested that it resulted in estimated costs of about $100K per car (This included not just the $4,5K for the flow meter itself, but also all the engine work and testing that was required in order to guarantee constant fuel flow). Now whilst that sum is not really that significant , it is still money, and it is still coming out of budgets. Constant change of regulations (which they love to do) also contributes (massively) to skyrocketing costs.
I'm a supply-side guy: My take on this is that manufacturers will always spend what they can afford. It really should not be up to the regulator to decide how much should or should not be spent by each competitor. Obviously a balance must be found and common sense (a lot less common than is often thought) should prevail, but from a philosophical stand point; I'm happier when that "balance" is slightly more "balanced" toward the side of freedom.
