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But then why design a car and race it next year or the year after for it to be obsolete within a year or two due to rules changes?
That is the issue with the ACO and the FIA appealing to and appeasing manufacturers, who want and like 3 year programs, so the ACO often changes rules every three years and that doesn't stop them from making major changes in the middle of those 3 years. Like the skid height increase to 25mm/1 inch from the ALMS Baltimore round onwards, combined with a louver area increase for the front fenders and a request for teams to run rear fender louvers, with the rules makers insisting that teams run them for next year.
This means that Audi and Peugeot will have to modify the bodywork on their cars for at least the third time the year, and ironically according to Mulsanne Mike's page when he talked about the IMSA Competition Bulletin that mentioned these changes, the came about after Peugeot suggested such changes to the ACO and the FIA in response to their own private investigation into their testing accidents.
For Audi and Peugeot or any other factory team, these changes are merely an inconvenience that's a drop in the ocean for their budgets. But how will the private teams respond, namely those that have narrow budgets?
Unless it's a safety issue that effect more than one type of car, the ACO should leave it up to the teams to ensure the safety of their men and machines, but then again, the FIA took a hands off approach in the '60s, '70s, and much of the '80s, and we know where that got us.
That's about the only good thing about how NASCAR has run things with the COT and to an extent the early common template cars--they may've become generic and bland, but at least the teams don't whine and b.... about one manufacturer having an advantage, and has cut down significantly on in-season rules changes. And it's the in-season rules changes I feel that hurt smaller teams, and also is what's keeping the other factories away, aside from the 3 year plan deal and that 2012 and '13 is too late for that when they can work for '14.
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