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11 Apr 2011, 14:32 (Ref:2861923) | #26 | |||
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I wasn't born til the mid-90s, so if you think I'm being ignorant, I'm not, I'm just going by what my Dad tells me (who was around at the time), and the Group C videos I was brought up on (Le Mans 1987 was far more interesting than Fireman Sam or Pingu ). The whole momentum from Group C, I gather, came from how big it became. There'd be races at tracks like Mexico City with sell-out crowds, race reports would be right near the front in Autosport, and Le Mans results even found their way on to the back pages of newspapers. That world is long gone now, and it's a shame. Times have changed and if the ACO wanted it all back, they could have it with decent promotion. I do understand the niche it currently holds, but what harm would it do to tap back in to the back of Joe Public's mind? I don't expect and maybe I don't even want popularity like Moto GP or F1, that's not necessary. But there are more people watching Indycars and the BTCC, cars with hand-dryers for engines, than there are the ILMC. I dread to think how many more. An increase in popularity may mean that Porsche or Ferrari could justify a full-blown LMP1 effort, let's say. Surely that would make sportscars seem like more of a high-end, upper-class sport than DIESEL Audis and Pugeots which run the show now? |
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11 Apr 2011, 14:36 (Ref:2861928) | #27 | |
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11 Apr 2011, 17:49 (Ref:2862026) | #28 | ||
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Ever since, Le Mans hasn't been part of a championship which was fine until the late '90's when manufacturers pulled-out, putting together grids became volatile and without a championship it was difficult to build momentum and a media profile. The LMS went a long way to building privateer fields but the ACO are running the ILMC in-house because each race needs the same effort and focus as Le Mans itself, no longer can a manufacturer commit tens of millions to race in one major event, Le Mans can only prosper if the sport as a whole has a higher media profile season long. This is only year one, unlike the FIA or NASCAR there aren't split loyalties, sportcars are their sole focus. |
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11 Apr 2011, 19:06 (Ref:2862066) | #29 | ||
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11 Apr 2011, 21:32 (Ref:2862133) | #30 | |
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"World Championship" doesn't mean it has to be a FIA series but it's a special status and needs an auhorisation from FIA. Before you disagree, read ACO sporting regs Art. 2.1 a.
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11 Apr 2011, 21:37 (Ref:2862135) | #31 | ||||
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Also, I think "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" is a bunch of nonsense. I think a more apt saying would be "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday five years from now." Racing now isn't so much about selling cars directly as much as it is about building brand equity over the long term. Having said that, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" probably is more likely to occur in sports car racing than F1 or NASCAR just given the nature of the supporters. Sports car racing fans are in general big time car guys and so they read the car blogs and magazines that cover sports car racing pretty well. Quote:
I can't speak for Europe, but I don't see there being any chance of the ACO buying airtime on ABC, CBS, NBC, or one of the top tier ESPN networks in the United States in order to air a highlights package unless Porsche, Michelin, or someone wants to pay for it themselves. I don't see much hope for that at the moment given that Porsche does not even have a GTE-Pro car in the ILMC. Quote:
One thing that could grab the attention of manufacturers is a legitimate green formula where things like Porsche's hybrid technology can go head-to-head with something like Toyota, Ford, or Peugeot's hybrid technology. Unfortunately, this will probably require some precise performance balancing that goes way beyond diesel-petrol equivalence in order to avoid making the OEMs mad. Also, would this "green formula" take place with prototypes or GTs? It seems that GT might be the answer given that some manufacturers like Porsche and Ford have high-end "green" sports cars on the drawing board or in existence already. Perhaps they can be equalized to prototypes in order to make a new GT1 type field, but who knows. Plus, I don't think such plans would be very privateer friendly unless the privateers are happy to be in GTE and LMP2 type classes. A final question - just how good was Group C TV coverage back in the day? It basically got no coverage in the US on TV or in the car magazines that I can remember outside of Le Mans. Perhaps it was covered on some obscure C-band satellite channel or in some magazines that I did not get. I watch some Group C TV highlights on RacefansTV and the crowds at those races make current ALMS race crowds look like the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, or World Cup. It's a good thing we had IMSA in the US or else sports car racing would have been pretty much dead in the US during the Group C days. I think the same paradigm would be true today with the ALMS and ILMC. |
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11 Apr 2011, 22:11 (Ref:2862153) | #32 | ||
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Group C was screwed over as the FIA not only controlled regs, forcing 3.5 F1 engines on the sport, via Bernie they also controlled commercial rights leading to increased entry fees, track charges, TV and video rights etc. An EU ruling forced the FIA to only be a governing body. |
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11 Apr 2011, 22:43 (Ref:2862163) | #33 | ||
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Really? For example right now? In my opinion, right now, it's pretty long way from even deserving it. And Ratel's series was just set up so that further complicates things. Unless it has collapsed by the day when ACO sends the application.
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12 Apr 2011, 17:27 (Ref:2862505) | #34 | |
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If a series meets the criteria it's given World Championship status with Todt saying an Endurance Championship is needed.
You look at the state WTCC and FIA GT are in and the ILMC would slot pretty comfortably behind mainstays F1 and WRC. |
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12 Apr 2011, 18:03 (Ref:2862526) | #35 | ||
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Back in Group C days there were only a few channels so live TV of long races was not practical. Now with hundreds of channels including specialist ones it is possible. To me having full live races on niche TV channels like Motors plus a highlights package on mainstream, preferable free to view, TV provides the best of both worlds especially if a little help can be given to the niche channels to get wider coverage in more markets.
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12 Apr 2011, 18:13 (Ref:2862529) | #36 | ||
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12 Apr 2011, 18:39 (Ref:2862540) | #37 | |
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Your confusing what the FIA was when they owned commercial interests and today were they govern the sport but leave others to run series.
The ACO have said applying for World Championship status is being considered as entrants want it. |
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12 Apr 2011, 18:40 (Ref:2862541) | #38 | ||
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And there is still Ferdinand Piech, who created the 917, who too highly welcomes Porsche Prototypes. The question is, when and with which concept Porsche comes along. |
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12 Apr 2011, 20:28 (Ref:2862600) | #39 | |
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12 Apr 2011, 20:40 (Ref:2862604) | #40 | ||
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Not sure if this is what JAG was referring to, but here's what mr. Todt told last August...
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12 Apr 2011, 20:42 (Ref:2862606) | #41 | |
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In Autosport some time back, it was in regards to the ILMC applying.
Speed have a few good articles were the ACO, teams, drivers etc. have talked about a World Championship. |
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12 Apr 2011, 21:25 (Ref:2862640) | #42 | ||
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12 Apr 2011, 22:55 (Ref:2862673) | #43 | |
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Thanks for that planetlemans.com quote.
If we are talking about same kind of comments, I'm afraid they have mentioned it only nominally. It only shows the teams and drivers would like it to happen. |
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13 Apr 2011, 06:21 (Ref:2862750) | #44 | ||
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Also Porsche officials already are in negotiations with ACO officials about the details of a Porsche prototype return. A typical German thing happens here if you want so. Porsche, and VW therefore, don't come out blurting "woohooo , we return to Le Mans with a prototype" to the public way before they have details of the return sorted but keep quiet until they have something in hands to show off. |
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13 Apr 2011, 06:49 (Ref:2862756) | #45 | ||
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Andy - I have heard that Porsche are in discussions with the ACO /FiA with regards to the 918 RSR, but nothing related to talks concerning a prototype entry.
Also -I'm not really convinced by all this. I am sure that Porsche might ..at some indefinite point in time...come back to prototype racing. I just don't believe it is in the near future. (say the next 2 -3 years). I hope I'm wrong. |
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13 Apr 2011, 07:00 (Ref:2862759) | #46 | ||
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13 Apr 2011, 08:07 (Ref:2862777) | #47 | ||
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No - The face-off wont be a GT battle. Think of it this way: Porsche will race the GT3 RSR Hybrid until the end of this year. They plan (if successful in their negotiations) to race the 918RSR next year. It will most probably be (at least) a 2 year program so it is not likely that they would be ready for a full blown LMP program (with Hybrid) until about 2014 (or at very best late 2013) I don't dispute that they want to face Audi/Peugeot with a different concept, I just don't see it happening that soon.
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13 Apr 2011, 11:29 (Ref:2862840) | #48 | ||
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A tweet I've just seen.
"EurosportUKTV Eurosport UK TV by Lemansrace Pleased to announce Eurosport will broadcast the new Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, featuring Le Mans 24 Hours, for the next 3 seasons!..." |
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13 Apr 2011, 13:46 (Ref:2862894) | #49 | ||
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Great (), so 15 minutes of coverage from each shorter race every 3 hours, Le Mans shuffled wildly around the two channels... oh, and in the event of no Web access, Carlton Kirby.
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13 Apr 2011, 17:19 (Ref:2862968) | #50 | |
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A multi-year deal is much better than the last minute programming we've become used to and the station is well established across much of Europe.
Eurosports 24hrs coverage is great and when they commit to a series like the IRC it's always top notch. |
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