IMSA TUSC 2015 Entries, Schedule, and Rumors

[Gulf]

Originally Posted by Purist

Cutting events, and especially cutting event durations, has been a hallmark of EVERY major sportscar series that has then headed into oblivion, at least since the demise of the original Can-Am 40 years ago. It certainly was the case for both IMSA GTP and the old WSC.

If that is true then I absolutely support cutting events. 12 Laps of Sebring, has a nice ring to it.

[Deleted]

How about
Jan) "24 Heures du Daytona"
May) "6 Hours of Mexico"
Jul) "6 Hours of Watkins Glen"
Aug) "6 Hours of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park"
Aug) "6 Hours of Montreal"
Sep) "6 Hours of Miller Motorsport Park"
Sep) "6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas" (separate race from WEC for 'logistical' reasons)
Sep) "6 Hours of Indianapolis"

Or, to make it a 'winter' calendar with emphasis on "Road to Daytona"
Aug) "6 Hours of Montreal"
Aug) "6 Hours of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park"
Sep) "6 Hours of Watkins Glen"
Sep) "6 Hours of Indianapolis"
Oct) "6 Hours of Miller Motorsport Park"
Nov) "6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas"
Dec) "6 Hours of Mexico"
Jan) "24 Heures du Daytona"

Entries artificially capped at 30 for all events so that there is plenty of room in the paddock for everybody, and corporate guests can enjoy their champagne without too much annoying engine noise.

Wouldn't that be the greatest thing, not to mention cost saver ever?

No.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Yeah those NAEC numbers are staggering. Do you think Watkins Glen should be cut to 4 hours and Road Atlanta cut to 8? Some of you might scream sacrilege but I think this should be done. If cost containment is a real issue still.

If you really need to cut hours from the big events, then I think that Daytona should be returned to its original three hour format. Daytona did not feature a twenty four hour race until 1966.
Regarding the Road Atlanta event, in my opinion the 2013 event was the final Petit Lemans, so the length of the current race is really not that important.
The real question is, will simply trying to lower operating cost make the series more viable. Probably not, at this point.

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by FstrthnU

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/ma...-2015-program/
Some good news for once, Magnus Racing will return with an unchanged GTD program.

It's sad that the only good news of late, is that a team is not leaving the series.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

How about
Jan) "24 Heures du Daytona"
May) "6 Hours of Mexico"
Jul) "6 Hours of Watkins Glen"
Aug) "6 Hours of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park"
Aug) "6 Hours of Montreal"
Sep) "6 Hours of Miller Motorsport Park"
Sep) "6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas" (separate race from WEC for 'logistical' reasons)
Sep) "6 Hours of Indianapolis"

Or, to make it a 'winter' calendar with emphasis on "Road to Daytona"
Aug) "6 Hours of Montreal"
Aug) "6 Hours of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park"
Sep) "6 Hours of Watkins Glen"
Sep) "6 Hours of Indianapolis"
Oct) "6 Hours of Miller Motorsport Park"
Nov) "6 Hours of Circuit of the Americas"
Dec) "6 Hours of Mexico"
Jan) "24 Heures du Daytona"

Entries artificially capped at 30 for all events so that there is plenty of room in the paddock for everybody, and corporate guests can enjoy their champagne without too much annoying engine noise.

Wouldn't that be the greatest thing, not to mention cost saver ever?

No.

It wasnt funny the first time, nor is it now.

[MagVanisher]

How about reduce the number of rounds instead of reducing the race duration.

[Speed-King]

If the series wants to be a professional sport rather than a glorified club race like ELMS, they already have too few races as it stands right now...

On the other hand, maybe the professional sport thingy isn't gonna work anyway, so who knows?

Here's another idea, take a page from Latin American football/soccer and have two series a year. A winter endurance series centered around Daytona and Sebring, with maybe one or two more races thrown in and a summer sprint series a bit like Can Am used to do it, starting after Le Mans, wrapping up in early fall?

[MagVanisher]

How about they should emulate the Blancpain Series. The Apartura/Clasura style is very foreign to an American audience.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by TF110

It wasnt funny the first time, nor is it now.

What first time?

[Dodge_Swinger]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[jasonjessica09]

Remember the biggest positive to come since the Petit Le Mans is RLM being involved in TUSC again. I hope that IMSA does us a big favor and allow their commentary to be used for the youtube race replays in 2015.

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

How about reduce the number of rounds instead of reducing the race duration.

Too many good tracks to do that. This is why I'd rather them cut the distances to Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. (only if necessary to save costs in the future) Those races do not have the tradition as Daytona and Sebring so they should never be touched.

However I hope that this won't be needed.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

What first time?

Its hard to tell, your posts all read the same with regards to the wec using a 6hr format.

[MagVanisher]

@jasonjessica09

However, both Petit Le Mans and the 6 Hours at the Glen are classic events so reducing the duration will ruin it!

How about make a rotation to some tracks like the Belle Isle, VIR, and Lime Rock.

[Rcz]

Yeah, don't mess with the enduros.

I agree that lowering the amount of track or reducing the distance would not really help the series.

It's getting it on TV broadcast that will ultimately help the teams, more eyes on the car means more sponsers on the cars.

It's kind of cool that we have the main series, that runs the entire schedule and the NAEC. Almost like two series.

[Gulf]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

@jasonjessica09

However, both Petit Le Mans and the 6 Hours at the Glen are classic events so reducing the duration will ruin it!

How about make a rotation to some tracks like the Belle Isle, VIR, and Lime Rock.

Them being TUSC events has already ruined them.

Originally Posted by Rcz

Yeah, don't mess with the enduros.

I agree that lowering the amount of track or reducing the distance would not really help the series.

It's getting it on TV broadcast that will ultimately help the teams, more eyes on the car means more sponsers on the cars.

It's kind of cool that we have the main series, that runs the entire schedule and the NAEC. Almost like two series.

Yeah two series is better.

[carbsmith]

Originally Posted by jasonjessica09

Too many good tracks to do that. This is why I'd rather them cut the distances to Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta. (only if necessary to save costs in the future) Those races do not have the tradition as Daytona and Sebring so they should never be touched.

However I hope that this won't be needed.

The 6 Hour has been run over 30 times, was part of the World Sportscar Championship for 14 years, and has been won by everything from the GT40 to the 917, 312PB, 935, 962, and 333SP. It was only away in the GTP and early WSC era. It's a serious classic race, whatever the last decade and a half may make you think.

[nasportscar]

GTLM entry list tracker updated http://nasportscar.com/entry-list-so...-gtlm-class-2/

[TRspitfirefan]

Originally Posted by Rcz

I agree that lowering the amount of track or reducing the distance would not really help the series.

It's getting it on TV broadcast that will ultimately help the teams, more eyes on the car means more sponsors on the cars.

Agreed.
As with any business, keeping costs somewhat low, can be important. However, No business can survive unless they offer a product or a service that their customers want or need.
IMSA needs to listen to their customer base. They need to realize that ultimately, it is we fans, who are the customers. If the fans are happy, then the manufacturer and sponsor dollars will make the teams happy.
Many in the racing world, seem to think that fans want "close racing" above all else. They think that as long as the competition looks even, that the fans will find it exciting. I think this attitude really fails to understand the uniqueness of multi class sports car racing, and the fans that it attracts.
I think that what sports car racing fans actually want in a series, is really quite simple.

#1 Awesome cars. Whether they be incredible GT machines, based on production model dream cars, or amazing sports prototypes that take your breath away as they rocket past, It is great racing cars that really capture the imagination of sports car racing fans.
A field headlined by DP's and PC cars is just not good enough.

#2 Real competition. We want to see racing be a real sport, not just entertainment. We want to know that what we're witnessing has not been overly manipulated by rules, BOP, hastily deployed late race cautions, lap down wave-bys and race officials turning a blind eye towards overly aggressive driving. The races should play out naturally, if this results in races often being won by multiple laps, then so be it. Close finishes are only memorable, when they are not common. If every race ends with an "amazing" close finish, it becomes expected and far less exciting.
Also, multi class racing features its own natural excitement, every corner sees close wheel to wheel racing. There is no need for the series to manufacture close racing within the classes.

It's so simple really. Sports car racing fans, young or old, just want to see Cool cars and real racing! If you want a successful series, give the fans what we want!


(please.)

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by TRspitfirefan

#2 Real competition. We want to see racing be a real sport, not just entertainment. We want to know that what we're witnessing has not been overly manipulated by rules, BOP, hastily deployed late race cautions, lap down wave-bys and race officials turning a blind eye towards overly aggressive driving. The races should play out naturally, if this results in races often being won by multiple laps, then so be it. Close finishes are only memorable, when they are not common. If every race ends with an "amazing" close finish, it becomes expected and far less exciting.

Well, I would support that! But come to think of it, is the IMSA really scared about one team dominating in the podium that it sees it as a boring parade lap ala Formula One?

[Dodge_Swinger]

IMSA absolutely doesn't want one team to dominate, although their definition of "dominate" is a bit different than most people's. if the leader is a lap ahead, IMSA considers that "dominating", hence the free lap wave-by. They seem to think that more cars on the lead lap equals a more compelling race, even if most of the cars got there through wave-byes rather than a superior car driven, crewed and managed well.

[jasonjessica09]

Originally Posted by Dodge_Swinger

IMSA absolutely doesn't want one team to dominate, although their definition of "dominate" is a bit different than most people's. if the leader is a lap ahead, IMSA considers that "dominating", hence the free lap wave-by. They seem to think that more cars on the lead lap equals a more compelling race, even if most of the cars got there through wave-byes rather than a superior car driven, crewed and managed well.

Thats for sure. I actually WANT to see a Daytona 24 where the winning car has a 20 lap margin of victory again. I miss those days all of the sudden. Its too hard for that to happen now due to the nature and the frequency of full course yellows. Granted the cars are themselves more reliable too but the way FCY's are handled is ruining the nature of the sports car enduros.

I would prefer for TUSC races to simplify it by just having two safety car packs that restart half a lap apart. If a FCY comes out the worst thing that happens to car is they lose half a lap which ain't that bad really and cars on the lead lap in any FCY in the last 40 minutes do get waved around.

[Gulf]

Some more good news for Imsa... Oak is out.

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/oa...entry-in-2015/

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by Gulf

Some more good news for Imsa... Oak is out.

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/tusc/oa...entry-in-2015/

Not surprised. Called it months ago.

[Gulf]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

Not surprised. Called it months ago.

Yeah I didn't think they would be back.