Asian Le Mans Series

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by kurski

http://clairejedrek.com/motorsport-a...mika-hakkinen/

You know that pit reporter is the best thing I've seen in regard to this series all year :P

[Deleted]

http://www.dailysportscar.com/2014/1...icky-2014.html

They expect Sepang grid to expand even though all the championships have already been awarded with the expection of one I believe, not to mention the big gap between events again

Otherwise, I was actually rather sympathetic with a lot that mr Thomas said here and many points made sense in theory at least, even with loads of semi-obvious excuses, however then the final few paragraphs came

“We have good communication with Super GT and with GT Asia but active alliances are not really a priority beyond the level at which we currently have them.

“Our objective is to establish multi class endurance racing in this market and that means keeping an independent product with our races running as the headline event. The common sense in that objective is very apparent when you deal with the realities of co-operating with another series at a circuit as we are doing this year at Shanghai with the WTCC.

“Facilities can be stretched, garage space and track time can be limited too. That’s not ideal when you are trying to persuade customers to part with large sums of money to compete.

They still do not get it. After zillions of years and attempts.

Let 'em rot and burn it. Burn it with fire. The even slightest of slight hopes there was left is finally gone.

[MagVanisher]

Late in the news, but the series has dropped the Buriram round too! Guess that it's over for AsLMS!

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

Late in the news, but the series has dropped the Buriram round too! Guess that it's over for AsLMS!

No it isn't - expect 2015 calendar to be confirmed at or before Shanghai WEC round

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

No it isn't - expect 2015 calendar to be confirmed at or before Shanghai WEC round

Any sensible person would've dropped the attempts of repairing the broken machine with wrong tools after two years (or in fact, 15 years of ongoing attempts and failures). Or at the very least replaced those tools with correct ones the shopkeeper suggested.

Their bunch of standalone race weekends without the help of Super GT, GT Asia & WEC - and seemingly not even freaking WTCC next year if you read along the lines - will lead them to their ultimate doom. Series such as this cannot demand ANYTHING, they play the second or third or even fourth fiddle. That, and not supporting their own customers (openly dismissing the CN class + saying that they prefer GTEs over GT3s on air), not giving all the LM auto entries they promised (Team Taisan only initially ending up on the reserve list), blaming their failures for external things (scheduling conflicts of their own making, logistics after choosing such obscure locations as Inje), poor TV package (mere highlights on some Asian sports channels and youtube does not count as 'impressive') and so on. But ultimately, it is the arrogance of the ACO.

[Asa]

This thread should close. There is nothing worth discussing about this series anymore. People are starting to repeat themselves.

[Juntos]

Heard from a team member that LMP2 will be banned in 2015 Asian Le Mans. Other times even things we never realized were traditions can become one. But the best kinds of traditions are the ones that bring people together. Even under the most unlikely of circumstances. LMP2 were never a success in Asia.

Originally Posted by Asa

This thread should close. There is nothing worth discussing about this series anymore. People are starting to repeat themselves.

Yes, I agree. We should start talking about Occupy Hong Kong instead.

[MagVanisher]

You know, it would be better if ACO just fold the Asian Le Mans Series. I mean really, banning LMP2 would put them 6 feet under faster!

Honestly, let ACO just invite the GT500 winner to Le Mans, with their machine intact!

[Deleted]

Apparently there will be some sort of Sepang mini-series made of this season's finale, followed by non-championship round in January and then finally in April the actual season opener in 2015 for their bunch of standalone races, or some shiz. Yeah I'm sure that'll be a success

[Marcel ten Caat]

Apparently you read that here -> http://sportscar365.com/lemans/asian...ard-next-year/

[Deleted]

Apparently yes, but I doubt anyone cares enough to read the full interview

[ger80]

race in winter and focus on GT3 and LMP2 cars - plenty of those sitting around in winter

[Deleted]

LMP2s can race at @ Daytona & Sebring already during the winter time + @ these South African events with their infinite eglibility, but the turnout isn't there. There's no real reason for anyone to go to Sepang - unless ACO's carrot for this mini-series is another LM auto entry, but I doubt it since that would not only be rather desperate attempt but force that entry to be given for 2016 race due to entries already being announced in February. Also, team would probably have to commit to all three of those Sepang races then...

And as for GT3s, they have plenty of events available all year around as the headliner category and with bigger profile.

[Jam3s]

They need to treat it as a support series to larger Asian events in the short term because clearly it cannot stand on its own two feet in its current form. The shanghai event was okay in this regard because even if the crowd was still pathetic during the race on the saturday, at least the series was amongst larger categories, some of which are recognised on the world stage. Their scheduling of Fuji was a joke, can't do that again, they need to be working with these other categories to grow instead of playing this laughable game of arrogance where they think they can compete somehow.

The other issue for the series is that at least for P2, it's seen as a building block to better things, for example KCMG now in WEC and Eurasia moving to ELMS next year so for it to be a success it needs to be seen as an end goal for teams as opposed to a step in the process.

That brings me to my next concern. Will Eurasia run a car in AsLMS next season given their move to ELMS? They don't own that Boutsen car after all so unless they were to ship the car back and forth from Europe to Asia then they will need two cars, bit of an ask one would think. So if they are not going to compete then we will have one P2 car, and will they even bother without competition? If not then we have a crap GT3 category with a couple of kiddy prototypes running around.

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Yes, I agree. We should start talking about Occupy Hong Kong instead.

You wanna talk about politics on a motorsport forum? That I totally disagree.

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Jam3s

They need to be working with these other categories to grow instead of playing this laughable game of arrogance where they think they can compete somehow.

This viewpoint has been expressed repeatedly in this thread and has been equally consistently ignored by the organizers. I think most of us are already tired of the discussion.

[Juntos]

Originally Posted by Asa

I think most of us are already tired of the discussion.

Speak for yourself. Still very motivated here.

This weekend is WEC Shanghai, the place where the series was announced two years. Perhaps we will have some news regarding next year. Real news not Mark Thomas's news. I know the second wedding anniversary's supposed to be paper but that's not really an excuse to eat out of cartons.

[Deleted]

Calendar and grid fixing, meh who cares let's make something up five minutes before we're supposed to send the press release out like we always do, now we're busy enough partying like horny rabbits with our leftover budget and promoting some ass shots

[rich07]

:lol: at last comment by Chris

[Jam3s]

I bet she could go through the night, unlike a CN car.

Hopefully there will be somewhat of an encouraging announcement at the WEC event. A guy can dream.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Jam3s

I bet she could go through the night, unlike a CN car.

:lol:

Gold!

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Speak for yourself. Still very motivated here.

This weekend is WEC Shanghai, the place where the series was announced two years. Perhaps we will have some news regarding next year. Real news not Mark Thomas's news. I know the second wedding anniversary's supposed to be paper but that's not really an excuse to eat out of cartons.

Motivated? Yeah when someone post a photo of a lady's butt on here everyone is motivated.

This is what Mark Thomas is doing next year

You read it here first.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Jam3s

I bet she could go through the night, unlike a CN car.

And instead of insisting of performing on it's own solo mission like the AsLMS, I bet she can "merge" with multiple partners, simultaneously if needed.

[Deleted]

They were supposed to release the calendar before or during the Shanghai 6h. I guess they forgot or were still partying. Oh well. Maybe ACO got to their senses and finally canned the whole thing

[Juntos]

Originally Posted by Chiana

They were supposed to release the calendar before or during the Shanghai 6h. I guess they forgot or were still partying. Oh well. Maybe ACO got to their senses and finally canned the whole thing

Mark Thomas is in Paris today.