Things I'd like to see for ASCAR:

[Rambo]

Firstly, not strictly for ASCAR, but Rockingham/Laustitz - I'd like to see the NASCAR boys come and runa demo race. They did it in Japan, so I don't see why they can't come over here.


Second, I'd like to see races run on some short-ovals. These cars were designed to run on short tracks, yet we're running them on superspeedways. Nothing wrong with that, but where is the 1/3 of a mile short track promised in the original Rockingham plans?

I'd love to see a nice new 1/4 mile or 3/8ths track - there's plenty of short-circuit racing in Britain, and I see no reason why things like the 'rods that run at places like Hednsford and such like couldn't run on a nice new 1/4 mile track.


So, who thinks it'd be a good idea for an up to date short track up to ASCAR standard?

[Rocsta]

I would love to see a short high banked track in the UK as well as a 2 mile superspeedway like the Eurospeedway. ASCAR really is a great series and I think will only grow with more exposure and more diversity in tracks, ovals are not all the same.

[Speedworx]

I'd like to see a track like Daytona in the UK and maybe a Fontana type oval.

[theracegypsy]

Any investment in the UK on new tracks particularly short ovals would be good, but the financiers will not put up the money until they can see a return. With motor sport TV being so poor in UK it's a question of bums on seats, and we don't have the numbers in this country to fill Rockingham, yet alone the 1/4 million of MIS or Fontana.

By the way Rocsta, if you have ever worked ovals you will realise that short high banked ones are dangerous!

[Rambo]

To be honest, I thought motorsport on TV in the UK was excellent. The amount on Sky, british stuff, is really quite amazing. Last year with the power tour package, there was so much I didn't get chance to watch it all. ASCAR certainly has TV time - and is it only me watching that new motors channel?

High banked superspeedways are too fast for open wheelers - obviously Daytona/Talladega are, and so is Texas or Atlanta for that matter, really. The IRL smashes at Texas and CART's refusal to run there shows that.

You aren't,in Britain, anyway, going to build a circuit on which only one type of car is going to run, so they'd be out of the question.


Can I ask, though, why you think high banked short ovals (how high is high? 30 degrees or more?) are dangerous?

[OVERSTEER]

Well are we talking about short ovals like the Bristol oval over in the US?

[Rocsta]

All motorsport is dangerous and ovals and superspeedways being the most dangerous when compared say to a road or street circuit. A high banked short oval for ascar IMO does not pose any real greater risk than any other oval but just provides variety for the drivers and spectators and also keeps the teams busy trying to work out setups between very different tracks. Even a low banked speedway is very dangerous, didn't Zanardi have is terrible accident on a low banked speedway (only 5.7degrees)

[Rambo]

Yeah, but that was a freak accident. But, saying that, Loudon is a low-banked speedway, and there were those two fatalities with struck throttles. With a short-oval, the cars aren't going that fast, so the energy involved is relatively low, I'd have thought.

I wasn't thinking of something as steep as Bristol - if it was going to be used by other British short-track racers, I think some of them would find that too steep. I know the F2 stockcars don't like too high banking - at least, they didn't when they came to my local raceway. Something moderate in the region of 14-16 degress I'd have thought would suit everybody.

[O'Schumacher]

Theracegypsy,

You're absoluteley right, there aren't enough people in the UK to fill a fontana or a daytona, but.... there are in Europe.

Just consider, the UK is the size of florida, not the USA, and with proposed Ovals in Frabce and Sweden, maybe ASCAR could become a fully european series.

And Rambo, don't be ridiculous about Hednesford. It's so small the grid would be a lap long, and where will the pit stops take place? Cannock High Street?

[StuiE]

But how do u know that the series wont die, like the Australian Nascar championship did (what cars are remaining (about 10) get raced on road tracks) and now we have a superspeedway that is totally abandoned (apart from the roadd cuircut and drag strip that is part of it)


how do we know that it wont die?

[Rambo]

Hednesford is a 1/4 mile track. ASA and (even Busch from time to time) run on 1/4 mile tracks. I've talked to a guy who races the things (late models, or something, IIRC) over there and he reckons that his favourite tracks are about 3/8ths.

Don Panoz was at one time talking about a Michigan-type oval in France, which would be great, because no doubt he'd manage to convince CART to run there, too.

But you can't expect to go around building large ovals when there's going to be nothing to run on them, unless, like Laustitz, you have a huge government backing. How often is the oval at Welkom in SA used? Calder Park is a good example, too. You need something that is going to pay off the investment, which means something where there are fans.

On the other hand, as I say, there is a huge short-track community over here racing on some really poor circuits of a 1/4 mile or just under. ASA cars run on several 1/4 mile tracks. The action is thick and fierce, unlike the strung out, empty track you get with Rockingham. If we had 43 Cup cars running at Corby, it might be different, but with a 1/4 mile track you're assured of action, and one thing that has been missing from ASCAR - traffic.

I think think they need a richmond or a bristol in europe.it is so popular here,1.because of the action 2. ITS UNDER THE LIGHTS! maybe a new short .500 mi,high banked track is what they need

[Rambo]

Yeah, a 1/2 mile would probably find more favour than a 1/4 miler. What I wasn't sure of was wether this would be any use to say, the Hotrods etc that run on our 1/4 mile tracks. I can't really see anyone shelling the money out (anywhere in Europe) for a circuit to be used by just one series.

[paulrick]

Another choice of track would be Mallory Park, this track is a one mile oval, of the smaller 1/4 mile tracks, many of these have little space for spectators, Hednesford being one of the exceptions, though the track and facilities are not great.
A better and perhaps easier option would be to develop the support package for ASCAR, which is currently very poor, why not concentrate on improving this e.g. GT Cars, national Hot Rods, BTCC - There are a number of options.

[Peter Scillitoe]

Originally posted by Baritone24
I think think they need a richmond or a bristol in europe.it is so popular here,1.because of the action 2. ITS UNDER THE LIGHTS! maybe a new short .500 mi,high banked track is what they need

Speaking from a UK perspective only, there are two major problems:

1. Local protestors. In the UK it is an art form. Frankly you cannot build a portaloo without somebody complaining about noise, environmental blight, and increased traffic levels!! Even if you managed to build the oval, the chances of being allowed to race at night are nil. The locals are already trying to get Rockingham closed.

2. The weather.

I would like to see ASCAR run on the Mallory Park short circuit; ditto at Brands.

[Stephen Green]

I have said this in a couple of other forums, but I can't see Rockingham surviving unless it gets some decent government financial support. As someone else pointed out, we only have Ascar that race on the large ovals i the UK. Hot rods etc would be lost on such a huge track as would the spectacle. Apart from that, costs would be prohibitive for the short oval racers to switch to Rockingham.

In some ways the Uk is blessed with too many race tracks all vying for the relatively small audience for live motor sport. Costs are high and the quality of the support packages in most series is poor. Sponsorship too is hard to come by, you only have to look at the struggling club meetings to see that.

Would making Ascar a pan European series make it any more attractive? I don't think so personally. Look what happened to the ETCC, it never really gained the sort of acceptance many expected.

Now what could be interesting would be to see the DTM guys race at Rockingham!

[Rambo]

I'd like to see the ASCAR boys run at Mallory too, and the Indy circuit at Brands is probably the most fun of any (to watch, anyway) of any in the country.

I seem to remember in the original plans there was a 1/3 mile short-oval to be included at Rockingham?

[Stephen Green]

Ascar on the Indy circuit at Brands would indeed be a spectacle and probably draw quite a decent crowd if it were properly promoted.