Indycar News & Rumors.

[daallo]

Alfonso "Picho" Toledano Jr has announced he has signed a partnership with Tequila Don Ramón to race in 5 Indy Lights races with Team Moore Racing this year as well as the 2016 Indy Lights season and the 2016 Indy 500.

[Formulahistory]

So he will drive the 2016 Indy 500 with Team Moore?

[daallo]

Indy Lights. Indy 500 with a yet TBD team.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Good to see you are running from an opportunity to provide facts to support your random comments again. Thanks for the input

No, just simply not wasting time on someone that has slagged me off for years with snarky posts. Do your own research and make your own contacts.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

No, just simply not wasting time on someone that has slagged me off for years with snarky posts. Do your own research and make your own contacts.

Mate all we have asked is for you to be provide some support and substance to your strongly opinionated and definitive posts. Obviously we will continue to wait

[bjohnsonsmith]

Karam and Saavedra to share the fourth Chip Ganassi Racing seat for the rest of the season.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118510

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Karam and Saavedra to share the fourth Chip Ganassi Racing seat for the rest of the season.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118510

Saavedra? Sigh. Pity it wasn't Wilson. Does Saavedra bring a lot of money? I can't imagine the Ganassi team really wanting him otherwise, on driving talent.

[Yannick]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Karam and Saavedra to share the fourth Chip Ganassi Racing seat for the rest of the season.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118510

That signing is quite a surprise. Now, I really wonder who is going to be driving the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car from the Indy GP of Indy onwards.

[Formulahistory]

My bet is Gonzalez

[Nikki Katz]

Saavedra is a pretty underwhelming signing. Unfortunately, Karam's been really pretty bad so far. It's only two races in though.

Dracone needs to go.

[kurski]

http://www.autoracing1.com/rumors.asp?tid=12011
Here in Long Beach we have once again heard rumors that IndyCar is eyeing a potential street race in Johannesburg for 2016.

[NaBUru38]

If I were a South African investor or politician. I'd try to get Formula E or V8 Supercars.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by kurski

http://www.autoracing1.com/rumors.asp?tid=12011
Here in Long Beach we have once again heard rumors that IndyCar is eyeing a potential street race in Johannesburg for 2016.

If the rumours are true, then a Southern hemisphere race could mean an earlier start to the season, which would help shorten the ridiculously long off season. However I don't understand why IndyCar doesn't look to South America? There's a natural fan base and seven of the current drivers are from there, 2 from Brazil and 5 from Colombia.

[BudLightJaguar]

But why such a ghetto as J-Burg?

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

If the rumours are true, then a Southern hemisphere race could mean an earlier start to the season, which would help shorten the ridiculously long off season. However I don't understand why IndyCar doesn't look to South America? There's a natural fan base and seven of the current drivers are from there, 2 from Brazil and 5 from Colombia.

Why? Money. IndyCar would certainly welcome a race or races in South America, but to make it happen, someone down there has to write a big check. Simple as that.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

Why? Money. IndyCar would certainly welcome a race or races in South America, but to make it happen, someone down there has to write a big check. Simple as that.

And you think South Africa has money? It's not exactly up there with regards to GDP per capita, ranked 87th by the IMF, below that of Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, countries with a good motorsports fan base.

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

And you think South Africa has money? It's not exactly up there with regards to GDP per capita, ranked 87th by the IMF, below that of Argentina, Brazil and Colombia, countries with a good motorsports fan base.

Oh, there's some money in South Africa — there is a huge income distribution issue there though. Really all it takes in South Africa, Brazil, Colombia etc. is one person willing to write that big check to make an IndyCar race happen.

[BudLightJaguar]

And despite the size of South Africa there's only 4 million whites. Not going to start a racial debate, but whites are the only potential ethnic group to attend. But if the size of the crowd does not matter as much as size of the check, then why not in South Africa. And other series already race in front of small crowds in Middle East.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

And despite the size of South Africa there's only 4 million whites. Not going to start a racial debate, but whites are the only potential ethnic group to attend. But if the size of the crowd does not matter as much as size of the check, then why not in South Africa. And other series already race in front of small crowds in Middle East.

Is there still the motorsports interest in South Africa, like there used to be?

[GTRMagic]

It would be nice for IndyCar to come back to the Gold Coast...

[Bob Baldwin]

Interesting question to raise . Sadly $$$ plays into the equation . If as example the Sultan of Fast Cars wants to write out a big check to make it happen ,I am sure the team owners could justify doing such and lets not forget the big sanctioning fee's that go along with that .

However Money aside , When all is said and done what Value does it give the Indy league , the team owners , the sponsors ,and the drivers ???

Personally If I were an Indy car owner I would be choosing Europe , The Gold Coast , and a South American Venue first before I chose to go to South Africa . Again the Key Word is VALUE !

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Bob Baldwin

Interesting question to raise . Sadly $$$ plays into the equation . If as example the Sultan of Fast Cars wants to write out a big check to make it happen ,I am sure the team owners could justify doing such and lets not forget the big sanctioning fee's that go along with that .

However Money aside , When all is said and done what Value does it give the Indy league , the team owners , the sponsors ,and the drivers ???

Personally If I were an Indy car owner I would be choosing Europe , The Gold Coast , and a South American Venue first before I chose to go to South Africa . Again the Key Word is VALUE !

The IRL, team owners and sponsors shouldn't forget the value of their fan base, which outside the US is Australia, Canada, Europe and South America. It was a shame the opening round in Brazil fell through but that doesn't mean IndyCar should pick up F1's bad habits and go racing in South Africa, for example, just because someone waves a big check and pays the sanctioning fee.

[TheMightyM]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The IRL, team owners and sponsors shouldn't forget the value of their fan base, which outside the US is Australia, Canada, Europe and South America. It was a shame the opening round in Brazil fell through but that doesn't mean IndyCar should pick up F1's bad habits and go racing in South Africa, for example, just because someone waves a big check and pays the sanctioning fee.

While IndyCar isn't at the cusp of imploding at the moment, it still faces significant financial challenges going forward. And let’s be honest: There’s not a lot of upside domestically and in Canada at this point.

Management clearly sees international expansion between September and March as a means to help stabilize the series. If there's an actual value to the series' fan base in Australia, Europe, and South America, then presumably there would be local interest in paying the sanctioning fee and bringing the series over. If not, well that tells us something about how popular IndyCar actually is — or isn’t.

For better or worse, IndyCar currently runs off a sanctioning fee financial model. You and perhaps I might not like where that takes the series — or doesn't take the series. Maybe the series in the long run would be better served by structuring its relationship with tracks differently — but realistically switching and going to a different model may well be an “all in” bet by the series.

[Bob Baldwin]

As you said there is not a lot of upswing domestically ,Yet how is it that we rarely ever see IndyCar even trying to Market themselves ? Apparently they need to take a few lessons from the NASCAR Org .

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by TheMightyM

While IndyCar isn't at the cusp of imploding at the moment, it still faces significant financial challenges going forward. And let’s be honest: There’s not a lot of upside domestically and in Canada at this point.

Management clearly sees international expansion between September and March as a means to help stabilize the series. If there's an actual value to the series' fan base in Australia, Europe, and South America, then presumably there would be local interest in paying the sanctioning fee and bringing the series over. If not, well that tells us something about how popular IndyCar actually is — or isn’t.

For better or worse, IndyCar currently runs off a sanctioning fee financial model. You and perhaps I might not like where that takes the series — or doesn't take the series. Maybe the series in the long run would be better served by structuring its relationship with tracks differently — but realistically switching and going to a different model may well be an “all in” bet by the series.

I don't see any expansion from September through to January at the latest, because Mark Miles doesn't want to go head to head with the NFL. If the series is to expand then it would probably have to be after the Superbowl and that would mean going to the Southern hemisphere.

Apart from Brazil, has IndyCar attempted to market itself in Australia, Europe and other South American countries? Over here in the UK, the TV coverage is absolutely dire and the only publication that carries any news about IndyCar on a regular basis is Autosport.

I'm not too sure about the sanctioning fee model, it's hurting F1 as Bernie takes established GPs from F1's traditional European base and replaces them with races in countries like Azerbaijan, that have no motorsports heritage because he knows they will pay the $25m sanctiong fee to be part of his international F1 club. So it begs the question, what is used as an alternative model?