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Old 5 Jan 2018, 01:39 (Ref:3790750)   #35
jjvincent
Racer
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 337
jjvincent should be qualifying in the top 10 on the gridjjvincent should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
If you think about it, in the last 10 years, transportation costs have gone up maybe 3%. When you have the cost to rent that goes up 50-80% in that same period, travel is not weighed as much as it was 10 years ago. So, eliminating Laguna or any other race just reduces the overall budget by just that race. What happens there is even you have another issue because the more you reduce time, the more drivers look elsewhere. This is why guys go over to Europe for 2-3 events and rent a TCR car and run a Creventic race for no more than $20K per event. Why run a TCR car in the US when you will get no more than 12 hours in IMSA for a season as opposed to 15-18 in Europe? A TCR car will require a whole rental and that will set you back at least $35K per event.

The real problem is the competition with other series'. IMSA used to be the top dog but now there are so many other places for people to spend their money, they don;t look at IMSA or even PWC as a place where when you run, you are a "pro" or "made it". It's just another series. Mark my words, in 5 years when all of these current TCR, GT4 and GT3 cars will be too old to race because the manufacturers will force teams to upgrade to the new model, someone out there will make a new home for them and do an endurance series. It's already happening right now with the great IMSA purge of GS and ST cars.
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