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Originally Posted by chunder
All very interesting
But doesnt change the fact that in Europe we really dont give a chuff about NASCAR and they dont give a chuff about the rest of the world!
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Chunder me ol' mukka! Speak for yourself!
My short foray of racing on the oval at Rockingham showed me that there was interest, and an interest that was growing of it's own accord, slowly, steadily, as Latemodel24 said, people were beginning to realise that it was cheaper to run an ASCAR than a 2L car! 2008 was going to be the stand up and be counted year, but the club decided to assassinate it. They didn't grasp the concept of promoting the genre.
They also thought that the remaining series would maintain it's support, and it didn't. The "token crowd" of about 1500 used to turn up to see the closest thing to NASCAR they could get to see, hear, touch, LIVE in the UK. With ASCAR gone, so did they. Not many people - 1500, paying up to £10 a head to get in. £15,000 isn't a bad weekend's income, which went into the club's coffers - offsetting some of the money they paid the circuit for hire of the venue.
And that's where they (NASCAR) differ from European/FIA type racing.
One is put on as an event, the other is a bunch of chums having a wheeze on and old airfield in their MG's.
This whole "agreement" to keep out of the bigger venues needs looking at. And I agree, running EuroNASCAR on Rockingham, or even Lausitz is going to lead to a fair jump in budgets!! The Canadian Tire spec car that they use may need some beefing up to run on speedways like ours - our ASCARs ran just shy of 180mph on Rockingham between T3 and T4, and ALL the way around Lausitz. Any hits are big ones. And yes, it takes a different skill to drive those tracks, something a lot of road course racers will struggle with.
Mallory Park - great idea, just flatten out the bump - which would be Turn 1 if we used it - as the Eurocar V8's didn't run on it because at speed it would be a wreck a lap! You can't flatten the bump without ruining the Elbow. Unless they decided to expand the track out the back as was mentioned in the discussions over it's future and thus not using the hairpin anymore.
Using the Donington loop was discussed years back too. And when Rockingham was in it's "bloom", even Silverstone (BRDC) looked at building a 1/2mile banked oval.
The UK could do with a decent "long" oval, proper banking, between 1/2 and 1 mile long. But before it could be used properly, lots of politics need sorting. This isn't the USA, and the FIA's henchmen at the MSA could make a lot of trouble if they wanted to!
I'm going to see if I can budget a test session in March. I'd like to join the series, I like the cars - even though they're damned ugly, and I like the concept. I definitely like the awards dinner location and company!!
My old ASCAR is almost finished it's "2007/8 winter rebuild", and it's coming out of the workshop in the spring, in road course spec as per "GTA" spec, and who knows what I might do with it. I had considered shipping it back to the 'States and running it over there, but the old ASA Pro-Tour is long dead, and most of the cars have been converted to road course spec now as they're not eligible for any oval series to my knowledge - due to body and engine mostly.
So, you see, there is interest in Europe for NASCAR - Premier Sports coverage of the entire Cup series and some Trucks, plus Motors TV showing Nationwide, it's gaining more interest all the time. Racers are considering it a career move instead of chasing the impossible dream of F1, where even a top flight F3 drive will cost more than a drive in Nationwide - and the prize money from that makes it well worth doing!
Finally - Tours Speedway - just needs a little more refinement, and I think they'll have it right...like this...
