ALMS 2012 Discussion

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

What? You've got exactly one car with an all pro lineup in LMP's.

Try to spin this with whatever rose coloured glasses you've got, but it is what it is.

As recently as a few years ago, we had as many as 11 regular season full pro lineups. That was hardly club racing. That was pro racing at it's best.




Wow, Lola, Oak... that'll really bring in the people to the track...it is irrelevant what people spend, it's how marketable things are.





Sure.. we'll get a bunch more privateers driving stuff around. Meanwhile the Pro Risi teams exits, the pro BMW factory exits.... It becomes more amateur hour.



The business side is still a complete mystery? I can just see Audi NA saying... hey look, that series has no ROI, has fewer and fewer fans watching, and attending... but it has a strong foundation of privateers, let's race there. Completely ludicrous. PLM attendance for one, will be a disaster year/year...

The two keys for future success, are the strength of the premier categories, that the factories might be interested in. LMP1 shows no growth, but new chassis, GT(E) shows shrinkage. AFAIK, Corvette Racing's budget is approved to the end of next year... Lose them, along with Risi and BMW... and that is possible, and you've got a pretty sad series.

The norm for the ALMS is not all pro line-ups throughout the field, it's a couple of factory Audi's with a valiant effort from Dyson keeping things interesting, a GT1 field consisting of Corvette and the odd Saleen/Maserati, and GT2 resembling a Porsche Cup. As you regularly state, TV ratings were in decline when the series was at it's LMP peak in 2006-8, so other issues are major factors.

The series almost went to the wall, it's a pipe dream to expect full fields of factory and all-pro crews, the series needs time to find it's feet, priority number one being to build up it's LMP field. By it's very nature P2 and LMPC are pro/am, but they're exactly what the ALMS needs to combat GA DP's and give privateers a stable, affordable route into LMP, who once acclimatised can look to make the next step.

The series has a leg up on GA through the ACO link, potential ALMS entrants such as Audi, Porsche, Honda and Toyota are already in the sport, it's a case of the series making themselves an attractive proposition, stage one of which is healthy, competitive classes. I watched BPR GT grow from a motley grid of single make cars and odd-balls into the ultimate factory GT1 battle, it would still be thriving today if Ratel had ditched the production pretense in '96, and moved swiftly to the ACO LMGTP/LMP900 structure.

The ALMS is starting from a significantly higher base, IMO it looks to have turned a corner, two years on from a real worry it could crash. Last season Muscle Milk and Dyson were in a holding pattern, they could easily have packed up and made a fresh start in GA in 2012, instead we see both with multi-year ALMS commitments with all new chassis, while the joke that was P2 will be hotly contested and attractive for teams evaluating the series. GTE is the only class with question marks, that was predicted two years back, BMW dip in and out of series while RISI have a great PR team putting forward their case, but I can't be the only one who thinks they have an over inflated opinion of their importance, with rumours of the Viper, Mclaren and GT3 models, the class still has potential for factories and privateers.

If you buy into ACO racing the WEC cannot be seen as a rival, rather a business necessity, expectations for the ALMS need to adjust. Far from having a downer, 2012 looks set to be the most promising season for some time, there's a more even spread of entrants across classes, and the fact we no longer read anyone seriously questioning the series future or arguing for a GT only series is progress in my mind.