[WEC] 2015 WEC Discussion

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by TF110

Its not just drivers that want more races. Team bosses agree. Pascal Vasselon thinks the gap after Le Mans is too big. He said its like the winter break. I think Gerard realizes this and hes doing what he can. Its easy to criticize someone or something without information on the inner workings.

In fairness that's not Pascal wanting more races, just a more even spread!

[carbon_titanium]

the smartest move should be a race in mid-late july, of course in europe, to avoid a sea shipping soon after le mans. FIA grade 1 tracks could be, one between hockeneim or nurburgring (the one who doesn't host the F1 GP) in germany; monza in italy (with cars keeping the low drag configuration of le mans) or maybe montmelò in spain or the redbull ring in austria. After the race, cars can be shipped in NA for the september COTA race.
I think that the main problem is that after le mans, a lot of lmp2 and gtam teams need a lot of time to fix their cars or to buy new ones

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

In fairness that's not Pascal wanting more races, just a more even spread!

Right, and he's not really the team boss anyway But Im sure Toyota would be fine with additional rounds. Their cars sell everywhere so its nothing but exposure for the brand and any other manufacturer. Audi would love it, certainly.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by carbon_titanium

I think that the main problem is that after le mans, a lot of lmp2 and gtam teams need a lot of time to fix their cars or to buy new ones

Yet the ELMS/AsLMS/USCC teams are racing 2-4 weeks after Le Mans already.

Originally Posted by TF110

Right, and he's not really the team boss anyway But Im sure Toyota would be fine with additional rounds. Their cars sell everywhere so its nothing but exposure for the brand and any other manufacturer. Audi would love it, certainly.

Considering their Scrooge McDuck budgets and difficulties in fielding cars in the first place, would Toyota really want more rounds though...

[bella]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Yet the ELMS/AsLMS/USCC teams are racing 2-4 weeks after Le Mans already.

correct, the red bull ring round was 4 weeks after le mans, then they had a big 6-8 week gap afterwards until paul ricard.

Originally Posted by TF110

I prefer they go to some of the tracks elms visits. One they used to run before (as ilmc) is Imola. Ive always thought that track was one of the best flowing these lmp1 cars ran on.

the problem with imola is that it's quite a small, narrow track. elms struggles a bit with the traffic, though it's pretty spectacular watching the guys who are absolutely spot on with their management skills. if the elms field was bigger then i think they'd have had more problems this year.

also, from an off-track point of view, the "facilities" are pretty rubbish, and it definitely feels very second hand compared to some of the tilke tracks and even the hallowed turf of the centre at spa. i agree with you, it's a brilliant old school circuit (even after the modifications 15-20 years ago) and it has a lot of charm. but for wec and the big corporate boys? not quite clean cut enough. that's the joy of the red bull ring - it's a decent little track, the "facilities" are spot on and it doesn't have the air of a huge venue struggling to fill the space with spectators and an event (shanghai, silverstone).

[Brake dust]

the problem with imola is that it's quite a small, narrow track. elms struggles a bit with the traffic, though it's pretty spectacular watching the guys who are absolutely spot on with their management skills. if the elms field was bigger then i think they'd have had more problems this year

Yet at the ILMC race that took place there a couple of years ago - there were no full course cautions during the entire race!

[Deleted]

If ILMC-LMS integration with five classes managed near-50 car field without a single safety car then I'm sure WEC grid with 20 less cars would do just fine... it really is the corporate VIP facility lust thing holding it back

[bella]

i'm sure it did go fine, and i agree with you that it'd be a great place for the lmp1 cars at full tilt especially, but looking at it from a nowadays point of view and taking into account the kind of venue the wec likes to visit as part of the image it's trying to cultivate for the manufacturers.... it's not really the kind of place they'd want to go to and that's probably one of the reasons they'd give. saying out an out that it's just not shiny and well-swept enough wouldn't really go down very well

honestly though, the elms race there was great fun though it's a shame they didn't open out the whole circuit area for spectators. on that calendar the weakest venue out of silverstone, imola, the red bull ring and paul ricard so far has been silverstone (imo). says it all about modern, dull circuits

it's been said before, but i'd second a visit to the red bull ring as a good idea for wec. it'd be a shame if they merged it with the elms and free entry for the fans to that event was lost though.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by bella

i'm sure it did go fine, and i agree with you that it'd be a great place for the lmp1 cars at full tilt especially, but looking at it from a nowadays point of view and taking into account the kind of venue the wec likes to visit as part of the image it's trying to cultivate for the manufacturers.... it's not really the kind of place they'd want to go to and that's probably one of the reasons they'd give. saying out an out that it's just not shiny and well-swept enough wouldn't really go down very well

honestly though, the elms race there was great fun though it's a shame they didn't open out the whole circuit area for spectators. on that calendar the weakest venue out of silverstone, imola, the red bull ring and paul ricard so far has been silverstone (imo). says it all about modern, dull circuits

it's been said before, but i'd second a visit to the red bull ring as a good idea for wec. it'd be a shame if they merged it with the elms and free entry for the fans to that event was lost though.

I don't know, let the corporate types stay at the Real Fini an hour up the road in Modena, Bologna is chock full of fabulous restaurants (and caterers who will happily do something on site), and with a judicious application of a marquee or two I'm sure could go a long way to making Imola somehow palatable.

[bella]

good points, all. and if they could paint over the cracks in the grandstands so they can't be seen at a distance, give the whole place a good jetwashing and keep the one percent on the pits side of it they might just get away with it!

[SpikerJack]

Imola currently lacks of money, the grandstands are often closed and they aren't in a good state. But this year the attendance was very good, especially if you consider it wasn't ferrari-formula1-alonso or ducati-valentino-motogp...

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Yet the ELMS/AsLMS/USCC teams are racing 2-4 weeks after Le Mans already.



Considering their Scrooge McDuck budgets and difficulties in fielding cars in the first place, would Toyota really want more rounds though...

Why wouldnt they have enough money to run an additional race or two? If its part of the wec, theyll race. The 24hr with another car and more crew seems more than doing two more 6-hour races. Dont the wec have most of the travel costs taken care of anyway?

As for Imola, ilmc put on a great race there a few years ago. Thats been said, but I think the track itself is interesting. If they do hit Italy, I would guess Monza is the front runner though.

[David Land]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Lotterer wants more races in the WEC



Too bad ACO and FIA don't agree with you and me Andre!

A true racer and someone who proves that we forum goers aren't all that crazy.

Remember Lotterer was the guy who turned down racing with Caterham again because F1 was boring.

I wonder if he lurks/posts here. haha

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by David Land

A true racer and someone who proves that we forum goers aren't all that crazy.

Remember Lotterer was the guy who turned down racing with Caterham again because F1 was boring.

I wonder if he lurks/posts here. haha

When did he say it was boring?
He said in the press that he declined a second race because he'd be denied the Free Practice 1 seat.

[morningview66]

Originally Posted by Hawkwood

When did he say it was boring?
He said in the press that he declined a second race because he'd be denied the Free Practice 1 seat.

Your right, i dont think he specifically said it was boring. He did say the main reason was he didnt want to go into a weekend without the full amount of practice.

But he definitely did say something about F1 not being what it used to be and that his Audi was just as good (if not better) in the corners.

[Ephaeton]

Originally Posted by morningview66

But he definitely did say something about F1 not being what it used to be and that his Audi was just as good (if not better) in the corners.

He DID say that the current generation of F1 cars are more simplistic than the LMP1s, e.g., in the sense of having a more involved turn-by-turn setup of the P1 across spa with regard to, e.g., traction control (the example he was using at auto motor & sport [german]).

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Chiana

The championship should have never been titled as World Endurance anyway. It was stupid when the old series used it for a while and it's stupid now. Means absolutely nothing to people who don't know the sport. Endurance, what the hell is that (my friend literally asked that too). Also force ties you to the format as said above. Now that FIA GT1 World Championship is gone (as possible confusion adversary) there is no reason not to revert back to proper WORLD SPORTSCAR CHAMPIONSHIP

It's an issue though that "WEC" as a name is just starting to get known, and then suddenly it would be gone. Ratel's series for sure had to have something to do with this, but ACO often likes to underline the E word, so I wonder if they would have picked that one anyway.

Actually, WSC has become a common name for it but most of the time the old championship was called officially something else. In ancient days "Championship for Makes/Manufacturers" or some other form of that, after the first WEC name was dropped it was "World Sports-Prototype Championship" and finally "FIA Sportscar World Championship".

I've noticed that Porsche often uses "[...] sportscar World Championship" in their press releases. Could be a sign.

[Ginaro Zukovsky]

It's funny you mention the WSC name, as both McNish and Eddie Jordan on the BBC mentioned the "World Sportscar Championship" when talking about the WEC...

[TF110]

2015's schedule to be released Friday, but may not be any additional rounds.

[Coach Ep]

***The 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship schedule will be released on Friday. All signs point towards an eight-round calendar, with the ACO’s proposal to turn the championship into a winter series apparently being put on hold. A press conference is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. local time.

Guess that's close to noon in Europe and early in the morning in the US. I'll keep my powder dry till then.

[Deleted]

As my expectations for it are at all time low, there's a change I'm not gonna be terribly disappointed by the outcome.

[Simmi]

Yep certainly not an announcement to stay awake for.

[Rodger Davies]

Same again then.

[Creep89]

Audi__Sport: @FIAWEC have announced that 1000 kilometers @nuerburgring_de on 30 August will replace Brazil in the 2015 WEC calendar. #welcomchallenges

1000km Nürburgring instead of Brazil!

edit: The whole calendar can be found at DSC: http://www.dailysportscar.com/2014/1...l-dropped.html

[MagVanisher]

A good change, but they'll just race the GP part of the course instead of the Nordschleife for obvious "safety" reasons.