USCC (leave your axe outside)

[FLGTFAN]

Originally Posted by BullMan

Who cares how many cars are on the lead lap? The "entertainment instead of racing" people. That's it.

I don't disagree with you. We must face the fact that what fans want and what stakeholders want is not the same. The competition changes, much like BOP, are out of the bottle and very unlikely to be rolled back. I am simply trying to point out that competitors see value in the new procedures that fans hate.

[Rodger Davies]

I see your point FLGTFAN; it's a very good one and an angle I hadn't considered before. You are correct that teams may well see it to their benefit to stay on the lead lap with a poor car after many spins. Aside from anything else, it would allow a team with a star driver and an 'am' to stay in contention for overall wins a lot easier.

I don't buy that sponsors would be put off by it tremendously, when the majority of entries' sponsors are one of the guys behind the wheel.

[Matt]

WTR with a new sponsor announcement next week...something blue.

[JHamilton]

Maybe Danka is back?

[Matt]

I'd quite like that!

[chernaudi]

With the manufacturer committee, I'm wondering if there's more than six there already. If the main 6 are GM, Ford, Ferrari, BMW, Porsche and SRT, then there's room for possibly Audi and/or HPD/Honda.

Could one of those two at least also be involved?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

With the manufacturer committee, I'm wondering if there's more than six there already. If the main 6 are GM, Ford, Ferrari, BMW, Porsche and SRT, then there's room for possibly Audi and/or HPD/Honda.

Could one of those two at least also be involved?

I would imagine Mazda is also involved. In the past the series has also considered tire manufacturers as well.

[chernaudi]

In that case, Michelin can be definitely included as well. They weren't happy to be restricted to running only in GTLM or possibly in the future if LMP1 cars are allowed to run in some invite only GTP category.

So it seems we have 6 car makers for sure, possibly 1-3 more, and possibly Michelin on top of that. They can all exert a lot of pressure on management, because without them, we probably won't have the current series in terms of entries.

[ttdriver2009]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

In that case, Michelin can be definitely included as well. They weren't happy to be restricted to running only in GTLM or possibly in the future if LMP1 cars are allowed to run in some invite only GTP category.

So it seems we have 6 car makers for sure, possibly 1-3 more, and possibly Michelin on top of that. They can all exert a lot of pressure on management, because without them, we probably won't have the current series in terms of entries.

I can see Michelin looking at getting the tire rule opened up. If Michelin is there, you can count on Continental being there too. Falken along with them. That adds to the list of manufacturers too.

[Mike Hedlund]

Keep in mind, Audi doesn't really have a dog in the race at the moment. All the Audi support in Tudor is from Audi Customer Support and Audi North America.. it's completely different than their WEC program. I doubt "Audi" was involved in any manufacturer level discussions with IMSA since the season started.

-mike

[chernaudi]

Yes, I know that Audi in Germany probably doesn't give a crap about TUSCC compared to the WEC/Le Mans, DTM or "actual" GT3 racing. But Audi of America seems to be handling the customer program, and we know that their teams, notably Flying Lizard, haven't been happy with BoP in GTD. And Audi Sport Customer Racing is still part of Audi Sport, and this could be an opportunity for them to try and get a foot in the door of TUSCC to have a LMP1/GTP class for the endurance races.

From that standpoint, they probably care a bit about keeping their customers happy, even if Audi cares little about TUSCC itself.

Either way, even if one discount's Audi as not giving a crap about TUSCC (and after seeing several things happen this year, I wouldn't blame them!), it seems that we have almost all the manufacturers, at least one tire maker (possibly all of them counting Falken and possibly Conti), and a bunch of drivers and team owners who want to spur upper management to action.

Clearly, the series is making changes, but this committee is making it clear that they feel that there's more work to do, be it BoP, race control, and driver rating systems.

[gsmith2424]

Originally Posted by ttdriver2009

I can see Michelin looking at getting the tire rule opened up. If Michelin is there, you can count on Continental being there too. Falken along with them. That adds to the list of manufacturers too.

I think you are talking about Hoosier as they make/develop the tire for Continental.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by gsmith2424

I think you are talking about Hoosier as they make/develop the tire for Continental.

Yes, Conti's money, name and rep, Hoosier silent partner.

[joeb]

It looks like the series has made further adjustments to the safety car periods:

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/ctscc/f...-imsa-partner/

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by joeb

It looks like the series has made further adjustments to the safety car periods:

http://sportscar365.com/imsa/ctscc/f...-imsa-partner/

What, positioning the Ford powered cars for a win every race?

[joeb]

Originally Posted by MoMedic9019

What, positioning the Ford powered cars for a win every race?

Well if you think about the time spent under caution do far this year, this is probably a good way to ensure a Ford powered car will be leading the field!

[ttdriver2009]

From looking at this page:
http://www.imsa.com/series/united-sportscar/partners
IMSA has 11 manufacturers as partners. I wonder if IMSA was trying to make some press. Ford was listed as a partner with Grand-Am and it could be that Ford just signed a contract with IMSA like the other 10 manufacturers did.

[Breitling24]

I had that model as a hire car recently... without the strobes and appliques, though.

[EricS]

New HPD ARX-04b P2 car unveiled: http://www.racer.com/imsa/item/10259...2-car-unveiled

"We're already going ahead in building four cars, and we've got a limit of six," he said. "The problem is we've got expressions of interest for currently seven, which is more than we can build. So it's going to be first-come, first-served."

"We certainly have plans to get the first car on track comfortably before the end of this year," he confirmed. "It will undergo rigorous testing beforehand in simulation and on the racetrack. We expect the car to be quite formidable."

[Mal]

"We're already going ahead in building four cars, and we've got a limit of six," he said. "The problem is we've got expressions of interest for currently seven, which is more than we can build. So it's going to be first-come, first-served."

10/10 for marketing policy

[Maelochs]

Makes me wonder how much they are losing on each one.

[MoMedic9019]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Makes me wonder how much they are losing on each one.

Probably not as much as Lexus loses on the LFA

[Dodge_Swinger]

Now THAT'S a sports car! Too bad it'll have to run on spec tires.

[aneesh99]

"We're already going ahead in building four cars, and we've got a limit of six," he said. "The problem is we've got expressions of interest for currently seven, which is more than we can build. So it's going to be first-come, first-served."

Expressions of interest

Oh Mr Wirth...

[Maelochs]

Expressions of interest? Seven people reading this thread are interested, it's true.