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10 Jul 2012, 02:57 (Ref:3104433) | #626 | |
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I hate to say it but the ELMS is on life support and may likely see the cancellation for the rest of the year and beyond.
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10 Jul 2012, 06:55 (Ref:3104476) | #627 | ||
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Sorry, I don't really follow sportscar racing all that closely, however I was considering going to Donington this weekend (as its my local circuit). What can I expect to see there? Has there been a bit of a decimation of the LMS field?
Cheers, Ben. |
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10 Jul 2012, 06:58 (Ref:3104478) | #628 | |||
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Quote:
Save your money and go to Silverstone for the WEC. That should be well worth the trip compared to ELMS. |
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Somebody asked if the McLaren F1 was going to be like the Ferrari F40, Gordon Murray replied, "I don't think so, there's no one at McLaren who can weld that badly." |
10 Jul 2012, 10:11 (Ref:3104528) | #629 | ||
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10 Jul 2012, 10:20 (Ref:3104532) | #630 | |
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...this is so annoying. Selfish of me, I know. I really want to see LM cars at Donington (cannot make Silverstone grrr) but cannot justify the distance for a tiny grid... Still need sportscar fix so may have to do Brands and see two series I don't really care about (I'm sure the actual racing will be good and no disrespect implied to any serious followers) and Britcar (about which I do)...
I wish they could allow local discretion to boost the entry - there must be heaps of cars NOT running in anything in this w/e |
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10 Jul 2012, 12:31 (Ref:3104605) | #631 | ||
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I'm the same Osella, had this one pencilled into my diary but thinking I'll probably swap for Silverstone Classic the week after. I want to support the ELMS, because the WEC debarcle has just killed it, but can't justify the (short) trip to stand in the rain for 6 hours for about 7 or 8 cars to finish. The one thing that might tempt me still is the quality of lineups that will be there; Oak #35, Status, Greaves and Loeb all look strong (if they're there).
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Eat Sportscars Sleep Sportscars Drink Gulf |
10 Jul 2012, 13:11 (Ref:3104631) | #632 | |||
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Quote:
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10 Jul 2012, 13:38 (Ref:3104646) | #633 | |
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...I'd love to watch Murphy or Oak win, but to beat a field of at least 25!
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10 Jul 2012, 13:50 (Ref:3104650) | #634 | ||
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Murphy for me , be great if they could get sponsored by Guinness ..... Imagine that logo ...... that could get a few heads scratchin .
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10 Jul 2012, 14:00 (Ref:3104653) | #635 | |
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 1,460
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show alcholic sponsorship during races is forbidden in EU countries as far i remember.
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10 Jul 2012, 14:41 (Ref:3104665) | #636 | ||
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Yeah , bloody shame too !!!
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10 Jul 2012, 14:42 (Ref:3104666) | #637 | ||
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10 Jul 2012, 14:45 (Ref:3104667) | #638 | ||
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Funnily enough, there's a three-car team in our national rally championship sponsored by Jack Daniel's. The only problem is... we don't have circuits for any kind of motorsport except karting and some lower-class bike racing.
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When in doubt? C4. |
10 Jul 2012, 14:50 (Ref:3104671) | #639 | |||
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Quote:
P.S. I know it's a temorary street race, but it was nice in the FIA GT Last edited by arakis; 10 Jul 2012 at 14:56. |
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10 Jul 2012, 14:53 (Ref:3104674) | #640 | ||
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__________________
When in doubt? C4. |
10 Jul 2012, 15:02 (Ref:3104676) | #641 | ||
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10 Jul 2012, 15:39 (Ref:3104689) | #642 | |
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It can´t be forbidden in many countries as Johnie Walker (McLaren), Whyte&Mackay (Force India) and Singha Beer (Red Bull) are in Formula 1.
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10 Jul 2012, 17:15 (Ref:3104713) | #643 | |
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[Qthe UOTE=Dyson Mazda;3104419]The ideal setup for the WEC is to work with the two series and not stand alone. They could have 5 races in Europe in conjunction with the ELMS and 5 races in the States with the ALMS. If we face facts it is going nowhere outside of these two continents anyways. Also they should only have LMP1 & GT Pro classes forcing the privateers into the other two series unless they want to buy the more expensive toys. You end up with a schedule looking something like this
12 Hours of Sebring 1000 KM of Spa 1000 KM of Monza 24 Hours of Le Mans 1000 KM of Silverstone 6 Hours of Austin 6 Hours of Mosport 6 Hours of Laguna Seca Petit Le Mans Asian Round[/QUOTE]What you describe is not a World Championship, it's a crutch to prop up two series that are failing to deliver the goods, the ELMS and ALMS. Europe and the USA are saturated markets for the world's auto makers,people are downsizing and consuming less each year, and that includes purchasing and running cars. All sports, not just motor racing are chasing the big bucks in emerging markets, in the not too distant future Europe will be ranked well down in terms of total car sales. The ELMS grid has been decreasing for year's, and yet this seasons prototype grid is better than for some time, it's the only GT's that have deserted, many of which can be seen this weekend in a series few know about, and and even less care about, GT Open. Forge a partnership between the the ELMS and GT Open and you have a European Championship to be proud off, no one would question going to such a race, and it would be one of the highlights of the year. Elsewhere there's SRO with the soon to be dead FIA GT1 and GT3 series, I can only wonder what team managers where on when they entered there teams in those dead ducks. Come back next season with a joint series based entirely in Europe and they may bring things back from the brink In America there'll never be talks for the ALMS and Grand Am to join, but so that's a situation that's unavoidable, in Europe its different as partnerships can be forged and consolidations made to give us three amazing Euro series, an Endurance prototype and GT series in the former of the ELMS, keep Blancpain as is for endurance GT3's and have one single FIA GT sprint series. This is all about putting self interest to one side for the good of the sport in Europe rather than jumping on the red herring the WEC is to blame, and somehow we can roll back the years to the 1980's when outside of Japan Asia and the far east weren't factors, and and you'd never think of running at places like Russia or India. |
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10 Jul 2012, 17:39 (Ref:3104723) | #644 | ||
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What is the point of selling cars through Le Mans sports car racing in these markets if nobody cares? Just look at Zhuhai, loads of local hype, tons of promotion by Peugeot and hardly anybody shows up with a whopping peak of 200 viewers on the international stream. Of course F1 will do somewhat well in these markets, since they actually have people outside of a niche that care about it, but how does WEC Sports car racing sell cars in China? It certainly didn't for Audi, whose R18 started falling apart and shedding bodywork 20 minutes into the event and what ROI did it provide for manufacturers racing infront of (liberal estimates) 10,000 people? Is Bahrain a large-scale car market? Will the Indians unlike the Chinese get more than 10,000 people to show up for their WEC race? Will the WEC even be able to draw a good crowd in motor racing-hungry nations like Brazil (I'm guessing no) and Japan (I'm guessing yes)?
Race where the fans are, and support the local series. WEC cannot be the only ACO prototype sports car racing series in the world, it will kill privateers, and when you mostly have manufacturers propping up your sport, just wait until the next financial crisis to see what happens. |
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10 Jul 2012, 19:29 (Ref:3104777) | #645 | |
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There'll be two euro sportscar rounds in UK this weekend but won't draw 10,000 spectators combined, won't attract any coverage outside the motorsport regulars, have no major manufacturer or sponsor interest, they're club meetings with fancy cars. Combine forces and they'd provide an attractive package for competitors, sponsors and TV, they haven't and have even gone so far as to race on the same weekend in the same country.
The WEC isn't on the same page, at the head of the field manufacturers and corporate sponsors budgets are in competition with the Shaghai Masters, the big regional golf or football tournaments, ski-ing World Cup, a few thousand extra on the gates at Brands Hatch, Road Atlanta or Monza isn't going to sway things when you're looking to sell an extra 100k cars per years. Audi use these WEC rounds to forge relationships with dealers, they form a pleasant background to corporate business, get mainstream column inches and clip on the daily news.The ELMS's bread and butter are welathy amateurs funding teams and providing paid drives for pro's, their GT grid has fled to Blancpain, GT Open and FIA GT1/3, only BES is flourishing, the others are spread too thinly and need major reconstruction. At one time Barth, Ratel and Peter combined forces and put together a great GT series, when the manufacturer money flowed in things got bitter, mismanagement ensued and everyon went in different directions. Today the WEC stands at teh top of the pile with a clear focus on big money technology and with a business closer to F1 than anything seen in sportscar racing in recent years. The ALMS is in competition with Grand-Am, their philosophies are so different it will be a fight to the bitter end or, in an ideal world, both build good grids and go about racing thier own way. In Europe you're tripping over lmp2, cn, GTE, GT3 and GT4's, there are that many about, but someone has to bang heads together and make these power broakers realise they'll be stronger if they join forces and cut the dead wood. Sportscar racing has a great pyramid to develop teams and driver, but right now that middle regional tier is overcrowded and frankly in a complete mess. Where you can take hope is we're only in this situation because cars are being sold, people want to race and promotors see the potential, it happens this year they've stretched themselves too thinly, in theory the fix is simple if you leave the egos at the door. |
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11 Jul 2012, 10:27 (Ref:3105022) | #646 | ||
Racer
Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 217
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Endurance Info is now reporting that JMB have pulled out of GTE Pro for Donington, and will be looking at other series instead. I wonder if JMW will show up now for a class of 1?
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11 Jul 2012, 19:12 (Ref:3105282) | #647 | ||
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Posts: 217
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Apologies for the double post - I was too late to edit. Now down to 13 entries:
P2 - 9 PC - 1 GTE Pro - 1 GTE Am - 2 This is so disappointing. |
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11 Jul 2012, 19:18 (Ref:3105285) | #648 | ||
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11 Jul 2012, 19:40 (Ref:3105291) | #649 | ||
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Nine LMP2 confirmed now.
Greaves Motorsport, Pecom Racing, Status GP, Murphy Prototypes, Sebastien Loeb Racing, OAK Racing 2x, Jota, Thiriet by TDS. and no Extreme Limite ARIC in the end Last edited by Marcel ten Caat; 11 Jul 2012 at 19:53. |
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11 Jul 2012, 19:43 (Ref:3105294) | #650 | ||
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