A2GP - 2008 Onwards

[duke_toaster]

Supposedly A1 will have a new car in 08 and will have an "A2GP" in the current cars (dangerous IMO, the current amount of power is only just acceptable with the current mix of talent) with promotion and relegation.

Surely A2 would be filled with the useless countries that are in that have made no real contribution to motorsport. It would be sensible to have a "B" car from the top 5 A1 countries in the season in A2, but not getting promoted or relegated. Also, what happens if a team goes bust after they get relegated? Looks like the court of arbitration for sport will be working overtime ......

[Asp]

Mod note - I've changed the title of this thread for discussion purely on the A2GP idea, the new cars already have a thread for discussion.

I've got to say you're highly sceptical to assume that teams might go bust after promotion. Yes, they might, but that might also happen in the Football league, it's nothing to get worried about. A1GP might also add a clause in the regs to clarify this situation before the A2 season starts.

And I'm afraid it's still before lunchtime here - I'm not sure what you're on about with "b" cars?

[MagnetON]

So, now that A2GP has gone "public" in the Brands program, what are peoples thoughts on it.

[kerrmanningjarv]

I think it has potential... say that there is a Malaysian A2GP and a young Malaysian talent wins the title... he would then (hopefully) have the chance to race for his country in an international series. What a prize that would be, eh?

[Kiwi3]

As of a month ago A1GP had not really decided if it will be national or regional championships. They did however state that there is the possibility of talking to existing series in developed markets with a view to moving to A2GP machinery and rebranding. I can see conflicts arising therefore between Renault, BMW and Ferrari over particular pieces of turf, and it will be interesting to see how it would fit alongside F3 etc.

I guess a lot will depend on how A1GP develops as a career goal for drivers and team bosses, engineers etc over the next couple of years. If F1 is always everyone's goal then there is no reason to move from the existing Formula BMW, Formula Renault, GP2 etc, however if some people start to accept that F1 does not have room for everyone, and A1GP is the next best choice, then A2GP would be the logical stepping stone for such people.

Another comment from A1GP is that each competing nation needs to have an A2GP series. I cannot see how that would work in a small country like NZ, that already has the Toyota Racing Series and no room for anything else.

[META4]

Can anybody explain to me how it will work

I guess if it is just a "Junior" A1GP Championship , then i cannot imagine for instance a Pakistany Youngster beat a British or French Youngster

Strong Motorsports Countries will always be ahead of new comers ...

unless they build in these "emerging" countries a Motorsport ladder from Go-kart ... but that will take some time

[kerrmanningjarv]

I had heard that only developing nations will have a national, or regional, A2GP series... not England or Italy or anything like that. So presumably countries like Pakistan, India etc. will have one.

[MagnetON]

I'm sure they will try and position A2GP in all the major territories, however for countries that don't have a huge level of "local" motorsport I'd be hard pushed to see where the budgets to run 20 developing drivers on single seaters will come from. In established countries there's probably not room for another slicks/wings single seater class, I know there certainly isn't room for it in Ireland unless it's positioned where it's very affordable.

Could this be a move to make A1 look like a "bigger" series with a We've our own "feeder" series so of course we are a major player! attitude.

And as for announcing A2GP in the Brands program, oh dear, oh dear, you would have thought that given the target demographic they would have at least have put SOMETHING other than a generic e-mail login on www.A2GP.com

[AlexBlakeley]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

And as for announcing A2GP in the Brands program, oh dear, oh dear, you would have thought that given the target demographic they would have at least have put SOMETHING other than a generic e-mail login on www.A2GP.com

A1GP have been doing that for a while. Note that they also own www.A3GP.com all the way down to www.A9GP.com

[MagnetON]

Originally Posted by AlexBlakeley

A1GP have been doing that for a while. Note that they also own www.A3GP.com all the way down to www.A9GP.com

Yeah, I spotted that the other day, I was commenting to my other half last night on what an A9GP car would look like:



However, the steering bolt will be made of an exotic titanium alloy and all cars would have a "Powered By Phalanges" badge.

[META4]

Originally Posted by MagnetON

I'm sure they will try and position A2GP in all the major territories, however for countries that don't have a huge level of "local" motorsport I'd be hard pushed to see where the budgets to run 20 developing drivers on single seaters will come from. In established countries there's probably not room for another slicks/wings single seater class, I know there certainly isn't room for it in Ireland unless it's positioned where it's very affordable.

Could this be a move to make A1 look like a "bigger" series with a We've our own "feeder" series so of course we are a major player! attitude.

And as for announcing A2GP in the Brands program, oh dear, oh dear, you would have thought that given the target demographic they would have at least have put SOMETHING other than a generic e-mail login on www.A2GP.com

They already tried something like that with the "Thunder Arabia Serie" between Dubai and Bahrein but it did not really worked well... i do not even know if it is still running

I am not sure if running some youngs drivers coming from emerging countries between themselves is the best solution

Ok every year you will get a champion... but what will be his level

It is just a marketing project , i do not think it will help emerging countries

THe best way would be to do recruiting sessions like "La Filliere ELF" Used to do in the past , do selections in countries and then put them in a School for a year where they can learn how to become racing drivers

[OJB]

I think its an interesting quirk, but perhaps a little too early for A1GP to be branching out having just about made a success of the main series at the end of year 3.

Thing is, sponsors haven't been that ready to commit to A1 so far, and those that do do so because of the good TV coverage. Would A2 get the same treatment in terms of coverage?

British/French etc teams should be allowed to compete, albeit maybe only with drivers of a certain experience ie. FBMW/Renault and not F3. It'd be a great breeding ground to impress European employers ahead of the start of the main season.

[mountainstar]

Seems like a foolish idea. A1 had an enormous amount of debt from the first season and if I was them I'd focus on building the product and their series. There are ample single seater championships below the level of A1 to feed the series with drivers.

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Seems like a foolish idea. A1 had an enormous amount of debt from the first season and if I was them I'd focus on building the product and their series. There are ample single seater championships below the level of A1 to feed the series with drivers.

Very true.A fleet of A3GP cars were actually built a couple of years ago and did one race at Durban. I discovered th other day that they are now FVW a national series in South Africa.

[kerrmanningjarv]

^ I found that out too

[ss_collins]

With A3 logos on the noses

[rychard]

I tested the A3 car at Kyalami. It was only a tad faster than Zetec F/Ford, but as it was a general test day the cars were on old wooden tyres and in a high downforce configuration. It has a sequential 'box and was sooo easy to drive.

Fastest time on the day was a 1:48 something and F/Fords lap record is 1:49.8. I was 4 sec off that.

Now they've been fitted with 20 valve motors producing 250 bhp (according to VW's Andre vd Watt) but grids have been very thin.

These are the same cars that raced as F/Volkswagen in Germany from 2002 and were originally built by Reynard.