Mosport Qualifying -- back to the old way!

[Liz]

My informal survey of approximately 75 reasonably sober people at Mosport, plus the comments of Rob Dyson after qualifying (you have already heard James Weaver's emphatic thumbs down):

Two people gave the new system unqualified thumbs up. They liked having the cars able to show off and liked studying the individual style of driving.

About half the people emphatically disliked the new system. They found it 'boring' (the most frequently used adjective) and confusing. The other major complaint I heard was that "qualifying doesn't matter in endurance racing; who cares where they qualify?" This group came to see the cars compete with one another, not race like Formula One cars to set a grid that in effect would determine the race.

The rest mainly wanted more information provided -- that is, they could not tell how the cars stacked up against one another because they were not given the qualifying times for the individual cars, and could not measure them against a sufficiently crowded field; they didn't think it was an accurate measure of what the cars could do, as it did not show them in the field they would have to race in; and it didn't show the major skill an ALMS driver needs -- that ability to get out of the way and concentrate on running their own race.

Rob Dyson pointed out that this had been tried "two or three times" in the past, and referred to it as a "spasm" the series periodically went through. "If the fans like it," he shrugged, "it'll continue, if not they will get rid of it." So if you don't like this way of qualifying, make your feelings known to the series -- or if you have any ideas how to make it more fan-friendly, let them know that too.

Basically I think the majority opinion is that they like the old system better but would be willing to give the new way a try if they could get more excitement and more information about what was actually going on.

[Tim Northcutt]

Then I believe it is up to the ALMS to work out a system with the tracks where they race, and with the announcers at the tracks, to inform the fans about what is going on and where cars stand relative to each other if they want to use this new system....

From reading the account of the qualifying, the session actually had some drama to it as the last cars came up in the order....

If that was not conveyed to the fans in attendance, then the format needs to be fixed if they are going to use it...

Personally, I could go either way on it...

If they can work a deal to get a televised or taped show that broadcasts qualifying (on SpeedChanne, or wherever), I'm all for the new format...

But if they are not communicating the info to the fans who are present at the event via scoreboards and the announcers at the track, it kind of defeats the purpose...because this new system is also "for the fans" according to everything I've read....

Maybe they will work these bugs out in the future...

But I have no problem with the old system....I rather enjoy it...

[Fogelhund]

I think this might have been the least watched session in our area. A good opportunity for a washroom break. There isn't much drama when hardly anyone has Live Timing & Scoring, and the PA is hard to hear.

It's gotta go.

[Shady#30]

we watched the early parts of qualifying from turn one, directly across from the big TV which showed NO times of any kind! We could hear from the excitement in the announcer's voice that something good must have been happening, but we had no chance of understanding any of it since any time a car went by we couldn't hear him. We gave up and went back to our pit to watch our cars qualify...or should I say, watch the times change on the monitor.

I kind of like the format (being a sponsor and all its great to have so much focus on individual cars) but I think in general there needs to be more big screens around the track and they need to display times not just position. Perhaps two adjacent screens (in many locations around the track, including the paddock area), one for camera shots and one for LT&S/pit notes, are in order. And of course I wish they'd show it on SPEED.

[paul-collins]

Ashley, I think you're right - two boards would be better, and one could be dedicated strictly to data. In fact, they used to have the old magnetic-pixel boards before they went with colour screens. I wonder if it would cost significantly more to pull those ones out?

I'd love to see something like the LTS applet that Formula 1 has for their web data, with sector times and all.

That said, I like the idea of cars setting times, adjusting, lurking, and squeezing out lap times at the very end. Last year's qualifying was so much more dramatic, and it was still basically four cars (two Dyson and two Audi) ripping the laps off. John Hindaugh just about had a heart attack during the radio broadcast... (With all due respect to Jon in the junkyard dog, Clint, who was in the B2K/10, the two Panoz and American Spirit's R&S)

[Shady#30]

One other thought...

There should probably be 3 or 4 'hot' laps. Saturday at Mosport was fairly chilly and I know we had tire temp problems. Friday Clint ran 1:13 and change when the tires finally warmed up and Saturday his qualifying time was, if i remember correctly, 1:16 and change. The Dyson team also thought they would have been even faster had they had another lap or two. Given that the qualifying is not being shown on tv as of now, the extra time for the extra laps shouldn't be a major problem.

[Mags]

Originally posted by Liz
My informal survey of approximately 75 reasonably sober people at Mosport, plus the comments of Rob Dyson after qualifying (you have already heard James Weaver's emphatic thumbs down):

Two people gave the new system unqualified thumbs up. They liked having the cars able to show off and liked studying the individual style of driving.

About half the people emphatically disliked the new system. They found it 'boring' (the most frequently used adjective) and confusing. The other major complaint I heard was that "qualifying doesn't matter in endurance racing; who cares where they qualify?" This group came to see the cars compete with one another, not race like Formula One cars to set a grid that in effect would determine the race.

The rest mainly wanted more information provided -- that is, they could not tell how the cars stacked up against one another because they were not given the qualifying times for the individual cars, and could not measure them against a sufficiently crowded field; they didn't think it was an accurate measure of what the cars could do, as it did not show them in the field they would have to race in; and it didn't show the major skill an ALMS driver needs -- that ability to get out of the way and concentrate on running their own race.

Rob Dyson pointed out that this had been tried "two or three times" in the past, and referred to it as a "spasm" the series periodically went through. "If the fans like it," he shrugged, "it'll continue, if not they will get rid of it." So if you don't like this way of qualifying, make your feelings known to the series -- or if you have any ideas how to make it more fan-friendly, let them know that too.

Basically I think the majority opinion is that they like the old system better but would be willing to give the new way a try if they could get more excitement and more information about what was actually going on.

And where were we that had 75 sober people???

[Fogelhund]

Note, there is a poll on the ALMS site, regarding which qualifying people prefer.

http://www.americanlemans.com/fanfre...?TOPIC_ID=1459

[Mags]

Thanks! I'll be watching this with interest.