British F3 to move to three race format?

[kipper]

Originally Posted by EastonNeston

These proposals need to be considered in conjunction with the changes Ratel has promised the , rapidly declining, competitors of the BGT series, where they have been promised all their tracktime for a weekend on the Saturday and Sunday, and both races will be held on the Sunday.

I can see one or maybe two of the F3 races been relegated to the Saturday.

Idealy SRO would ensure that there were no clashes with the BTCc or the other major British race meetings. Where is the logic of holding a GT race at Knockhill on Le Mans weekend, it automatically causes logistical problems for many of the teams and reduces the potential number of spectators

With regards to the timing of the F3 races, then I don't see that running two British GT races on the Sunday will have any meaningful impact on F3. Ultimately, running one race on the Saturday may be preferable as it gives teams more time to repairs cars, etc. However, as part of the headline act it makes more sense to maximise the time that F3s and GTs have on the (generally) more popular Sunday. I suspect that the likes of Ginetta G20s, VW Racing Cup and British Formula Ford may see more of their track action on the Saturday to compenstate.

With regards to scheduling of events to avoid clashes, then this can only be managed up until a point. For instance, if events were to avoid the BTCC, international events in Britain, Le Mans, F1 and the two Goodwood events, putting together a well structured calendar may be difficult.

[strider]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Perhaps FOThreeA would have been better served by leaving SRO and coheadlining with the BTCC, as was proposed at one point ...

Unfortunately that was never the the proposal. If it had been I think they would have gone that way.

FoTA, which is probably more accurate, as it stands Formula Three Association was offered the opportunity to pay a wedge of money to TOCA, in addition arrange and pay for many other aspects of running a Championship and in return simply be just another of the BTCC support races, taking turn and turn about, just like all the others.

As it turns out, I don't think they could have afforded it, so the SRO option was probably the lesser of two evils. It is a shame that their UK personnel are more disorganisers than organisers, but I suppose you have to take the rough with the smooth.

[bella]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Partially serious proposal : two 15-minute semi-finals (with each driver racing in one) and one 50 minute final (no tyre stops).

there speaks someone who has never sat through a 45 minute f3 race... the last 20 minutes are almost always completely unnecessary and spent praying for rain to spice things up a bit.

it would be great as a spectator if all 3 races were on sunday, then maybe it might be worth the ticket price, but from anyone elses point of view it would be a total nightmare.

[Richard B]

F3 can get a little boring with longer races and I agree with Bella 3 races on a Sunday would be good especially for the paying public. However, 1 thing that would improve the spectacle is bigger grids and a 3 race format may encourage that.
What F3 needs and needs now is bigger grids (whole new subject, sorry) and an acceptance that it does pave the way to F1 and Jaime driving for Torro Rosso alongside another British F3 champion Piquet jnr will add to it's credabilty.
Showing my age a little...I queued to get out of F3 races many years ago in the days of Senna, Lehto, et al.

[Alex K]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

Perhaps FOThreeA would have been better served by leaving SRO and coheadlining with the BTCC, as was proposed at one point ...

That would probably kill British GT, as it stands today... BGT grid lacks money and numbers. As strider stated there were talks, Autosport covered them months ago...

[EastonNeston]

There are lots of alternatives for the drivers who would consider British Gt's. If they want to race internationally there are options in the FIA Gt package and in LMS.

At a lower cost domestic level there is the GRT cup series run by one of the Haynes publishing group and the Britcar series, as well as the SPEED series for sports prototypes. Not forgetting the Ginetta and Porsche options on the BTCC package.

With all these options available, in many cases with more fan friendly series and much more customer orientated organisers, is it any wonder that the field for British Gt is collapsing?

[Lam Pak]

asianf3 got that in 2006. got death after. if i could drop dead in bf3 right now id be the happiest man alive.