[WEC] WEC 2019/20 season

[fieldodreams79]

I'm hoping they get cheap for me for this summer but this is crazy. I'd hate to have this shut down too.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Adam43

I hadn't picked up on that. Odd, why not immediate?

I feel there might be some urgent travel changes.

Tickets will be expensive over the next couple of days!

It does seem weird to delay but I'm guessing that was negotiated with the EU and others.

Actually would be surprised to see price hikes as there's going to be a war to get the seats filled and planes back to the US to get the crews home. Per diem on the road ain't cheap.

[fergus_r]

The WEC race has been cancelled.

[Greem]

Originally Posted by fergus_r

The WEC race has been cancelled.

https://www.fiawec.com/en/news/cance...-march-20/6667

[TF110]

Can't wait for this overblown virus panic to be over so we can get back to normal motorsport activities. I sympathize to the people who have it and had it, but this is going too far. I don't remember this kind of freak out from swine flu. I can't remember the last time a race series canceled because of an illness.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by TF110

Can't wait for this overblown virus panic to be over so we can get back to normal motorsport activities. I sympathize to the people who have it and had it, but this is going too far. I don't remember this kind of freak out from swine flu. I can't remember the last time a race series canceled because of an illness.

Sigh

[Aysedasi]

There are those who would say that a worldwide pandemic the like of which most haven't seen in our lifetimes is a little bit more than just 'an illness'.....

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by TF110

Can't wait for this overblown virus panic to be over so we can get back to normal motorsport activities. I sympathize to the people who have it and had it, but this is going too far. I don't remember this kind of freak out from swine flu. I can't remember the last time a race series canceled because of an illness.

Maybe it’s because the situation isn’t quite the same.

If the measures put in place are successful I look forward to people saying it was nothing and overblown. Such a binary world some people live in.

[S griffin]

While it is annoying this situation, in a way they can’t take too many chances on a virus which is still something of an unknown, even if I feel things have been overblown by the media

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TF110

Can't wait for this overblown virus panic to be over so we can get back to normal motorsport activities. I sympathize to the people who have it and had it, but this is going too far. I don't remember this kind of freak out from swine flu. I can't remember the last time a race series canceled because of an illness.

Really?

Just for a reality check here, COVID-19 has a similar case fatality rate (CFR) as the Spanish Flu of 1918. That was one of the deadliest events in human history. In the first year of that pandemic, the average life expectance dropped 12 years in the US and by the end of it 50 million people had died.

We are better prepared now. But let's not dick about with this stuff eh.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Maybe it’s because the situation isn’t quite the same.

If the measures put in place are successful I look forward to people saying it was nothing and overblown. Such a binary world some people live in.

Yes, in a way it reminds me of the millennium bug. People saying afterwards it was't a big deal and nothing went wrong. Well yes, nothing went wrong - because a lot of very talented software engineers worked very hard to make sure nothing went wrong.

If we manage to keep a lid on this, people will say it wasn't serious. In reality, people are working very to keep a lid on it now.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Yes, in a way it reminds me of the millennium bug. People saying afterwards it was't a big deal and nothing went wrong. Well yes, nothing went wrong - because a lot of very talented software engineers worked very hard to make sure nothing went wrong.



If we manage to keep a lid on this, people will say it wasn't serious. In reality, people are working very to keep a lid on it now.

And that brings us to one of my favorite movies of all time Office Space! If you haven't seen it, the main character Peter was a software engineer and his job was to edit bank software for the 2000 switch.

Yes that was off topic, but not much to discuss on topic these days. The sports section in the local paper was a shell of its normal self.

[chernaudi]

The biggest thing for me personally is that this has disrupted any sense of normalcy that I have in my life. I don't have much of a life outside of home, but you have that element of the population who are either panicking or finding a way to get ill-gotten gains/screw over their fellow man on stuff.

I'm way more concerned about being able to talk/meet with friends and socialize (I've had very limited socialization for most of the past 4 months due to having to help out at home during the winter), because this crap decided to take off in Europe and North America just as the weather (should) be getting better.

IMO, the sooner this blows over, the better, but this virus, like nature, will do what it wants to do.

[fieldodreams79]

I was going to respond to a previous post but instead I'll stick with joeb's theme:

[Akrapovic]

I'm no mod, but given the current state of the world, and the fact this place would have zero discussion for the next 3 months or so, I imagine that going wildly off-topic isn't going to be seen as a big problem right now lol.

Similar to chernaudi, my biggest issue will be the social aspect of it. Limited social circle (most of my friends are my coworkers), single, in a small one bedroom flat, working from home won't be fun. Forums and social media may provide a little tiny social window for many. So I'd propose that until this is all over, that off-topic is maybe an ok thing.

[S griffin]

I think a lot of people need something to keep us occupied, especially with no racing going on.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I'm no mod, but given the current state of the world, and the fact this place would have zero discussion for the next 3 months or so, I imagine that going wildly off-topic isn't going to be seen as a big problem right now lol.

We've had a COBRA meeting and discussed 10-10ths response to this. We can confirm that all mods have been asked to work remotely.

[chernaudi]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

I'm no mod, but given the current state of the world, and the fact this place would have zero discussion for the next 3 months or so, I imagine that going wildly off-topic isn't going to be seen as a big problem right now lol.

Similar to chernaudi, my biggest issue will be the social aspect of it. Limited social circle (most of my friends are my coworkers), single, in a small one bedroom flat, working from home won't be fun. Forums and social media may provide a little tiny social window for many. So I'd propose that until this is all over, that off-topic is maybe an ok thing.

That's going to be my problem for at least the rest of the month, maybe longer. Ohio has basically banned almost all gatherings of more than 100 people until basically April 1st, maybe longer. Only major exceptions are weddings, funerals, churches/places of worship, restaurants and bars. And the latter two may also be facing restrictions soon.

I already don't get out of the house much, and probably my best chance of hanging out with people might be when my friend moves back to Ohio this week. And sadly, this has become an issue when cold/flu/the overall misery of winter should be over. I hope this is seasonal like the closely related SARS virus is, but even at that it'll probably we weeks before this really drops off, and even that's just conjecture at this stage.

[Peter Mallett]

Personally I'm trying not to let it impact my life too much. But I fully expect to have zero motorsport between now and August in Europe. So what shall we talk about?

Overall it's not about us, it's about the small percentile that will inevitably succumb to this virus. So, let's be positive and think about coming out of this with all of our friends and fellow posters still on line.

[Purist]

I kind of touched on this in the IMSA thread, but my main concern, aside from the obvious general business and motorsport impacts, is, like some have said, the social side, but also, how long this lasts.

It's a worrying sign when the talk changes to tones of, "well, we're buying time", but the only thing to be buying time for is a vaccine, and that's still basically 12-18 months away, plus the time it takes to get it widely distributed to the public. It's not tenable to keep such restrictions in place for that long, but if you've still got well over 90% of the population that have yet to pick it up and develop any kind of immunity, well, what do you do?

[CTD]

Originally Posted by Purist

I kind of touched on this in the IMSA thread, but my main concern, aside from the obvious general business and motorsport impacts, is, like some have said, the social side, but also, how long this lasts.

It's a worrying sign when the talk changes to tones of, "well, we're buying time", but the only thing to be buying time for is a vaccine, and that's still basically 12-18 months away, plus the time it takes to get it widely distributed to the public. It's not tenable to keep such restrictions in place for that long, but if you've still got well over 90% of the population that have yet to pick it up and develop any kind of immunity, well, what do you do?

"Buying time" is al about evening out the load in the hospitals.
If the spread was allowed to go out uncontrolled, the hospitals would be overcrowded, resulting in a higher mortality rate (see China and Italy). By spreading it out over time, the peak pressure will be lower, but over longer time hopefully allowing the hospitals to better cope with the pressure and save more lifes.

Remember not 100% of the population needs to immune to stop/kill the current wave. It is all about lowering the number of potential receivers of the virus to a point where it is one to one (like a normal flue). In Denmark we are currently looking at ~500.000 to ~600.000 infected in the first wave within six weeks (~10% of the population by the end of April). This should be enough to ensure that the virus will not peak in a way that will cripple the hospitals.

These restrictions are sadly necessary and if it means a postponement of major events, then I am happy to pay that price, to ensure that my friends and family who are in the "risk groups" survive.
(Reading my comment, it might be read as "negative", please do not take it as such, it is only to share the knowledge gained here in Denmark)

[Willmaz223]

Spa has been cancelled.

https://www.fiawec.com/en/news/postponement-of-the-total-6-hours-of-spa-francorchamps/6669

[GT6]

yep just seen that, not a big surprise.

[broadrun96]

Yeah, it feels like the 24 might be in the cross hairs as well. It's really close to the time of "normalcy" but can they really run the race and all the support required with the strain on the health systems already? The background structures that makes things run well could be the last to recover after this.

[hondafan37]

Reviewing the file of Racing Sports Cars I was observing that in 1968 the 24 hours were run on September 29 and in 1957 on July 29.

https://www.racingsportscars.com/tra...Le%20Mans.html

Maybe it would be positive to postpone it for a few months, and thus also postpone the start of the next season and give Glikenhaus more time to finish his Hypercar.