Le Mans Series 2007

[ger80]

ALMS, JLMS and LMS. LMS only in europe. And maybe 3 races from every championsship into a sportscar world cup. The world cup only for LMP1 maybe LMP1 and LMP2, the GT world cup is FIA GT. Maybe with the possibilty to let another team with the same chassis and engine drive some races for the team which is in the world cup, could be for example RML is driving the world cup but Intersport drives the ALMS world cup races for them.
All this with one big homepage with all the press releases and so one and a video stream from every race.
World Cup races: Sebring, PLM, Laguna, Spa, LMS UK, LMS Spain and 3 JLMS races.
Privateer teams are still able to drive there championship with traveling around the world and bigger teams are able to drive a world cup and one of the 3 championsships. Of course you need a very good schedule for this.

[Erki]

Sorry but that is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too complicated, even for me! It's near perfect as it is, only JLMS should have some rounds in China/Malaysia/Australia. The world cup is already here - LE MANS 24H

[ger80]

Maybe, but I think we need this way to get a Peugeot to the US and an Audi to LMS and both to JLMS

[dj choc ice]

the JLMC already get it good they get last years zytek 05S although they have nothing else after that bar the ferrari 550 and the lamborghini murcielago RGT and those alien looking god awful toyota LMP3 things i would love to see a round of the LMS on croft or for convenience oulton park since im only 1 hour away lol

here is what they should do for next years races

round 1-spa 1000km
round 2-silverstone 1000km
round 3-euro speedway lausitzring 1000km
round 4-barcelona catalunya 1000km
round 5-circuit buggati 1000km

i love the eurospeedway lausitzring track however though the faster layout that was used for the 2002 and 2001 DTM would be better since it was much longer and was much faster and that is one of my all time favorite tracks albeit not very good for spectators since you are looking down from that ridiculously big grandstand on the start finish straight

[Purist]

Did the DTM cars use the so-called "enduro" circuit then (the configuration that uses part of the test track), or was it the GP Circuit that uses the first turn of the oval instead of that extra infield section?

To get, but more importantly, to maintain its presence during the motorsports season, sportscar needs series, and specifically, a World Sportscar Championship. Getting attention for just four major races a year (Sebring, LM, PLM, and Laguna Seca) doesn't cut it. Those are the only LM-spec sportscar races that get significant attention from motorsport media and newsprint from year to year. That is NOT enough to maintain presence and keep potential new fans in the loop for the entire racing season, not even close. Heck, even F1 has enlarged its schedule due to demand, and the need to keep attention. They now have 18 (19) races a year, and every single one gets a full race report in AutoWeek.

So here is what I'd like to see, although I wouldn't by any means expect this very soon (and some of it is probably just dreaming, but what the hey).

LMS:
1. Spa-Francorchamps 1000km* (late April/early May)
2. Brno 1000km* (early to mid May)
3. Silverstone 1000km
4. Le Mans 24-Hours* (mid June, of course)
5. Monza 1000km* (PROMOTE IT) (early July)
6. Lausitzring (GP Circuit using oval Turn 1)
7. Assen 1000km
8. Jerez 1000km (Motorcycle GP Circuit)

ALMS
1. Sebring 12-Hours* (mid March, of course)
2. St. Petersburg 2:45
3. Houston 2:45
4. Mid-Ohio 2:45
LM Break
5. Lime Rock 2:45
6. Miller Motorsports Park 4-Hours
7. Portland 2:45
8. Road America 500-Miles* (late August)
9. Mosport Park 3-Hours
10. Petit Le Mans @ Road Atlanta 1000-Miles/10-Hours* (late September)
11. Laguna Seca 4-Hours* (mid October)

JLMC
1. Autopolis 1000km* (early to mid April)
2. Fuji 1000km
3. Sugo 4-Hours
LM Break
4. Suzuka 6-Hours* (mid to late July)
5. Sepang 6-Hours
6. Aida 4-Hours
7. Bathurst 1000km* (early November)

* denotes the 11 events in the World Sportscar Championship.

I tried to keep enough spread in time between the events to allow travel, and tried to have most events in a given region close together on the schedule to again help with travel. And yes, I know there may be some issues with some of the venues, but this is just theoretical, to give a more concrete form to a possible championship season.

[ger80]

@Purist:
There is no job in your profile, maybe you could start as a race series promotor very soon

[Erki]

How the hell do you think prototypes could race at Bathurst? It would be great but I don't see it happening.
According to your calendar, American teams would have to race 18 races a year... I'm in no favour of any world cup whatsoevers. I'm not very championship-oriented.

[GT-Eins]

Originally Posted by dj choc ice

...
round 3-euro speedway lausitzring 1000km
....
i love the eurospeedway lausitzring track ...

What a sacrileg to skip the most traditional 1000k-race of all - the 1000k at the nürburgring!!
Lausitzring has no endurace tradition , although being a very interesting track - but sorry - there is no replacement for the Nürburgring

[Erki]

It's just sad that the track sucks.. But so does Lausitzring...never seen anything special in it...

[Purist]

There is no replacement for the Nurburgring? There is no replacement for the Nurburgring Nodschleife, but I wasn't going to try to get that one past you guys.

Erki, no, they don't have to run 18 events a year. I have no expectation for the teams contesting the World Sportscar Championship to compete in all ALMS, LMS, or JLMC events, nor would such an arrangement be possible scheduling-wise, except perhaps (maybe, possibly) for the teams with multiple cars.

I have no problem with you saying the Le Mans 24-Hours is it, but that won't cut it in today's world of motorsport. For major, internation sportscar racing to make a dent, there MUST be larger series, and a World Championship, period. Most motorsport fans will NOT be sustained on just one, or even four or six significant races a year. Like I said, even F1 is steadily increasing it's calendar of events, which peaked last year at 19 (and will probably be there again next year). I don't want this branch of the sport to struggle. I don't want to have to look REALLY hard to find out what's happening in it. I certainly don't want to see it fall any further into obscurity in the motorsport media and print than it has in the last 12-15 years. Sol like I said, for sportscar to be a big deal again, it MUST have those series, and a World Championship, plain and simple.

As to Bathurst, Erki, since Sportscar and GT racing has seen fit to run at Hockenheim (pre-2002) and Monza, I don't see how they could complain about the lack of run-off at Bathurst, because that would be THE issue. The width of the paved track between the white lines is perfectly adequate as it is (yes, I have looked at several video clips to confirm this).

Now, your probably wondering what Hockenheim and Monza have to do with this. Well, it's very simple. The forest section at Hockenheim had quite minimal verges, and the paved width out there was as narrow, if not narrower than, what would be encountered at Bathurst. Also, with the narrow verges, although a car could theoretically stop fully off the racing surface, it is quite possible that that would not have been the case, and that would leave you with something VERY much like what you would have to deal with if a car stopped up on top of the mountain at Bathurst. And Monza has two or three stretches where the verges are at least as narrow, and in some places narrower than, those in the forest at Hockenheim. There is a quite narrow stretch between Curva Grande and Variente Seconda. For much of the run from Lesmo Seconda to Variente Ascari, there is not even a car width of grass on either side of the racing surface. And I'm not sure that there's a whole lot of room on either side between Variente Ascari and Parabolica either. And if none of that is enough, sportscars have, and still do, run on temporary street circuits, where run-off all the way around the course is nill to non-existent.

I will also note that at Bathurst itself, the pit and paddock facilities have been redone in the last couple of years, so those should be satisfactory for sportscars.

[Purist]

Honestly Erki, if you run the GP Circuit at Lausitzring using Oval Turn 1, you get quite a good course. From the diagram, you would have just three particularly slow corners, and they're all in a pretty close section, which minimuzes the effect they can have on the overall lap. The two real "straights" in the infield are around 2,000-feet 9600-metres, or equivalent to the backstraight at Jerez) each. Finally, by using Oval Turns 3 and 1, you have a very high speed, if not completely flat-out, section of as much as 2.15km (7,000+ft.), which should make for a very fast average lap speed, good overtaking potential, and serious slipstreaming.

[The Badger]

[QUOTE=Purist]There is no replacement for the Nurburgring? There is no replacement for the Nurburgring Nodschleife, but I wasn't going to try to get that one past you guys.QUOTE]

Yeah .....

[courageous]

The only way to do an effective world championship with out killing off small teams (and in turn reducing the grid to pitiful numbers) would be by having ALMS, LMS & JLMS run as they are but allow teams that do at least 1 race in each series to enter an overall championship which takes their best X number of results.

So a team could run Sebring, the LMS race before or after Le Mans, go back to the ALMS & end the year in Japan - the only real extra cost would be the trip to Japan.

[LC2guy]

Keep LMS, ALMS & JLMS schedules as they are, but only allow Manufacturers to enter Sebring, Petit, Spa, Silverstone, LM24, and 1 Japanese round. These 6 races form the World Championship. So a privateer can choose to either do all its own series, as it does now, and also the rest of the World Championship if it has the budget, or if not, stay exactly as they are now, only competing in their " home " championship. That way, a privateer would win each of the 3 regional championships, having only to contend with the might of the manufacturers a couple of times a year. The Manufacturers would get to show their wares on 3 continents. Everyone's a winner baby.

[Purist]

Uh, if you "only allow Manufacturers to enter Sebring, Petit, Spa, Silverstone, LM24, and 1 Japaneseround", by that statement, privateers are not permitted in the World Chamionship, so I'm a little confused by having that initial declaration, and then saying privateers could enter ther World Championship.

The more important thing though, is that I don't believe there have ever been enough manufacturers involved in sportscar to put 50 cars on the starting grid of Le Mans, let alone 25 or 30. Feel free to correct me if you know of an instance where factory participation in sportscar reached that level.

Of course, what is really needed for a World Championship is an official sponsor like DHL or FedEx, to cover the transportation side of things.

[LC2guy]

Wires a bit crossed here. When i said " only allow manufacturers to enter " etc..., i didn't mean "allow ONLY manufacturers to enter ". Privateers, ( the backbone of sportscar racing ) can enter any / all events, but manufacturers are limited to the world championship events. Its all very hypothetical, as it will NEVER happen. Just for instance, Dyson could enter Sebring , Petit, and all other ALMS races as they do now, but would also be free to enter LM24, Spa, Silv etc, budget permitting, but Audi could ONLY enter Sebring, Petit, LM24, Spa, Silverstone + Japan. So Dyson could compete for the overall ALMS title, and also the World title if they wanted, but Audi could only go for the World Title. I think you would find that ALMS would attract more privateers back from Grand-Am if the teams only went up against the factories twice a year, and the rest of the year competed on a more level playing field. Likewise LMS in europe. Pescarolo / Zytek / Courage etc could go for the title free of factory involvement ( pretty much as now ) but could venture to the states for sebring / petit if they so wished. Hope thats clearer.

[Purist]

Yeah, and I should have thought about the word placement a little more (my English professor would have me for this one, lol).

Ger80, actually, I'm working on my undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering, with the eventual goal of designing international-standard road courses (FIA Grade 2 or higher). So who knows, someday I may have to do a stint in the promotional side of things.

[JAG]

The ALMS, LMS and JLMS still have a very long way to go to fullfill their own potential, nevermind contemplating a World Championship.

[ger80]

Originally Posted by Purist

Ger80, actually, I'm working on my undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering, with the eventual goal of designing international-standard road courses (FIA Grade 2 or higher). So who knows, someday I may have to do a stint in the promotional side of things.

Please dont make a traineeship in germany, I realy dont like the tracks from the german track designer

[AU N EGL]

Originally Posted by LC2guy

I think you would find that ALMS would attract more privateers back from Grand-Am if the teams only went up against the factories twice a year,

Grand-AM and ALMS / LMS / FIA GT cars are very different. Grand AM is professional racing on a budget.

On tracks like Mid-Ohio, Sonoma, Infinion, and Miller Motorsports park ( Grand am yet run on Miller) the 90% of the ALMS GT2 cars are faster then 95% of the Grand AM DP cars by almost a second a lap.

I said GT2 not LMP2. The LMP2, LMP1 and the GT1 cars just blow the Grand AM Daytona Prototype cars away.

Grand AM is very popular and is back by some very big dollars. Rember it is OWNED by the France Family who owns NASCAR. The Grand AM Cup races is extreemly popular as the races are far better the SCCA amature races with less rules and longer races.

[Purist]

JAG, I'd agree that that's how I'd expect things to pan out probably. However, if that's the case, how come the World Sportscar Championship (1953) predated USAC (1958), FIA GT (1960), USRRC (1963), Trans-Am and Can-Am (1966), Interserie (1970), IMSA (1971), DTM (1972), and JGTC (1983)?

GEr80, if I did an internship at a firm in this specific business, it would almost certainly be at Wilson Motorsport (let's face it, Utah is a lot closer to me than Germany, and I don't care for quite a few of Tilke's designs either).

AU N EGL, just FYI, Sonoma, Infineon, and Sears Point are all the same race track, and GA hasn't run there just yet either.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by AU N EGL

Grand AM is very popular and is back by some very big dollars. Rember it is OWNED by the France Family who owns NASCAR. The Grand AM Cup races is extreemly popular as the races are far better the SCCA amature races with less rules and longer races.

It's off-topic, but most of this thread generally is at the minute so I'll ask this anyway. Grand Am you say is pretty popular - what do it's real fans think of the DP's looks? It's been said a lot on this forum, and I personally agree, that DP's are amongst the ugliest racing cars around. Therefore they've certainly created a lot of controversial chat, but surely anyone will admit there are much better looking machines out there?

I ask this because part of the appeal of sportscar racing is the good looks. There are some stunning machines out there, which is one of the reasons why I really enjoy championships like the LMS, and would watch them over Grand Am machines any day.

I suppose I could make this on-topic and tie it in with the new coupe rules - as in who'll be running with them in '07, and who's thinking about it...?

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by TheNewBob

It's off-topic, but most of this thread generally is at the minute so I'll ask this anyway. Grand Am you say is pretty popular - what do it's real fans think of the DP's looks?

There's your answer Bob Not a lot !!!

[19dodge]

I think many of the Grand-Am fans have been scared away from this forum...

I personally enjoy Grand-Am racing as much as ACO/ALMS style racing. They both have different objectives and have become successful.

[ger80]

Look at this, RfH and Spyker advertising for LMS at the BP Masters in Zandvoort. Spyker und RfH beim Masters http://www.robbertmaas.nl/export/25/...Pot6oQZd1.jpeg
RfH will be in Assen at the Rizla Racing Days too, but I think only with the A1GP car.
Think we realy need a dutch race next year