Ideas for improving sports car racing?

[Mulsanne]

Okay, we all know the problems sports car racing is facing. We're not NASCAR or Formula One, so we get the tablescraps in terms of sponsorship and media coverage.

We've got an alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies, who, even if they are sister series (LMS and ALMS) can't work together to save their lives. We've got only four or five factory efforts spread across four categories. We've got ever-changing rules in the "prototype" classes for cars that could never be described as pure prototypes.

On one side of the pond, we have so many cars we have to turn away entries but we can't draw flies. On the other side of the pond, we've got network television and record crowds, but only 25-30 cars at every race. Plus there are two major sanctioning bodies "at war" with each other for crowds and teams. Not to mention there's also a silhouette GT series in the land of the rising sun.

And lording over most of it is a group of megolamaniacs who have their heads up their arses, the ACO.


So, to the point of this whole exercise. Let's say the ACO and FIA came to you and gave you total control over sports car racing. What would you do? Would you tweak the rules as they currently exist or would you start from a clean sheet of paper?

How many classes? How would you define each class?
Prototypes or Grand Touring cars, or both? Or something totally new?
Coupes or spyders for prototypes, or both?
Production-based (GT3) or silhouette (GT1/JGTC) GT cars?
How would you accomodate privateer entries vs. factory efforts?
How would you work in alternative fuel cars, or "green" technology?
A world series or individual national/continental championships?

I would love to read your thoughts on what you think sports car racing should be about and how it should progress into the future. Fire away.

 

[Pupik]

More hype, live television coverage, shorter races, one unified series (in North America, at least).

Just a thought; Grand American Prototypes aren't all that bad a formula, and having the blessing of NASCAR doesn't hurt. It would be neat to see that series get a little attention IF there were more Nextel Cup road courses (say, 4 to 6 a season). It would be the publicity "shot in the arm" the series needs.

 

[Jim Prower]

Hm...

Start with a Touring car series. Like the old Supertouring. Add to that V8 Supercars...with many, many more manufacturers. this becomes like a worldwide NASCAR.

Then we have something like a combination of Speed GT and Super Taikyu, This is our amateur series, the cars have quite a bit of production pieces. THere's a Speed Touring series for lower-horsepower cars.

our primary series will be like Super GT. We have GT300 and GT500, and the cars are pretty much shillouette vehicles. Current GT1 and GT2 cars are allowed to compete, but may become even more radically shillouetted. Bodies are homologated for the season.

Added to this is GT700. basically, it's the current Prototype Coupe formula, limited to 700HP. Daytona Prototypes teams are invited...if they can compete with Audi and Peugeot.

Races for this new "GT" series would pretty much be a combination of short distance-covering (500km or Mi) and long (6+hr.) timed races. we may even see an oval (with classes separated.)

 

[MustangSVT]

If only FIA GT would get more coverage in north america and also more hype/advertising.

Alas, Speed doesn't care for much of that. Thankfully, they do show the highlight shows of all of these (LMS, FIA GT, V8 Supercars, DTM, BTCC) during the off-season, but on the other hand, we don't get the full races (tho the LMS races are a bit long lol). I wish I could watch the FIA GT races live.

 

[m.piedgros]

People who don't make their money in auto racing don't deserve to be in the big series! However, factory participation is encouraged. I think that would make a good series slogan.

Anyways, Le Mans would look similar to what it will look like in 2010. First of all, there would be an International Le Mans Series purely for well funded privateers and primarily for manufacturers. (I'll get to what the non-professional and poorly funded teams will do later.)

Four classes: Le Mans Coupe Prototype (LMCP), Le Mans Sports Prototype (LMSP), Le Mans Grand Touring (LMGT), Le Mans Sports Grand Touring (LMSGT).

LMCP and LMSP would be fairly similar so that a manufacturer who wishes to sell customer cars in either or both class over the expected five year lifespan of the current generation of cars, would be able to switch classes, or produce cars at a reduced cost. Wheel base, engine displacement, and weight would be the same in either class. However, LMCP would be a pure prototype class with cars weighing 850kg, producing around 900hp, with specially built racing motors.

LMSP on the other hand, would be open top sports prototypes tipping the scales at a lighter 725kg with the cars producing approximately 600hp. The kicker is, in this class, engines must be production based motors that are seen in at least 100 examples of the manufacturers road cars.

LMGT would look essentially the same as LM GT1 however, there would be a restriction on the development of cars over the course of a season so that Corvette don't continue to roll over everyone.

LMSGT would look essentially the same as LM GT2. "Sports cars" and "smaller GT's" would make up this class as it is apparent that in ALMS, FIA GT and LMS this is a successful formula. With my series, ALMS, FIA GT, and LMS would be unified so a slightly bigger and significantly stronger class would contest the International Le Mans Series.

For those gentlemen racers who have been bitten by the racing bug and dream of working four days a week and coming to the race track on weekends, I haven't forgotten you. On each continent National Le Mans Cups would be run, still sanctioned by ACO, FIA, IMSA whatever my sanctioning body calls itself, but with slightly different rules. LMSP, LMGT and LMSGT would be open for competition from privateers with a strict policy on limited factory support (for instance Porsche can send engineers to work on your 997, but they can't be accompanied by $20, 000. Or, GM Racing can send Johnny O'Connell and Max Angelleli to drive for you, but you can't be getting $$$ from GM with it.) Other than that, the exact same rules apply to each class as in the International Le Mans Series and at Le Mans. LMCP entries are welcome at each event, to compete unrestricted in the class for points, however no prize money can be earned by the teams it would merely be used as a ground for a little publicity. However, if there is one or more Cup series LMCP's in the field, the LMCP cars from the ILMS cannot score points, and again no prize money can be awarded. At the end of season, the winning LMCP team will be awarded a trophy, but again, no prize money unless they are a Cup series team.

The National Cups would roughly follow schedules similar to the schedules in place for LMS, ALMS, Grand-Am, and JLMC. Cars that win the class titles in each series will be invited to Le Mans, which will be a not-for-points race held on the famous June weekend.

The International Le Mans Series schedule would look like this:

Round 1 - Rolex 24 @ Daytona (American Le Mans Cup round)
Round 2 - Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring (American Le Mans Cup round)
Round 3 - ILMS Grand Prix of Endurance at Bahrain.
Round 4 - ILMS Grand Prix of Endurance at Fuji.
Round 5 - ILMS 24 Hours of Bathurst. (Asian and Australian Cup round)
Round 6 - ILMS Suzuka 8 Hours

Michelin Presents the 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Open to qualifying cars from National Cups)

Round 7 - ILMS Grand Prix of Endurance at Silverstone (European Cup Round)
Round 8 - ILMS Grand Prix of Endurance at Nurburgring.
Round 9 - Proximus 24 Hours of Spa, Circuit Spa-Francorchamps.
Round 10 - ILMS Grand Prix of Endurance at Imola. (European Cup Round)
Round 11 - Petit Le Mans, Road Atlanta. (10 Hours or 1000miles)
Round 12 - ILMS Grand Prix of Endurance at Interlagos
Round 12 - ILMS Paul Revere 250 at Daytona. (Race begins midnight on July 4th)

Obviously famous venues like Mosport, Laguna Seca, Barcelona and the like were left out, but will be included on the Cup schedules. All events in the ILMS are to be timed at six hours unless specified otherwise. For Cup races that coincide with the ILMS, all cars competing in the event must meet the same performance and safety standards that the ILMS and Cup cars are expected to meet at each round. There will be a bump rule in place wherein if a driver is determined to endanger the safety of himself or fellow competitors due to lack of speed or if protests arise to a drivers on track performance he will be removed upon review by the sanctioning body, that goes for full-times ILMS drivers as well.

It's incomplete, probably not the most sensible, but if manufacturers got their heads out of their rears to run in the ILMS I think that Le Mans racing will take its place atop the motorsports world. Snickering at Formula 1 with all of its friends, and then when Formula 1 walks by in the hallways at school Formula 1 will here them talking and laughing and when Formula 1 walks by ILMS will say "Shh shh, there is Formula 1 now. Shut up seriously." Then Formula 1 will get an eating disorder and start listening to emo music.

m.piedgros

 

[Mt. Lynx]

^^ Wow! You pretty much summed up everything I had to add to this! Spooky!

The only major difference would be the LMGT cars.
I would get rid of GT2 class cars, and bump them up to GT1, and have GT3 replace that "lower cost" class.
As it is today, a slow GT1 car, (say a Lister Storm) is easily overtaken over a lap by a fast GT2 car (say a Ferrari F430), and in turn, a slow GT2 car can be overtaken by a fast GT3 car. However, it is highly unlikely that a GT3 class car would overtake a GT1 car. I would like to have greater differences between the classes.