Auto Racing in the US and the World...

[madfast]

Since we dont have a separate motorsports forum, and in the spirit of F1 coming back to the US, i wanted to post my thoughts on auto racing in the US and the world.

F1: the golden standard imo. the cars are the pinnacle of performance. the drivers are the world's best and for the most part are quite diverse, even if some are unworthy of their seat. they race all over the world. and the rules keep getting better for the sport: less cost, more passing. all they need now are more manufacturers to join or come back.

Indy: Indy is a mess imo. the whole concept of indy is just stupid. it's an open wheel racing series, with cars built to no world standard. its like a terrible amalgamation of F1 and nascar without the performance of F1 nor the popularity of nascar. its irrelevant on the world stage and even in america its not very popular, except one race, the indy 500. how can we save indy? imo they either have to turn it into a feeder series for F1 (not likely due to ego) or they have to transform the cars into something unique and perhaps create a new world standard. they passed up on the deltawing design, that would have been cool. an alternative could be an open wheel car with a closed cockpit? instead of having 2 aero packages (circuit and oval) why not have one with movable elements (like super DRS) or even electronically controlled active aero! anyways, the point is to have something unique. having the chance to run the indy 500 isnt as special as it was 50 years ago so they need to reinvent themselves...

WEC: it's Audi vs Toyota in LMP1 right now, but new rules are coming that are very open. personally im VERY excited about whats to come with the new rules... imo more manufacturers will be willing to join due to these more open rules and so LMP racing will be a hotbed for innovation especially for hybrid tech.

GTE/GT3: GT racing is a little disjointed... ACO/LeMans use GTE, but GT3 is raced everywhere and so a more suitable world standard. and yet there is no legitimate world championship for GT3 cars. also there is no GT3 presence in the US until next year when world challenge will have a GT3 class. imagine if the stars align and we get a GT3 racing series that travels all over the world like F1? and with a ton of manufacturer support? and with world class drivers? if only...

WRC: everyone except citroen dropped out. imo the product is stale. im sure europeans still love rally (only because of tradition?) but its not a marketable product to places like the US and china. instead i see rallycross as the future of rally cars as its more exciting being wheel to wheel racing and not a timed event. rallycross in the x games is a big plus especially for americans. i want to see a world rallycross championship with legit talent (sebastian loeb not ken block) and manufacturer support. rallycross also has a lot of sliding, so it appeals to drifting/gymkhana fans as well. it has jumps so its appeals to motocross fans too. so much potential... the only thing that can make it better is more tech. perhaps strict rules on engine output but lax rules on AWD systems? that breeds innovation imo...

Nascar: is losing viewers both on TV and in the stands. is the writing on the wall for this american institution?

ALMS/Grand Am: the ALMS-Grand Am "merger" will be the biggest thing to happen for american road racing. imo they MUST adhere to the ACO/LeMans rules or else it will turn out to be like the daytona prototypes and Indycars, irrelevant on the world stage. because of FIA WEC ALMS/Grand Am should forget about factory LMP1 and focus solely on privateer LMP1 and factory/privateer LMP2 cars, running both sprint and endurance races on the calendar. sprint races on america's most famous tracks would be unique and totally different than WEC which is endurance only. yet there is still a connection to WEC/24 hr LeMans because of the endurance races. the 24 hrs of daytona will actually mean something once again. in fact they can actually entice some euro teams to daytona if there are no scheduling conflicts. 24 hrs of daytona was once a marquee endurance event back in the day. the switch to useless Daytona prototypes killed that race's relevance. this idea would bring it back into the spotlight. and of course the 12 hrs of sebring and petit le mans are always high profile endurance events on US soil. WEC added the 6 hrs of austin for 2013, so there can be crossover races when WEC comes to america. the key for this series imo is a place for privateer LMP1 and factory or privateer LMP2 cars to race in sprint and endurance races on iconic american tracks all the while having WEC/24 hr LeMans implications.

Touring Car: ideally "Grand Am Cup" should somehow merge with "world challenge" to form a unified touring car series. they can have a GT3 class (as a feeder series to Blancpain, etc) and a S2000 class (as a feeder to WTCC/BTCC). the overall prevailing theme for me is world relevance. teams/cars/racing series must have relevance worldwide unless they are popular enough to stand alone like nascar/DTM/GT500. it makes no sense to have different series with different rules and no relevance to what anybody else is doing all over the world.

[finch1750]

Here's my problem, you have to go out of you way to watch any motorsports beside INDY and NASCAR in the US. I used to have SPEED channel when I was in the bay area, but now its not included in any packages in my current area. I was able to get a stream of F1 today and will hopefully keep op with it as it is the best racing in the world. Rally is just like you said, and I do hope we get some drivers beyond Ken Block doing Rally-X and making that the next big thing.

One thing I miss personally is D1 events in the US. Formula D just doesn't cut it for me, though I haven't been in a few years after just being utterly confused by some judging decisions (seems like it was lets get the big name/crowd fav in).

One thing I loved but is prob cost prohibitive was GT Live back in 2006 when JGTC (now Super GT) came to California Speedway. That was an amazing experience with the type of pit access there is. That was an amazing weekend combined with the D1 event. Based on your post there is nothing like that kind of GT racing that is in the US.

Would anyone happen to have links or ideas on where to view Super GT and D1 events online?

[madfast]

Originally Posted by finch1750

Here's my problem, you have to go out of you way to watch any motorsports beside INDY and NASCAR in the US. I used to have SPEED channel when I was in the bay area, but now its not included in any packages in my current area. I was able to get a stream of F1 today and will hopefully keep op with it as it is the best racing in the world. Rally is just like you said, and I do hope we get some drivers beyond Ken Block doing Rally-X and making that the next big thing.

SPEED has turned into NASCAR channel anyways after fox bought them, and they are going to turn into Fox Sports One soon also. NBC Sports will get F1 and they also have the rights to Indy.... Hmmm.... maybe now is a good time to pressure Indy to turn into a pseudo F1 feeder series. perhaps not GP2 spec outright, but make the cars close enough to have some semblance of relevance/compatibility? i mean how cool would it be to have Penske parlay their indy car into a return to F1? or how cool would it be to swap a bunch of parts and run a F1 chassis at the indy 500? one can dream eh?

but yes your point about tv coverage is right on. one thing of note however is that there has to be a reason for tv channels to cover it to begin with. if the series stinks, like Grand Am, no wonder nobody wants to cover it. but if it is a great series that's relevant, in their own different ways, then there will be a market for channels to cover it. the ALMS-Grand Am series will make or break american road racing for good. just like the CART-Indy divorce kinda killed american open wheel racing for good...

One thing I miss personally is D1 events in the US. Formula D just doesn't cut it for me, though I haven't been in a few years after just being utterly confused by some judging decisions (seems like it was lets get the big name/crowd fav in).

drifting is, and will forever be, a side event on race weekends. nothing more...

One thing I loved but is prob cost prohibitive was GT Live back in 2006 when JGTC (now Super GT) came to California Speedway. That was an amazing experience with the type of pit access there is. That was an amazing weekend combined with the D1 event. Based on your post there is nothing like that kind of GT racing that is in the US.

Super GT is cool, but it is 100% regional. outside of japan, and gran turismo , it is irrelevant. the same with DTM and nascar. we dont need more irrelevant series. we need more series with ties to international racing and/or change the existing series to align them with international racing.