USCC 2014 Entry List & Schedule ONLY

[Lanky Turtle]

I really think we'll see IMSA weekends at Mid O and Lime Rock with Conti Challenge and other support series.

Great news about VIR if it gets confirmed.

Please, please, please, Mosport over Kansas and Baltimore.

[freeballin]

Originally Posted by Beetle

He's not saying it is. He's saying that if VIR is indeed on the calendar, he won't be too broken up if Kansas is on the calendar in replacement of Laguna Seca.

Correct. It's nice there are some that can reason.

People need to stop thinking next year needs to be a fantasy schedule.

[CyberMotor]

I am for the Detroit / Belle Isle race with the prototypes. Detroit needs every opportunity to see what the world is doing and putting it under their noses is a huge plus.

I posted on a Detroit message board that every car engineer, designer and anyone associated with the Detroit-based automobile industry needed to be at the Belle Isle race back when the ALMS was there. Even encouraged them to take their kids with the hope that there was a young designer/genius in the mix that would get inspired.

It is no understatement that I would like to see a U.S.-designed and built prototype win Le Mans. Having the race at Belle Isle in Detroit is important for this reason.

[Maelochs]

Having an American-built prototype just out there racing would be huge, whether or not it could win at Le Mans, but I think most U.S. auto execs see that winning Le Mans would be the only sort of PR boost which could even begin to justify the project.

The U.S. auto industry is not far from pulling a Peugeot—too broke to go racing. NASCAR is probably worthwhile because of ready brand identification, and IndyCar seems a bit of a stretch.

To invest at Audi-like levels for several seasons (possibly needed to win at Le Mans) for the limited return that win would offer (how many U.S. customers really care about Le Mans?) is probably too much to ask of the bean-counters running the show. Look at Cadillac—a three-year program just to start to get near to being competitive, that’s a tough sell to any company, more so to one not far out of bankruptcy.

Imagine if those kids saw the Rolex race? They might design a copy of a 1972 Toyota Corolla or something.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Lagunaseca_4life

yup.....trying....really hard......not.....to....feed the troll

Trouble is several of you do and simply compound any trolling. If you think there is trolling, report it and let everyone else just get on with the discussion. Skins can be too thin, you know?

[Simmi]

Seems like E-I think Thiriet by TDS are game for the Daytona 24.

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...nce-20540.html

Nothing on the record here but seems like there is some willing. They are a quality outfit. The thought of them winning Daytona seems very strange to me but it certainly could happen.

[Aysedasi]

Guys, this has reached tedium of the highest order. It's seriously tempting to close this thread until we find something to actually discuss instead of bickering over the rules (existant or non-existant....).

[Adam43]

Off topic posts removed. This thread is about entries and the schedule.

[Bicknell55]

Originally Posted by Beetle

I'm glad to see Road America "confirmed".

The schedule looks fantastic, though. The sole fact that Kansas and Baltimore won't be included is something to smile about... also it looks like we're getting twelve races and VIR. It's a bit of a shame about Mid-Ohio, but I think most of us would rather have VIR. Mid-Ohio can get a bit dull after a while... VIR generally produces better racing, IMO.

Hopefully this will silence the "sand pounders" and axe-grinders.

Being from southeastern PA I'd prefer to have Baltimore, Mid-Ohio, Lime Rock, Watkins Glen, and VIR. Unfortunately now instead of possibly hitting 5 races I'll make 2 at best. VIR and Watkins Glen are about the same distance while anything else is at least a 8 hour drive. I feel like USCR is somewhat isolating themselves from the northeast US by only going to Watkins Glen so hopefully they can work things out with Lime Rock and Baltimore.

[Purist]

Unfortunately, adding one of those back, unless the schedule expands, would mean dump another venue. As it is, the Series' calendar is going to seem rather skeletal, at least for a time, since we're going from a combined 22 races down to 12, and two of those won't even have all the classes in attendance.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Purist

Unfortunately, adding one of those back, unless the schedule expands, would mean dump another venue. As it is, the Series' calendar is going to seem rather skeletal, at least for a time, since we're going from a combined 22 races down to 12, and two of those won't even have all the classes in attendance.

World Challenge had a partial schedule release today and it includes Long Beach and Detroit. How will this impact the USCC schedule? I'm not sure but I know paddock space is limited at both tracks. This likely puts some weight behind having a proto only race at Detroit and a GT race at Long Beach. But then again do the organizers want a GT only race at Long Beach if World Challenge is already there?

also, not sure if this is important, but for both detroit and long beach the world challenge schedule says *with Indycar. It doesn't say *with Indycar and USCC. Just saying.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Purist

Unfortunately, adding one of those back, unless the schedule expands, would mean dump another venue. As it is, the Series' calendar is going to seem rather skeletal, at least for a time, since we're going from a combined 22 races down to 12, and two of those won't even have all the classes in attendance.

Skelatal? Neither series, had much more than what the new series will have in total number of rounds. Any expectation that there would be anywhere near the number of races that the 2 individual series had collectively is beyond, well beyond, optimistic!






L.P.

[Purist]

I don't think anyone expected 20 rounds for 2014, but the fact remains, 12 is barely more than half of the 22 we have this year. That level of a reduction is going to hurt.

[ACFlinn]

Originally Posted by Purist

I don't think anyone expected 20 rounds for 2014, but the fact remains, 12 is barely more than half of the 22 we have this year. That level of a reduction is going to hurt.

The ALMS teams will have 30 hours at Daytona and Watkins Glen to contend with. The Grand-Am teams will have potentially 22 hours at Sebring and Road Atlanta.

That extra level of racing will hurt the teams enough.

Andy Flinn

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Purist

I don't think anyone expected 20 rounds for 2014, but the fact remains, 12 is barely more than half of the 22 we have this year. That level of a reduction is going to hurt.

Fact? Comparing 2 to 1 is hardly a factual representation. If noone expected 20, why is that being used as a benchmark? Will there be less sports car races overall next year? Yes, because we are losing a complete series next year. To equate that to the USCC schedule as being skeletal, is disingenuous at best. This thread is about the USCC schedule, correct?









L.P.

[Maelochs]

There is a number of races the teams can do in the time and with the money they can make. Adding more races, more travel and lodging, more wear and tear, has to be made up with more sponsorship dollars, and I don't know of any team with spare dollars.

If the series gets really popular, the schedule can either extend, or fill in, or both, but since it starts at the end of January, the teams probably don't want to run much past mid-October---a little time off for family and then planning for the next season (testing actually starts in December, so they'd have maybe a two-week break after Petit, before they'd need to start working on next season's car.)

NASCAR can run every weekend because the series is rolling in money. I am sure everyone here recalls the Last Turn Club bit where they pointed out that Andy Lally made more purse money running a handful of Sprint Cup races in 2011 than the entire ALMS field earned in purses all that season?

12-14 races is probably a pretty healthy schedule, giving the series enough room to not always run against the competition and still not fade from fans' memories, and also not bankrupting the teams.

And sure, we all wish all the races were so close to home we didn't need to get hotels, but that's not ever going to happen.

Also ... once you start figuring airfare, rental cars, etc, any flyaway race costs about the same, and with the cost of gasoline nowadays, unless you are camping, driving isn't a lot less expensive.

I figure the real and possibly final schedule will come out at CotA, and then we will really have something to fight about.

Or maybe they will spend all their time changing the name again and put everything off until 2015.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

NASCAR can run every weekend because the series is rolling in money.

They can maintain huge shops and crews, they have a huge crew in the shop building/prepping next week's cars while this week's car are away at a race. At one point I heard they have something like a dozen cars each for the season, but they also have a lot of specialization in the cars, i.e.: big oval, small oval, road circuit, etc. to account for the quantity.

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by skycafe

They can maintain huge shops and crews, they have a huge crew in the shop building/prepping next week's cars while this week's car are away at a race. At one point I heard they have something like a dozen cars each for the season, but they also have a lot of specialization in the cars, i.e.: big oval, small oval, road circuit, etc. to account for the quantity.

This isn't a knock on tube-frames, but that's not as hard to do when you can build the car in your own shop from scratch.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by BullMan

This isn't a knock on tube-frames, but that's not as hard to do when you can build the car in your own shop from scratch.

agree, and doesn't require autoclaves and whatnot.

[Maelochs]

Still, the point Skycafe makes is valid---they have stables of cars, and numerous crewpersons making sure there are always a couple cars ready for the next couple races plus more.

If they had to work with a crew the size of the average PC or GTC team, we'd be seeing some slim grids in NASCAR.

I recall Intersport pulling out of Sebring because Jon Field rolled up the car, while Scott Sharp could use Patron money and get a new monocoque airmailed to Road Atlanta.

If it were NASCAR, Field could have done two laps, retired with "overheating" or "handling issues," and earned more than the race winner in the 12 Hours.

Hopefully that earning gap will shrink eventually---that's part of what NASCAR's management team is supposed to help with (while the ALMS portion of the team debates changing the name again.)

[Purist]

I don't consider it disingenuous in the least. The ALMS and Grand-Am are the entirety of the top levels of Sportscar racing in North America as things stand right now. The USCC will be the entirety of it starting in 2014. Only including one of the pieces going in gives an incomplete picture, to say the least.

Even in my proposed schedules from months back, I only had 15 rounds listed. (How many closeted viewers of both series are there? And how many will we lose with a drop of 10 events during the season?) Also, for attracting more casual viewers, one race only every 3-4 weeks IS too infrequent and irregular to capture AND hold on to many of them.

I wouldn't recommend extending the season as it spans on the calendar, but rather, filling it in, as you put it.

(I do wonder, in a rather less-than-stellar economy, how IMSA pulled off 18 rounds for the GTPs/GTXs (19 for the GTUs), including TEN enduros, in the 1982 season. Hey, since Indy, at 3 hours, was being counted in the NAEC, those 500km/3-hour races from 1982 are fair game.)

[HJJ]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Scott Sharp could use Patron money and get a new monocoque airmailed to Road Atlanta.

Not entirely fact, it was HPD/Acura that brought the spare tub in California to be rebuilt.

[BullMan]

Well, Baltimore is done until 2016 at the earliest. Scratch that off the "maybe" list. Looks like Mosport might have come out ahead in this deal for that 12th spot.

[canamman]

I called Daytona today to see when they would start selling the 24 hr tickets. Its yet to be updated on the Daytona Speedway website.They are already selling them and camping spots are going fast. Got my order in.
Just an FYI.

[Salamus]

I've been out of the loop for about a week now since school started again and I don't have internet at my new place.

Anyway, I noticed the NAEC will consist of Daytona, Sebring, The Glen, and PLM. I think it's great to keep this mini-championship, it should attract some extra entries, from NA and Europe.

Has there been any word on the 12th event?