Should ALMS go for less races...?

[GT-Eins]

... in 2005?

Way of cost-effective measure that seems to work fine for the LMES - would that work on the other side of the pond too?

1) Less races = less traveling & logistic costs
2) less but longer races (6h/1000k/1000miles) are more attractive to fans & media
3) you would not be forced to find unattractive locations (lime rock f.e.)
4) less dates means more interested privateers that can participate the whole season
5) more interested teams from europe would perhaps drop in.

What do you think?

[Spyder_Monkey]

Maybe not less races, but better arrangement of the ones they have. I'm not the first to say this, but a 3-month break after Sebring is inexcusable. It's hard on a lot of these teams to have back-to-back races, too.

I would like to see more longer races regardless. 6 hours at the Glen, 500 miles at Road America and the like. The current 2h45m races are made for TV, but if none of the network-televised races are getting that much time, why not run longer races?

[GT-Eins]

Thats one point - the TV-arrangement does not work any more.

The 3 month break is necessary because of the Le Mans test-day & race-arrangement - otherwise the gap in efforts between participating and non-participating teams would be too large. Maybe a 2nd race after sebring could be scheduled - thats the reason why I propose there should be less races.

[Kicking-back]

An LMES-like format of 4 races of a decent length would be good - at it would encourage more teams to do both LMES and ALMS.

[Chevyguy]

Well, a large part of ALMS competitors only race three or four anyway. I figure, why not have them get out on track anyway. By making up for this by only running a few, is a really crappy way to cover up that their grids are weigning. Sorry GT, bad idea IMO.

[Kicking-back]

A smaller number of races with a good field is better than more with a thin one.

[SALEEN S7R]

I agree Chevyguy, sure the LMES works here in Europe, but thats largely due to the fact that Europe has a extremely strong sportscar structure, we only have 4 LMES races true, but we have a big FIA GT calender. Not to mention all the other very strong GT series we have across Europe, British GT, FFSA, Belcar, Spanish GT etc, in USA u only really have the ALMS that runs to the ACO regulations, and IMO there isnt as much depth to draw on as we have in Europe, hence the ALMS races are less strongly supported.

If the ALMS ever did decrease their calender then GARRA would surley dominate the sportscar racing scene in the USA. Give the ALMS another couple of years to find its feet, as has been said this is a transitional year for the ALMS, new cars are beginning to come down the pipe line like 2 Couragre C65's www.dailysportscar.com reports, and the Zytek will be debuting later in the year so perhaps we may see a couple of full season entrants in the 2005 ALMS season from Zytek and Courage?

[Liz]

I think rather than have fewer (not less) races, the ALMS needs to promote the schedule it already has in place. Mosport is next weekend, yet the Drivers Edge section in the Post on Friday had nothing whatever about the race. No advertising, no stories, nothing at all. I have seen one ad on television.

With the large scale interest in sports compacts in the GTA, why are there no advertisements for the three-race SPEED GT and Touring Car races coming up next weekend? And I do mean NONE. Not one. Zero. Zip. Nada. Ron Fellows will be driving a Cadillac in two of those races. Why aren't we telling people? And don't think having him in that race won't sell -- at the Fan Fest in Toronto for the Molson Indy, I saw people in line for his autograph telephoning their friends and saying "Get down here, Ron Fellows is here!"

Nevertheless, even without any advertising, Mosport is drawing them in. Last year during the Great Blackout we had more people attend than we had seen since the old Can-Am days.

And I'm sure that when you cut down the races to four, you would not put Mosport on your schedule -- but would include Road America, Laguna Seca and probably Lime Rock, races that are completely inaccessible to people who do not drive. And then you'd moan because nobody comes to them.

[pao]

Liz, I would guess that Road Atlanta and Mosport, which are both owned by Don Panoz, will, with Sebring, always be on the ALMS schedule. I can't say what the fourth race would be, but I would hypothetically say Laguna Seca is the most probable so that there's a race out on the west coast.

[therealdeal]

i think you definetly have to keep sonoma... without a doubt a course that the drivers like.

[therealdeal]

i think alms should have 5 races and then conjoin the lmes races with the alms races so teams could do both... have the first couple here on this side then go over to europe for all those rounds and then end up back here for the last part of the season closing it with road atlanta and laguna

[LouisTheShark]

The ALMS should go for less races and longer races. Put the first hours on Speed and the last two hours live (with initial recap) on Network TV.

I could see the following:

Sebring 12hrs (all Speed Channel - finishes too late for reasonable Network TV buy)

Mid Ohio (6 hours)

Sears Point or Laguna Seca (4 or 5 hours - requires shorter race to finish live in the 4p - 6p EST Network time slot)

Mosport (6 or 8 hours)

Road America (6 hours)

Road Atlanta PLM (all Speed Channel - finishes too late for reasonable Network TV buy)

Sebring and Petit LeMans should also be bookends to the ELMS schedule to allow ELMS teams to participate.

[RCSKULLY]

Laguna over Sears point!

[Tim Northcutt]

I think that their schedule is fine the way it is....

Lime Rock was a good race this year and was well attended...

At Mid-Ohio, Mr. Atherton was quoted as saying that he would like to schedule a race after Sebring and before the LM test days, if possible...

and He is looking at ways to "bridge" the schedule so that there are events so that teams are not traveling from the East Coast all the way across the country to the West....like they did from Lime Rock to Sears Point this year...

Concerning distances of the races:

Anything on network TV should remain at 2 hrs. 45 min.....they do well on network TV and that exposure is important...

The Speed Channel events could be expanded as mentioned by others in this thread...

But I would not cut the schedule....nine events is not too many...and the events that they do host are well-attended....

and I hope that the LMES expands its schedule to 6 or 7 events....because I think they would serve more sportscar fans and would make the series more attractive to sponsors by giving them more exposure...

[Mags]

Give me

Sebring
Laguna Seca
Sonoma
Vancouver (street course)

That would work for me!!

[Chevyguy]

I like Louis's schedule alot better than this four race hooplah. Why deprive yourself? I think the ALMS should have eight races, no more than one a month all with a 500 mile minimum, and two stop at Road Atlanta.

BTW, who's stopping the ELMS teams running in the ALMS?

[GT-Eins]

Money!

And this is why I think your proposal (500miles are more than 2.45h?) would be contraproductive because it would mean spending even more money for the teams.

race costs are mile dependent - for each mile more per race the teams would have to spend more in terms of tires, spare parts, etc.

By the way - what is the current season-distance of an ALMS-season?
How many miles are being run throughout all events?

[jhansen]

I wouldn't shrink the schedule. This type of format works in America. I vote for eight or nine races. Two events in Canada, one in Mexico, and 5 or six in the U.S. Sebring and Petit plus one or two 4 hour races. The rest would be sprint 2 hour and 45 minute races.

I'd put Sebring followed by one race at least two to three weeks before the Le Mans test days. Pair up the Mexico event with Sonoma and Laguna with another west coast event (northwest somewhere). The rest should work out pretty well.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally posted by GT-Eins
Money!

And this is why I think your proposal (500miles are more than 2.45h?) would be contraproductive because it would mean spending even more money for the teams.

race costs are mile dependent - for each mile more per race the teams would have to spend more in terms of tires, spare parts, etc.

By the way - what is the current season-distance of an ALMS-season?
How many miles are being run throughout all events?

I'm not certain of the total mileage, GT-Eins...

But when I have looked up mileage for individual races for discussion in a totally unrealated thread, many of the courses that hold the 2 hr. 45 min. events, when you look at total laps that hte leaders ran and the mileage of the circuits, generally come out in the neighborhood of racing about 300 miles....give or take a dozen or so....

[JAG]

Originally posted by GT-Eins
Money!

And this is why I think your proposal (500miles are more than 2.45h?) would be contraproductive because it would mean spending even more money for the teams.

race costs are mile dependent - for each mile more per race the teams would have to spend more in terms of tires, spare parts, etc.

By the way - what is the current season-distance of an ALMS-season?
How many miles are being run throughout all events?

Yet one of the big pluses for the LMES teams is the fact they get lots of track time, and teams can run 3 (paying) drivers to cover costs.

Would ALMS fans prefer 8-10, 2.45hr races, or 5-6 1000k+ events?

[Fogelhund]

In a perfect world, we would have longer races.

In a world where we hope to have some costs covered through sponsorship, then TV coverage is a must. This requires either a shorter race format, or a tape delay summary show.

[Tim Northcutt]

Personally, I'd like to see a mix....

Keep the venues on the Network Race Schedule at 2 hrs. 45 min. and mix the others on Speed Channel with some longer races...

But take a look at what circuits are on Network currently and see if others wouldn't fit better to this approach....Lime Rock might not be long enough in miles to run a 500-mile race...and is better suited for a "sprint" than a course like Mosport or Mid-Ohio...

I'll look at the 2004 schedule and get back with a suggestion or two...

[Chevyguy]

GT-eins, your response to me was rather contridictory. You say the ELMS regulars should be "allowed" to run in the ALMS. I say who's stopping them, and you say "money". Well if they don't have the money to race in the States, what would doing some kind of arrangement in the schedule help? I'm not understanding what you are getting at. Also, you talk about the cost of milege, yet you want all enduros. Please clarify yourself.

[Tim Northcutt]

FYI...

I looked at results from 2003 or 2004 to calcualte miles for you for the ALMS, GT-Eins....

I won't be able to give you a number for Laguna since I don't have results from a four-hour event...

Sebring -- 1,295 mi.
Mid Ohio -- 272.8 mi.
Lime Rock -- 254 mi.
Sears Pt. -- 270 Mi.
Portland -- 274 mi.
Mosport -- 280 mi.
Road America - 316 mi.
Road Atlanta - 1,000 mi.
Laguna Seca - ????

Keep in mind, two of those are LONG events, and considered "Major" races...

But the 2hr. 45 min. races come in under 300 mi.....with the exception of Road America (also a 2 hr. 45 min. race), which comes in at about 500 km.


Running a mix of 3 sprints, 3 500 km. races, and 3 Long events (1,000 Km or more) would be ideal in my view....

[Tim Northcutt]

I also looked at the ALMS TV Schedule...

They currently have four races slated for Network TV...

Three sprints and the Road America 500 km could be TV network races, since Road America runs about 500km in the 2hrs & 45 min.

The other five could be shown on Speed Channel, since other courses that are shorter than the 4 mi. that Road America measures would take longer to run....

In an ideal world, you would put sprints in between longer races, but I don't see how that could work with the current dates and venues...

Thus I would make Mid-Ohio and Laguna the 500 k.m. races to go with Road America....

Lime Rock, Sears Point and Portland would be my sprints....

the 1000 km race to be grouped with Sebring and PLM would be Mosport...

If I could change the schedule around I would go:

Sebring -- Long

Lime Rock -- Sprint

Mid-Ohio -- 500K

Sears Point -- Sprint

Mosport -- 1000 K

Road America -- 500 K

PLM -- Long

Portland -- Sprint

Laguna Seca -- 500 K


I don't know how well that would work, but it would split them up a little....Portland in the fall could be VERY wet, for starters.......


and changes to the schedule could cause havoc with the tracks where you have events now...

I would end up screwing up a lot of promoters and successful events by trying to set up a system like this...

But it is nice to think about....