Asian Le Mans Series

[KA]

I remember a mention in the pre-Inje reports that ATL only had one car at Inje because they were short of parts (to say nothing I suspect of funded drivers...), so I can see how Wolf might feel the need to rescue their reputation- although if you've managed to annoy your customer that much, then rocking up at the next race to run a factory car against them might not be the most diplomatic way of mending the relationship...

[Purist]

If you don't hold races, you can't build that "culture".

One race in Japan isn't going to do so much for building things on the mainland, either, especially with the Chinese/Japanese tension.

I can only get so excited about a race at Fuji, even the WEC. The track that would be the best for such a spectacular of an endurance race is Suzuka, but Honda doesn't have a P1 at present, while Toyota does, and late-season puts the race too close to the Grand Prix.

[TF110]

Fuji draws a big crowd. A few may not be excited about it, but 41,000 Japanese were in attendance in a wash out. Itd be great to have two Japanese rounds with Nissan joining.

[Purist]

It's more than just a few who are NOT excited by the changes Tilke wrought at Fuji. I can promise you that! (It isn't just the paved run-off, but the fact that they changed EVERY corner on that circuit, and not for the better.)

Suzuka drew 45,000 to the WSC race in 1991, and Autopolis had 38,300 for its race that year.

(If the circuit, cars, and/or racing is of an inferior quality to what it once was, I'm going to say so. I don't care if it's not popular with you, or that it's not the most politically correct thing to say. And if some combination of the aforementioned makes what is around now worse than in the past, don't expect me to be as excited about it. To do so is to expect magic to happen or a miracle to occur.)

[TF110]

Its a different era and tracks change with the times. Fuji underwent huge changes because of the fatal accidents then it was nearly forgotten until Toyota put money into it. The layout and run off was for hosting F1. Not much you can do about that unless you dont want F1 coming to town. Suzuka has tons more runoff than it used to. Look at Spoon Curve and the Casio triangle just from a few years back, then 130R and first curve are laden with runoff too. No track in F1 is left untouched by this trend.

[Purist]

First, compared to Suzuka, the changes at Fuji can only be described as "drastic". Since it became a racing circuit, not merely a test circuit, the only real layout changes at Suzuka have been a reprofiling of a couple of the esse bends, an opening-up of 130R, and the final chicane. Apart from 130R, none of the rest of Suzuka has been turned into a full parking lot. For substantial portions of the lap, the barriers aren't that far away from the racing surface either.

No, I'm fine with F1 staying the hell away from the "best" circuits in the world, in my estimation. Frankly, F1 has gone overboard, and I'd rather like to see them starved for venues if they keep this up. MAKE THEM back down some, or else they won't have enough circuits to run on. Heck, the economics of F1 circuits/Grands Prix may do the job all on its own, in time.

(You know, the way these "no fly zones" are going, will the teams even be able to make it to Sochi in October?)

[LavidaLoca]

Originally Posted by TF110

Fuji draws a big crowd. A few may not be excited about it, but 41,000 Japanese were in attendance in a wash out. Itd be great to have two Japanese rounds with Nissan joining.

There will probably no big crowd for Asian Le Mans series race at Fuji this time as it clashes with 1000km of Suzuka which is the season highlight of Super GT.

[Deleted]

He was obviously talking about the 6 hours.

For AsLMS I'd think calendar like this would work the best, using support AND integrated events like Le Mans Series few years ago...
R1 Aug) Support race for SGT Suzuka 1000km - 3 Hours
R2 Sep) Support race for the Singapore Grand Prix - 75 min
R3 Oct) Integrated with Fuji WEC - 6 Hours
R4 Nov) Integrated with Shanghai WEC - 6 Hours
R5 Nov) Integrated with Bahrain WEC - 6 Hours

That'd even satisfy ACO/FIA's obsession with Grade 1, even if not mine...

If F1 doesn't want you then swap it for another Japanese event as Super GT or Super Formula support

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Chiana

R1 Aug) Support race for SGT Suzuka 1000km - 3 Hours
R2 Sep) Support race for the Singapore Grand Prix - 75 min
R3 Oct) Integrated with Fuji WEC - 6 Hours
R4 Nov) Integrated with Shanghai WEC - 6 Hours
R5 Nov) Integrated with Bahrain WEC - 6 Hours

Maybe just form a 5 round Japanese series with a Chinese or South East Asia round. That will work a lot better.

Alternatively, have a Chinese series with a South East Asia round at Sepang. Have one round in Shanghai, Zhuhai and Ordos each. Then do the overseas race at Sepang. After that have the final race in Zhuhai and finish the season.

It is a lot easier to get sponsors and organize media coverage if the majority of races are in the same country.

Some reports says F1 gets less TV money than the Turkish Football super league. You really have to work very, very, very hard on TV deals. Doing an international series do not necessarily add more to the media coverage, I rather believe it is more of a burden.

[Deleted]

They already tried the stand-alone all-Japanese series in mid-2000s and it didn't really work... and back then all of them actually were ACO eglible machinery, not filler classes.

As for China-based series, NO... weren't most of the AsLMS races scheduled for China last year already? Then came the mass-cancellations. For other series as well.

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Chiana

They already tried the stand-alone all-Japanese series in mid-2000s and it didn't really work... and back then all of them actually were ACO eglible machinery, not filler classes.

Not true I'm afraid, the LMP2 class in the old JLMC was composed of the odd Japan only GC cars - F3 chassis with full bodies, and a mixed selection of GTs including some non ACO eligible kit

[Deleted]

True, re-checked

Anyway the races still had more "ACO cars" in them than the AsLMS now, even if the entry numbers were on similar levels

[Graham Goodwin]

Double post - apologies

[Asa]

If no idea can work then ACO should forget about Asia altogether.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Asa

If no idea can work then ACO should forget about Asia altogether.

They have tendency to ignore the reality and keep bringing life support machine back from the closet

[Purist]

The trouble is, it's too large a potential market to ignore. If you wait until things are already developed, you've missed toe window of opportunity to even possibly get the big pay-off altogether.

If you wanted to make a killing in the California land market, you had to buy in the '60s, and keep holding on for the DECADES it was going to take for values to eventually sky-rocket.

[Asa]

Originally Posted by Purist

The trouble is, it's too large a potential market to ignore. If you wait until things are already developed, you've missed toe window of opportunity to even possibly get the big pay-off altogether.

If you wanted to make a killing in the California land market, you had to buy in the '60s, and keep holding on for the DECADES it was going to take for values to eventually sky-rocket.

ACO tried for so many years and nothing great happened. They ought to realize what they are trying is not working.

Then ACO needs to properly invest, not just dump a few Le Mans 24 hrs entries in and see who or what happens. The current arrangement is not the way to go and it is making them look bad.

[somebodysb2]

The problem with AsLMS is that the organizers don't know how to attract to the right crowd. The difference in Asia is that you need to chat up the bosses, establish connections, form relationships, kiss up, so on and so forth.

Heck, Porsche didn't get a massive PCCA entry list simply by creating the championship and crossing fingers hoping people would join. When PCCA first started, only a handful of people joined. Only through Ian Geekie did the series start to pick up. However, by the 2009 season, almost all of the teams were threatening to leave because of the bullshit policies of David Sonenscher (Motorsport Asia CEO) and EKS Motorsport that promoted a monopolized supply chain, as well as ridiculous policies surrounding repairs and the banning of private teams. So Porsche did what was best for the customers and allowed private teams for the next season. Needless to say, it was a hit and they sold all units of the 997.2 Cup Car within days. Fast forward to 2014, and David Sonenscher is again rearing his ugly head. Some total BS about incentive for EKS Motorsport serviced cars winning, disgusting behavior towards the championship leaders (Arrows Racing and Earl Bamber) because they weren't EKS, etc. Again, PCCA is again threatened with complete withdrawals of all PCCA Porsche Dealer teams, as well as all private teams. So once again, Porsche must do what is right and thus there are now talks to completely dump David Sonenscher and Motorsport Asia/AFOS for a completely new organizer. Heck, all the current GT Asia teams are utterly disgusted with David Sonenscher as well and are planning a breakaway series devoid of AFOS BS.

My point is that in Asia, it's not the "lack of interest" or "lack of money" that is the problem, it's the lack of incentive for bosses to do business with you. I know for a fact that there exist two more Ligier CN cars that are completely ready for race (the cars are in Sepang garages). Both of those cars were planned to run this year, with driver lineups and parts supply chains completely ready on a whim. However, those cars aren't racing because AsLMS doesn't know how to communicate with potential and current customers. Just look at Inje, nobody wanted to race there - they all wanted to race at Korea International Circuit because of the complete disaster at Inje last year. The traffic getting there and going back made everyone miss their flights, Inje's remote location meant that there was next to no hotels and restaurants, etc.

If you can't align your Asian championship with the needs of the Asian boss, you might as well give up.

[Deleted]

I guess by picking Ihara's mon... talents (again) Oak is messaging that it doesn't want to completely blow Eurasia out of the water at Fuji but instead prove how fierce competition there is in AsLMS
http://sportscar365.com/lemans/asian...otal-for-fuji/

Somehow I see less than 10 cars starting that race again despite all the hulabaloo about improving grid sizes. No GT300 surprises either thanks to the foolishly scheduled a clash with Japan's biggest domestic motorsport event, Suzuka 1000km.

[sequentialbox]

and entry list is published with 7 cars, one less than Inje.
2 p2
2 cn
3 gt all from the team aai

cant wait for the press releases saying how great it is

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by sequentialbox

and entry list is published with 7 cars, one less than Inje.
2 p2
2 cn
3 gt all from the team aai

cant wait for the press releases saying how great it is

Huge improvement indeed meanwhile, while waiting for the inevitable "fantastic grid of teams and drivers" PR crap lines, how about this ultra positive note that they have reached 200,000 likes on Facebook! Super duper
http://www.asianlemansseries.com/fac...n-200000-mark/

(love that low res pic btw)

[rich07]

Ah a bumper field for the championship...

[Deleted]

Quite...

Strangely enough, they do make better even posters than WEC though. Even if it's just photoshopping job again

[BrentJackson]

Originally Posted by Asa

If no idea can work then ACO should forget about Asia altogether.

Considering that they have problems with entries in the WEC now (really, every race run to ACO rules outside of Le Mans itself seems to have this problem right now) and are facing cost issues across the board, I'd forget about the idea. Super GT and GT Asia has swallowed the market, and last I checked it wasn't like that market was particularly lucrative in any case. Having seven cars show up to an event is worse than embarassing, it's a humiliation.

[Deleted]

I'd say it only counts as humiliation if someone cared enough to begin with. There's a reason for the outrage after the 2012 Nightmare on ELMS Street at Donington - people were sad to see the once glorius championship on it's way to the grave. Now with this it's 'whatever' because the whole thing has been some short of lame duck background ghost for year now and people running it don't seem to realize that the Asian market wasn't ready for them 14 years ago, 9 years ago, 8 yeas ago, 6 years ago, 5 years ago, 4 years ago, 1 year ago, and not this year either.

So what are they going to do next to try save their faces, say that 20 cars of super awesomeness are to be expected for round three? That only the three best results of the season count towards the championship? How about start selling fine leather jackets?