USCC 2014 Entry List & Schedule ONLY

[Lagunaseca_4life]

If the conti series races stay at 2:30 like they always have been,that will make conti races longer than the majority of the scheduled races of the big show.what I joke, this is just killing it.

[canciaro]

This is getting relly confusing, double 45 minute races, split races, 100 minute races like come one this series is really becoming a bit of a joke.

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by LagunaSnaka

A proper endurance event on the west coast makes a lot of sense. All the long events are in the East.

I completely agree. I wish they kept the Laguna 6H but they didn't because it doesn't have the history of the other endurance races.

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by LagunaSnaka

A proper endurance event on the west coast makes a lot of sense. All the long events are in the East.

Bingo. Guess I'll be doing "fly-away" races next year.

[Breitling24]

Originally Posted by Salamus

I completely agree. I wish they kept the Laguna 6H but they didn't because it doesn't have the history of the other endurance races.

It does have a history of races lasting 4 hours. This patchwork of races to total four hours just doesn't feel right. Maybe two four hour races. One group Saturday, the other Sunday?

[ACFlinn]

Unbelievable.

Laguna Seca cannot handle 60+ cars on track at the same time. Picture a serpentine traffic jam and a four hour cautionfest. The poor corner workers would have no arm strength left by the end of the event. The gravel traps would be capacity parking lots. These are many of the same people who complain about excessive cautions. Just imagine....

Like it or not, the NAEC (at Daytona, Sebring, Road Atlanta, and Watkins Glen) is the endurance component of the Tudor USCC. Unfortunately for some, all of these tracks are located in the East. However, since the demise of Riverside in 1988, the West HAS NOT HAD A CIRCUIT SUITABLE FOR LARGE-GRID (40+ CARS) PROFESSIONAL ENDURANCE RACING EVENTS. Not Sears Point. Not Portland. Definitely not Long Beach. Not even Laguna Seca.

Also, the endurance running time - just for the NAEC races - for former Grand-Am teams will increase next year from 30 to 51 hours. For former ALMS teams it will jump from 21 hours to 51 hours. Isn't that enough?

Finally, IMSA Camel GT races at Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Portland, and on street circuits similar to Long Beach and Detroit (Miami, Columbus, West Palm, Del Mar, etc.) were typically one hour for GTP's and 45 minutes for GTO's and GTU's. So two 2-hour Tudor USCC races at Laguna Seca could be considered a BONUS.

But really. What can be learned by studying history, right? Sebring Hall of Fame inductees like John Bishop (original IMSA president) offer us nothing. Just let the fans make all NEW mistakes.

I see all of these Tudor decisions as just, rational, and - most importantly - defendable. (Thank goodness.) Although, it will be interesting to see how they expect 60+ full-season entries to race together at Mosport. That should be interesting.

Andy Flinn

[chernaudi]

I disagree, and yet agree. I doubt that most races will have 60+ cars in them, even with the expansion of the GTD class. We have to remember that a significant number of the 60+ cars slated to enter Daytona are NAEC entries, many of whom only plan on doing a partial season with the NAEC comprising much or all of their schedule.

Yet at the same time, it'd be hard IMO for most western US tracks to hold a race for even 40-45 cars, let alone anything over that. LS might not be a total wreck-fest, but as a past ALMS fan, I've heard nothing but complaints about that race being a caution fest and that a full course yellow was almost inevitable every time someone went off and got beached. Yeah, the track owners can pave over the sandtraps, but then people would moan about it hurting the track's character.

In older ALMS races when a majority of the field were all-pro driver lineups, there were fewer FCYs, so the solution would seem to be to ban/restrict pay drivers or gentleman drivers from entering. But guess what? There goes a lot of the former ALMS teams, and a lot of the former GA teams, and the field would be a shadow of what it normally would be, like that fact or not.

There's a reason why TUSCC has entry caps that they can adjust up or down, there's a reason why the WEC usually has a full-season entry cap of 30-36 cars for most races outside of Le Mans, and there's a reason for the FIA's rules that advised on how many cars that can race at one time on most tracks--and IMSA, and in the past ALMS and GA are/were ACCUS members, and the ACCUS is the main North American arm of the FIA.

Yes, we can blame the driving standards of some gentleman drivers, but as we saw at Sebring in '12 when it was a combined WEC/ALMS event that it had a record number of FCYs, the wisdom of pushing the limits on entry numbers, even with professional drivers, isn't always for sure advisable.

Only tracks that I know of that can be modified to house even 40+ cars on a road course, and even that's iffy, are the rovals at California Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but there's been enough complaints about rovals in this thread and the other TUSCC thread.

So, what do you really want? A combined 4-6 hour enduro at Laguna Seca where there's been enough whinging about IMSA race control reaching for the full course yellow, or the split races? There, my only complaint is that the split races could still be 4 hours a piece if staged on different days.

And IMSA did the same with the GTO/GTU cars and GTP cars having separate races on the same card, and no one, or at least many, complained back then. These tracks aren't Le Mans or the Nurburgring.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by ACFlinn

Unbelievable.

Laguna Seca cannot handle 60+ cars on track at the same time. Picture a serpentine traffic jam and a four hour cautionfest. The poor corner workers would have no arm strength left by the end of the event. The gravel traps would be capacity parking lots. These are many of the same people who complain about excessive cautions. Just imagine....

Like it or not, the NAEC (at Daytona, Sebring, Road Atlanta, and Watkins Glen) is the endurance component of the Tudor USCC. Unfortunately for some, all of these tracks are located in the East. However, since the demise of Riverside in 1988, the West HAS NOT HAD A CIRCUIT SUITABLE FOR LARGE-GRID (40+ CARS) PROFESSIONAL ENDURANCE RACING EVENTS. Not Sears Point. Not Portland. Definitely not Long Beach. Not even Laguna Seca.

Also, the endurance running time - just for the NAEC races - for former Grand-Am teams will increase next year from 30 to 51 hours. For former ALMS teams it will jump from 21 hours to 51 hours. Isn't that enough?

Finally, IMSA Camel GT races at Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Portland, and on street circuits similar to Long Beach and Detroit (Miami, Columbus, West Palm, Del Mar, etc.) were typically one hour for GTP's and 45 minutes for GTO's and GTU's. So two 2-hour Tudor USCC races at Laguna Seca could be considered a BONUS.

But really. What can be learned by studying history, right? Sebring Hall of Fame inductees like John Bishop (original IMSA president) offer us nothing. Just let the fans make all NEW mistakes.

I see all of these Tudor decisions as just, rational, and - most importantly - defendable. (Thank goodness.) Although, it will be interesting to see how they expect 60+ full-season entries to race together at Mosport. That should be interesting.

Andy Flinn

One of the very few things I will agree with you on.

[Birddog07]

We should all email Bernie Ecclestone and tell him that there would be a huge market for a Grand Prix on the west coast, but the roads aren't suitable and a track needs built, just no Tilke.

[miatanut]

Originally Posted by ACFlinn

Finally, IMSA Camel GT races at Laguna Seca, Sears Point, Portland, and on street circuits similar to Long Beach and Detroit (Miami, Columbus, West Palm, Del Mar, etc.) were typically one hour for GTP's and 45 minutes for GTO's and GTU's.
Andy Flinn

So I just imagined those 2 hour races I watched at Portland in '92 & '94 & the 300 Km's of '90 & '91?

[Purist]

From 1985 on, Portland, Sears Point, and Laguna Seca were 300km/2-hour races. Lime Rock was a 150-lap/2-hour race. Up to 1990, Mid Ohio was a 500km/3-hour race, and continued as a 2-hour race.

Miami was scheduled for 3 hours for 1983-90, and 2 hours for 1991-93. West Palm Beach was scheduled for 3 hours in 1986-90, and 2 hours in 1991. Del Mar was scheduled as 2 hours for its run of 1987-92. Columbus was 500km (~3 hours, 45 minutes) in 1985-86, and 300km (~2 hours, 10 minutes) in 1987-88. Tampa was 360km (~2 hours, 30-45 minutes) during its run from 1988-90. NONE of the IMSA/USRRC GTP/WSC street circuit races actually ran less than 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Andy, I think quite a few of us ALREADY feel like we've given up quite a lot in terms of the schedule. In 2013, there were 22 events that saw ALL the classes participate in their series' respective events, and all of them ran together in EVERY one of those races. For 2014, there are, technically, 13 events, though I can't seriously count the PC event at Kansas Speedway, so practically, it's 12 events. Of those, only 8 have all 4 classes participating, and only 7 of those have them all running together in the same race.

That's more than a 2/3rds reduction in full events for the season. Prototype class running time is down just over 1/3rd, from 100 hours to 66 hours, 20 minutes. Just for reference, the 1982 IMSA season saw the GTP/GTX cars run approximately 84 hours.

Frankly, Daytona, Sebring, and Watkins Glen all being on the same calendar feels like the way things just should have always been. Therefore, bringing those enduros back together merely seems like a correction back to how North American Sportscar racing is supposed to be. It is a restoration of something that should never have been broken up, not an addition of new content.

Laguna Seca has handled at least 52 cars with Grand-Am, and has hosted several 4-hour and 6-hour races with the ALMS. Mid Ohio hosted several 6-hour races under IMSA, sometimes with 50+ cars.

Also, at Mosport, the PCs will not be present, so the count there will be down by another 10 or so cars, in addition to the teams who do not take part because it is not in the NAEC. And Mosport is yet another circuit that has hosted a number of 6-hour Sportscar races, both for IMSA and the World Sportscar Championship.

[Purist]

I think this could have gone over better, and could have been better executed.

It doesn't help that this is a lot of changes, seemingly, all at once. It's a real lurch, and people tend to notice when that happens, and frequently, they just don't like it.

Leave Long Beach and Detroit at 2 hours, and at least leave the P/GTLM race at Laguna Seca as a 2-hour, 45-minute run. I think they could manage a 2-hour, 45-minute, or 4-hour, race at Laguna Seca with P, GTLM, and GTD, and running PC separately with IMSA Lites. That's what they will do at VIR, with the GTs having a full-length, "sprint" race.

Frankly, VIR darn well ought to be a full-blown round with all classes running together going forward.

That brings me to another issue. It seems like the track selection was done to largely avoid having to split fields. So, tracks where it would have made much more sense to see split fields are gone: Lime Rock, Sears Point, Portland, and Mid Ohio. Therefore, it seems like they picked a schedule to maximize the ability to run the entire field at once, and then CHOSE to NOT follow through on actually doing it!

And no, there are things that could be done, without massive increases in running hours, that I would find preferable to the current arrangement. I would trade Kansas, Indianapolis, and Austin to change the current formats at Road America, VIR, Laguna Seca, and the street circuits. That would be, restoring the 2-hour races at Detroit and Long Beach, making Road America and VIR 500-milers, and running the PCs separately at Laguna Seca to allow for a standard "sprint", or 4-hour enduro, with the P, GTLM, and GTD classes.

Running Hours:
P Class- 68.333 hours (now), 71.5-72.75 hours
PC Class- 65.25 hours (now), 63.5 hours
GTLM Class- 69.416 hours (now), 69.5-70.75 hours
GTD Class- 69.416 hours (now), 69.5-70.75 hours

And I was slightly off with the actual 2014 running hours for the Prototype class in my previous post; I was going through, and missed the 2 hours from Laguna Seca.

Long Beach and the long course on Belle Isle should work just fine, especially since only two of the classes will be running in those races. In fact, I'd say that the lengthened Detroit layout would be acceptable for a 2-hour, 45-minute race for the P, GTLM, and GTD classes together; however, it might be a bit too crowded with the PCs in there also. I just hope nobody does anything silly on Shoreline this time around, like the mess that happened back in 2006; Rocky Moran and a couple others were damn lucky to come out of that one as unscathed as they did.

With regards to Laguna, it is harder to justify the travel distance for just one day of top racing action, and still moreso, because of the shorter races.

As to that little matter of the 2-hour, 45-minute race duration, part of it now probably is the TV situation. However, it is also written into the FIA's circuit regulations dealing with what categories of cars can run races of what durations on a track fitting into particularranges of lap lengths.

[Maelochs]

I agree with just about everything Purist just posted.

I assume TUSC chose those race lengths with an eye towards television, as opposed to helping tracks make money or even pleasing hardcore fans.

If shorter races are easier to fit on FS-1, or easier to sell to FS-1 programmers, that might outweigh the ire of fans who, frankly, are likely to watch regardless of how long the races are regardless.

Seeing how much of this merger/sellout was handled makes me think that while the various executives like sports car racing, they don't love sports car racing in the semi-fanatical obsessive fashion common to posters here.

Obviously the short races and split fields, the inclusion of tracks like Kansas, the hash of balancing ther P-class, are only hurting the series in the eyes of fanatics. But to series execs, sports car racing is primarily a sports/entertainment business, and they are making business decisions, not decisions about sports car racing.

All I can hope is that by the time the series has real cars (2017) it will also have a real schedule of real races on real tracks. There is no reason to race for less than 2:45, and if grids need to be split on some tracks, so be it, but that is no excuse to cut the racing time. There shouldn't be much reason to split grids at most tracks.

The whole split-class races at different venues thing is a sorry joke--TUSC is not Lites plus PC in a pair of sprint races, that is not a "Premier Sports Car Series," it is a gross management error.

But those are fan-based views, not business decisions. Hopefully these lame business decisions don't cripple the business and we can see both the business and the fan needs met equally well in the future.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Birddog07

We should all email Bernie Ecclestone and tell him that there would be a huge market for a Grand Prix on the west coast, but the roads aren't suitable and a track needs built, just no Tilke.

"We want a Formula 1 Grand Prix that requires a new circuit to be built"

"Just no Tilke"

[Ferrari333SP]

Nissan GT-R for GTD class; niceeee: https://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=19690

[Danske]

Detroit and Long Beach are also headlined by Indycar, not Tudor, which is what figure is obviously the reason for the shorter races there. Make 'em fit in a two-hour TV window and tada! one hundred minutes, or maybe Indycar decided to insist on no other races being longer than that. IMSA isn't the only ones who can make seemingly wacky decisions. Consider those two to be bonus exhibition races in key markets for the participating manufacturers instead of regular rounds if the shorter duration really twists ones knickers.

[nissangtrfan]

Nissan GTR is the TBA GTD entry...Yes!
https://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=19690

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Ferrari333SP

Nissan GT-R for GTD class; niceeee: https://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=19690

I'm a sucker for big, goofy dive planes. That's a cool race car.

[Gingers4Justice]

You really, really can't fault this series for variety.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

You really, really can't fault this series for variety.

It has a better group of entries than Grand Am ever had and a better group of entries than any of the ALMS seasons post-2008 and 2001-2005 for that very same series.

By my count it will also have more factory teams than the WEC next year.

[Rodger Davies]

The GT3 wing looks better, the TUSC one looks ridiculously tiny on that tank. More variety though, will be interesting for sure. To any Americans who'll be attending races; this makes a lovely noise, and pops and bangs like there's no tomorrow.

Makes a lot of sense, Nissan's GT academy programme has one main big market left and this would be it. I expect Steve Doherty to be part of the driver lineup at least.

[tjh8402]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

The GT3 wing looks better, the TUSC one looks ridiculously tiny on that tank. More variety though, will be interesting for sure. To any Americans who'll be attending races; this makes a lovely noise, and pops and bangs like there's no tomorrow.

Makes a lot of sense, Nissan's GT academy programme has one main big market left and this would be it. I expect Steve Doherty to be part of the driver lineup at least.

Is it powered by the vk45/vk56 or the VR38? Hope it's not another V8 swap like with the Z4.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by tjh8402

Is it powered by the vk45/vk56 or the VR38? Hope it's not another V8 swap like with the Z4.

It looks like an adaptation of the GT3, so it should be running the twin-turbo V6.

[wdave0]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

It looks like an adaptation of the GT3, so it should be running the twin-turbo V6.

I recall GA never allowed GT turbos and I was under the impression that LMGT didn't either. This would sure be a "new thing" for the series if it is (I hope) the turbo.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by wdave0

I recall GA never allowed GT turbos and I was under the impression that LMGT didn't either. This would sure be a "new thing" for the series if it is (I hope) the turbo.

GT3 is not LMGTE, and turbos are allowed in GTE (although nobody uses them for some reason). As for GT3, both the Nissan and the McLaren are turbocharged both in street form and in racing form.