2014 United SportsCar Racing schedule - which circuits to drop?

[NaBUru38]

We all agree on the classics: Daytona, Sebring, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, Road America. But what should we do with the less frequented circuits, the odd ones, the new ones, street races? Also, instead of dropping circuits, they could get split races, or only some classes.

So, I turn the question around: which circuits would you drop, supposing that only 11-13 will survive the merger?

[Fogelhund]

Mosport has one of the largest attendances so far, so it needs to stay. I'm not a fan of street circuits or rovals... outside of Daytona. I left Indy for now because of the name... but meh.

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Mosport has one of the largest attendances so far, so it needs to stay. I'm not a fan of street circuits or rovals... outside of Daytona. I left Indy for now because of the name... but meh.

Completely agree .

[Purist]

From the 2013 calendars:
Kansas
Indianapolis
Barber

That gets it down to 14, after you've eliminated the 5 redundant events. I feel like I'm cutting bone to go further, and I really don't care that this total is still more than 12 rounds.

The three temporary courses cover key areas that are otherwise unserved: Mid Atlantic, Detroit, and Southern California.

Personally, I don't see much point in only putting on a partial show at a circuit (i.e. not having all the classes there), nor would I see nearly the same value in going to such an event.

Split races offer some critical challenges as well. Do you have the track time to do full-length races? Also, would the GT race even get a broadcast? Would the Continental Tire Series have to forfeit broadcasts to provide a slot for the separte GT races to be shown?

P.S. BTW, New Jersey was already dropped for this season, and neither series is scheduled to be at Houston this year. So, I'm not sure why they're being included in the poll. You also left Kansas off the list, and that IS a venue on the 2013 calendar.

[WMUCarGuy]

I'd say Baltimore and Houston for sure. I think Long Beach and Detroit as two street circuits is fine and they both serve a key demographic. Baltimore is kind of surrounded by lots of other, far superior tracks, and with COTA now in Austin, Houston seems kind of irrelevant.

[Purist]

What other tracks is Baltimore actually surrounded by? It's hundreds of miles to VIR, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, or Lime Rock. Summit Point is not even close to being up to FIA Grade 2 standard, so that's NOT an option.

Also, given the D.C./Baltimore, Philadelphia, and N.Y.C. metro areas, it's not just the distance that's an issue to go elsewhere, but potentially spending additional hours in heavy traffic to even try to get there.

[ptclaus98]

Originally Posted by Purist

What other tracks is Baltimore actually surrounded by? It's hundreds of miles to VIR, Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, or Lime Rock. Summit Point is not even close to being up to FIA Grade 2 standard, so that's NOT an option.

Also, given the D.C./Baltimore, Philadelphia, and N.Y.C. metro areas, it's not just the distance that's an issue to go elsewhere, but potentially spending additional hours in heavy traffic to even try to get there.

NJMP?

[Purist]

Grand-Am already dropped Thunderbolt. It would suffer from the same length constrains as several of the others (lap of 2.250 miles), and it's layout has been prone to produce traffic bottlenecks with just the Rolex field on its own. So, there's no compelling reason to add it back now.

(It doesn't help either that it's rather featureless, apart from the one hill, which has been neutered with a chicane, and the barriers are so far back everywhere that there is little if any close-up viewing to be had.)

I might add that one track 100 miles away does NOT equal "surrounded", not even close.

(I don't normally directly compare road courses and street circuits, but in my estimation, it's going to have to be a rather poor street circuit to lose out to a relatively flat and/or featureless road course. Baltimore without the Pratt Street chicane is a rather good street circuit in my book. On the other hand, I don't find Thunderbolt that much more appealing than Miller, a track that BOTH series tried multiple layouts at, and then dropped.)

P.S. I'm going to feel like dope-slapping anybody who picks either Mosport or VIRginia out of that list in the poll.

[HORNDAWG]

My list/schedule.

Daytona (Jan.)
Barber (Feb.)
Sebring (Mar.)
Laguna Seca (April)
COTA (May)
Road America (late May)
Mid Ohio (July 4th)
Belle Isle (July)
Mosport (Aug.)
Watkins Glen (Sept)
VIR (Sept./Oct.)
Road Atlanta-PLM (Oct.)







L.P.

[joeb]

I see no reason to keep Kansas in the future, or New Jersey, or Detroit, or even Indy. Just my personal preference, but I like seeing the traditional road courses in North America being used. If there is an economic reason to expand into a new market and try an roval, fine. Otherwise stick to what the fans want to see.

[962]

Originally Posted by joeb

I see no reason to keep Kansas in the future, or New Jersey, or Detroit, or even Indy. Just my personal preference, but I like seeing the traditional road courses in North America being used. If there is an economic reason to expand into a new market and try an roval, fine. Otherwise stick to what the fans want to see.

I agree only one i might add to that is VIR, but thats just me being selfish because I've never been able to figure that track out.

[NaBUru38]

How about this:

24h Daytona (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
12h Sebring (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
10h Road Atlanta (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
6h Watkins Glen (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
4h Laguna Seca (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
4h Road America (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
3h Mid-Ohio (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
3h Mosport (Protos / GTLM / GTD)
3h Austin (Protos / GTD)
3h Lime Rock (Protos / GTLM)
2h Long Beach (Protos / GTLM)
2h Detroit (GTLM / GTD)
3h Barber (GTLM / GTD)

The reason why I removed GTLM from Austin is to encourage them to join the WEC race

[MagVanisher]

Nice line-up, but will they broadcast all of it?

[HJJ]

I wonder if they will race on Sundays? Grand-Am shows usually race on Saturday so they don't conflict with the cabs on Sunday.

[dj choc ice]

Of the new circuits they have to keep VIR on the calender, as far as a circuit goes it ranks up there with Spa in my books. Fast, undulating and with little room for error making it a proper track. Baltimore can go, it's too slow and tight for multi-class sports car racing IMO.

[wheelz22]

Originally Posted by HJJ

I wonder if they will race on Sundays? Grand-Am shows usually race on Saturday so they don't conflict with the cabs on Sunday.

Perhaps an odd Sunday here and there depending on when the taxis are parked for the weekend....but I think it will be 80% or better on Saturdays...

[Purist]

NBU38, I would also be concerned about people simply not watching Barber and Detroit because of the lack of the "halo" cars in those events.

One thing people seem to overlook is that, even though IMSA frequently had split events, or GT-only events, most current viewers are NOT used to them now. Grand-Am tried it in 2007 at several tracks, some of which I think it was silly for them to do so at (VIR, for instance). However, they dropped the idea for 2008, even though there wasn't a substantial drop-off in entries.

Finally, this is just a technical note. The reason the current sprint races are 2 hours, 45 minutes, instead of 3 hours, has to do with FIA circuit rules about how many cars a track is supposed to be able to have run in a particular type of race.One of the crieteria for calculating the value is race duration, and one ofthe cut-offs, for whatever reason, occurs at 2 hours, 45 minutes. (Now, since this isn't an official FIA-sanctioned series, there is likely to be some extra flexibility allowed in this department, but you get the picture.)

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Purist

NBU38, I would also be concerned about people simply not watching Barber and Detroit because of the lack of the "halo" cars in those events.

One thing people seem to overlook is that, even though IMSA frequently had split events, or GT-only events, most current viewers are NOT used to them now. Grand-Am tried it in 2007 at several tracks, some of which I think it was silly for them to do so at (VIR, for instance). However, they dropped the idea for 2008, even though there wasn't a substantial drop-off in entries.

Finally, this is just a technical note. The reason the current sprint races are 2 hours, 45 minutes, instead of 3 hours, has to do with FIA circuit rules about how many cars a track is supposed to be able to have run in a particular type of race.One of the crieteria for calculating the value is race duration, and one ofthe cut-offs, for whatever reason, occurs at 2 hours, 45 minutes. (Now, since this isn't an official FIA-sanctioned series, there is likely to be some extra flexibility allowed in this department, but you get the picture.)

2:45 also works well for TV packaging.






L.P.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by Purist

NBU38, I would also be concerned about people simply not watching Barber and Detroit because of the lack of the "halo" cars in those events.

911, 458, Corvette, Z4, Viper, Aston Martin aren't halo enough to you? They do standalone 24 hour races at Spa and Nürburgring, and people seem to love them.

About television coverage, if NBC air network will broadcast SEVEN of the Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Truck events, I'm sure Fox Sports 1 or 2 can show ten 2:45 races

[wheelz22]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

911, 458, Corvette, Z4, Viper, Aston Martin aren't halo enough to you? They do standalone 24 hour races at Spa and Nürburgring, and people seem to love them.

About television coverage, if NBC air network will broadcast SEVEN of the Robby Gordon's Stadium Super Truck events, I'm sure Fox Sports 1 or 2 can show ten 2:45 races

I'd like to think that too....but those stadium truck events (whether viewed in person or on TV) draw in the young 'energy drink'-gulping crowd.....a much bigger demographic that we are.

[fieldodreams79]

4 to remove took me less than 10 secs:
Barber
Houston
Indy
Jersey

Anyone who wants to remove Mosport needs to take a serious look in the mirror.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Anyone who wants to remove Mosport needs to take a serious look in the mirror.

Before Chuck Norris performs a roundhouse kick!

Originally Posted by wheelz22

I could live without Baltimore...too many fans jammed into an asphalt jungle.

Yeah, why would anyone want a USR race like that?

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

4 to remove took me less than 10 secs:
Barber
Houston
Indy
Jersey

Anyone who wants to remove Mosport needs to take a serious look in the mirror.

Wish you could remove Barber twice.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Wish you could remove Barber twice.

Originally Posted by Purist

HJJ, there needs to be a race between Daytona and Sebring. It's just that simple.

I happen to disagree; I don't really see the need of having another race in between. Sure there is a gap, but don't know of any place outside of FLA where the weather will cooperate and really don't see the point.

Originally Posted by BrentJackson

Average daily high for Birmingham, Alabama, in mid-February is between 55 and 62 degrees. That's not amazingly warm, but it isn't that cold, and we need something between Daytona and Sebring. Big gaps aren't good for a big-time racing series, and six weeks is a really big one. If somebody is gonna propose Mexico City or somewhere else in Latin America, great, but other than that we need something during that time period.

I understand average temps, but there is a chance the it could be snowing in Northern AL in February or it could be 80 degrees. I don't think the series will be willing to risk it.

Again, I don't see an issue with the gap as you are looking at the two biggest events in the series within 6 or 7 weeks of each other; that's enough for me!

I don't know, I just don't get the absolute need. A trip to Mexico City should fill the weeks between nicely for the teams, though.

[Nick6]

How did Houston get on this list in the first place?