Formula Acceleration 1

[Peat]

Continued from AutoGP thread:http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...=137349&page=4

Series website: http://acceleration14.com/formula-ac...1-world-series

Autosport article: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109953

Discuss!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Who needs this series? AutoGP runs the same cars, the junior market is already ridiculously overcrowded, and true motorsport fans go to watch racing anyway. Complete waste of time.

[Peat]

best quote i've seen in webland about it:

"Why does motorsport keep attracting this sort of delusional nut job who seems to think that it's an easy way of making a fortune?
Oh that's right. One delusional nut job has made a fortune.
But he's probably the only one."

[Moneyseeker]

A wise investment.....

Who put's money into these series having seen Superleague/A1GP, etc and more to the point what convinces them to do it.

"A June date in the UK is currently listed as the only TBA on the Acceleration 2014 calendar."

Madness!

[adam46]

The thing is, he wants this family friendly atmosphere and to increase ticket sales right?
Well, most kids I know are into supporting one F1 driver like a Football Club, usually a Brit. If the big stars aren't there most people around my age (15 going on 16) probably won't be interested unless they are into racing anyway. I doubt they'll be signing big music acts to perform at their races either, so they won't show up for that.

I can see why the organisers are trying to get competitive racing on the bill via the Legends and Pick-Ups, but how would the average person/casual fan, AKA the people who don't go to races often, know that Legends racing is as close and spectacular as it is?

I don't really see how they are going to get drivers in for the series anyway. So to summarise, I am sceptical, but as always I am willing to be wowed and proven wrong.

[chunder]

Just seems to me like a guy with a bit of money who has bought a fleet of cars he doesn't know what to do with, and now has a few series under his belt he wants to turn it into some kind of travelling circus

I know of him, he was a half decent rider in 125 GP racing years ago, Lord knows how he has got into doing this sort of thing, must be pally with Zwart if he is using the Algarve track which is no bad thing, as he is loaded too!

Seems a little short on content, but as I say just a bloke who has a few fleets of cars and wants to make a show, might work, but somehow I doubt it unless he makes it free for punters or something

[ivanalesi]

Which cars do they have? The old Ferraris or they have ordered new cars from Auto GP/Coloni/Lola?
If it's properly promoted it can be success, look at Superstars. In Italy the weekends are fantastic. Motor racing is attractive even without big names, it's been proven in the past, just many people forgot how to do in the past decades.

[Tal Aras]

The off track activities will be as important as whats on track if they're looking to attract families. Most children (under 12's anyway) have a limited attention span and will only watch the racing for so long. If the organisers can provide other activities for them and make good use of what the circuit can offer (my two kids love playing amongst the trees at Brands Hatch) that will help.

Also, in the UK at least, promoting that it's actually a relatively cheap day out for families, when compared to theme parks and the like would be a good line to take. Especially, as that applies to all events not just this one in particular.

[adam46]

Originally Posted by chunder

Just seems to me like a guy with a bit of money who has bought a fleet of cars he doesn't know what to do with, and now has a few series under his belt he wants to turn it into some kind of travelling circus

I know of him, he was a half decent rider in 125 GP racing years ago, Lord knows how he has got into doing this sort of thing, must be pally with Zwart if he is using the Algarve track which is no bad thing, as he is loaded too!

Seems a little short on content, but as I say just a bloke who has a few fleets of cars and wants to make a show, might work, but somehow I doubt it unless he makes it free for punters or something

Why would he need to be pally with Klaas Zwart to use the Algarve/Portimao Circuit? It has no links to Zwart, I think you're mistaking it for the Ascari Race Resort Circuit in Spain.

[Stephen H]

So which pick ups are these. Most the photos are of the Sonny Howard Cars, but didn't think these are V8 ?

[Alfaholic]

The story in the print edition of Autosport is that the pick-ups are a specially commissioned vehicle from an "undisclosed constructor in Holland".

[jondownunder]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

Which cars do they have? The old Ferraris or they have ordered new cars from Auto GP/Coloni/Lola?

They're using a fleet of A1GP Lolas, with the old bodywork (before Coloni's Auto GP modifications) according to the pictures of the Manor MP Motorsport car from the launch.

[Stephen H]

Originally Posted by Alfaholic

The story in the print edition of Autosport is that the pick-ups are a specially commissioned vehicle from an "undisclosed constructor in Holland".

So not a series started in 1995 as the website suggests, and one pickup truck photo looks like an Australian Ute car.

[Hubble]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

They're using a fleet of A1GP Lolas, with the old bodywork (before Coloni's Auto GP modifications) according to the pictures of the Manor MP Motorsport car from the launch.

It's a bit confusing on the website, as there are two pics of the Lola A1GP type spec, and another (looks to be German colours) with different wings front and rear...

It'll fail, like all the others...

[Formulahistory]

This week there will be the first test at Navarra and Performance will run Felix Rosenqvist and John Bryant-Meisner...

[Moneyseeker]

Says their website can't be displayed on my computer....

[chunterer]

The best thing would have been to merge with AutoGP as neither series can grow in competition with each other surely?

Still I guess we need to wait and see who and what turns up for the first meeting!

[Go_For_Pole]

Olly Webb posted that he is testing

[Formulahistory]

With which team?

[Formulahistory]

So the entry list shows us:

John Bryant-Meisner (Performance)
Felix Rosenqvist (Performance)
Daniel de Jong (MP)
Meindart van Buuren (MP)
Steijn Schothorst (MP)
Andres Mendez (?)
Jeremiah Wagner (?)
Oliver Webb (?)

[Marcel ten Caat]

Calendar updated..

It was....
• Portimao (POR) - 27th April 2014
• Navarra (ESP) - 4th May 2014
• TBA (GBR) - 8th June 2014 (which replaced Rockingham)
• Anderstorp (SWE) - 22th June 2014
• Slovakiaring (SVK) - 13th July 2014
• Nürbugring (GER) - 27th July 2014
• Paul Ricard (FRA) - 24th August 2014
• Hungaroring (HUN) - 31st August 2014
• Brno (CZE) - 9th September 2014
• Grobnik (CRO) - 21st September 2014

It is now
• Portimao (POR) - 6th April 2014
• Navarra (ESP) - 4th May 2014
• Nürburgring (GER) - 25th May 2014
• Monza (ITA) - 8th June 2014
• Slovakiaring (SVK) - 6th July 2014
• Zolder (BEL) - 20th July 2014
• Paul Ricard (FRA) - 24th August 2014
• Hungaroring (HUN) - 31st August 2014
• Grobnik (CRO) - 21st September 2014
• Assen (NLD) - 19th October 2014

[Peat]

On a side note, why are all these european series ditching the UK?

WSR, WTCC (& Auto GP), DTM.......

Are we becoming an irrelevant market?

[Woolley]

Or a wise one? Or they asked the one man and his dog who turn out for most meetings and he couldn't make that date? None of our second rate drivers have enough money to buy a seat in these ridiculous ventures so they don't bother to come.

World motorsport at this level is a mess, best to stay away until it sorts itself out. We still get all the important series.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Forgot to add that Grobnik and Slovakiaring are not homologated for FA1, so eight rounds of Acceleration 2014 will have the single seaters.

And already confused by the series name which was FA1 World Series, then became FA1 Series and is now just Formula Acceleration 1.

[Rob29]

Originally Posted by Woolley

Or a wise one? Or they asked the one man and his dog who turn out for most meetings and he couldn't make that date? None of our second rate drivers have enough money to buy a seat in these ridiculous ventures so they don't bother to come.

World motorsport at this level is a mess, best to stay away until it sorts itself out. We still get all the important series.

What IMPORTANT series? I can only note F1 & the supporting GP2 & GP3? I can remember when we had 20+ F1 ,F2 F5000 meetings.
For about 2 mins I fancied my first trip to Croatia-think Grobnik has a srteet circuit?