[WEC] 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship

[Maelochs]

I am all for the series racing on whatever track can afford it---like F1, the series is a business and a lot of new economies (or controlled economies) can spend money that established and more fiscally conservative economies cannot.

If WEC needs Abu Dhabi or India or even Russia on the schedule to make a buck, better that than the series going out of business.

And yes, the whole paywall deal was and remains screwed up and baly managed, but the rest of the series seems pretty good. I am not a fan nopr a hater of Gerard Neveu---but I am a really big fan of WEC, so to some degree I guess I support most of his efforts.

[deggis]

Racing when practically no other series races is a huge plus, but the problem is that because the one race is bigger than series itself, it would diminish winning the championship especially if the winners happen to be different ones than the LM winners.

[Pandemonium]

I insist in that Le Mans for me is nothing more than a normal round. And there might be more people thinking like me. And I think it is the right mentallity anyway.

[Maelochs]

Well ... Le Mans is Le Mans. It predated WEC and will last much longer. It might be just another round, but it is not just another race.

ALMS for almost its entire life ended the season wit Petit Le Mans and the PLM winner wasn't always the series winner, and life went on. In fact, every series has a final race on the schedule, and there is never a guarantee that the series winners will also win the last race---if there was, it wouldn't be a race.

Further, sometimes the series championship is decided before the final round.

One benefit to Le Mans ending the season is that since it is worth more points it could potentially keep the championship undecided until the checkered flag.

In any case, so long as they race, what does it matter to fans if the season nominally starts in December or may or whenever? Le Mans will still be in the middle of June, the other races will still be whenever local weather conditions permit, and fans will still attend or tune in regardless.

[Acid09]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

I insist in that Le Mans for me is nothing more than a normal round. And there might be more people thinking like me. And I think it is the right mentallity anyway.

Your trolling is very annoying.

[Articus]

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

ALMS for almost its entire life ended the season wit Petit Le Mans and the PLM winner wasn't always the series winner, and life went on.

Not really comparable, was PLM even the biggest race of ALMS? (Sebring) For sure there is greater difference in interest/attention between LM and regular WEC race than there was between PLM and regular ALMS race. Much more similar situation would be if Indy 500 was the last race of IndyCar.

[Nick Woodbury]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

I insist in that Le Mans for me is nothing more than a normal round. And there might be more people thinking like me. And I think it is the right mentallity anyway.

Uh, what?

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

ALMS for almost its entire life ended the season wit Petit Le Mans and the PLM winner wasn't always the series winner, and life went on. In fact, every series has a final race on the schedule, and there is never a guarantee that the series winners will also win the last race---if there was, it wouldn't be a race.

Comparing Petit Le Mans to Le Mans does not work. Le Mans is the biggest sports car race of the year. I can easily argue that the ALMS championship was more important than winning Petit Le Mans.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. If the ACO, FIA, and everyone involved want the WEC to grow in popularity, it has to be able to stand on its own. The WEC championship has to be recognized as a legit achievement. That idea will be hampered if Le Mans becomes the finale. In that case, the WEC will always be in Le Mans' shadow. And the winner of the WEC will always be in the shadow of the Le Mans winner.

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Further, sometimes the series championship is decided before the final round.

One benefit to Le Mans ending the season is that since it is worth more points it could potentially keep the championship undecided until the checkered flag.

Besides LMP1, the other classes have been fairly competitive and gone to the final race to decide a champion. With more manufacturers entering the WEC, even the P1 championship will become competitive.

[Articus]

Agreed. Having Le Mans be the last race is such a conflict of interest. I don't understand what all the fuss is about. All the race dates are will the same. So why change the wording and make Le Mans the "last race" when there is clearly a negative effect.

In my opinion, they are undermining the credibility of the championship by going this route.

[naca]

Didn't indycar try something similar to this in their early seasons and it ended up turning into a complete disaster (then again one could say that about the entire CART/INDYCAR debacle).

[FstrthnU]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/d...mpaign=ongoing
Darren Turner really seems to be against the slow zones in his latest interview. He says that they work okay in the daylight, but at night when people can't see each other/people are blinded by headlights, the whole thing falls apart.

[Pandemonium]

What this championship needs right now:
-Make La Sarthe a private track. Close the mulsanne straight for public traffic and make everything very safe and "runoffy". I don´t know how hard it could be but I´m sure you can put the public road somewhere else.
-Fuel efficiency is cool, hybrid power is cool, electric power is cool, we need to save the planet yes...but things that aren´t needed you can restore back to their glory days... For example give the LMP1´s wider tires and more power. Don´t do stupid things lkek not alowing flexible materials!!!! what is the point in that!!! Engineers want to be able to experiment and innovate and so do mannufacturers.
-Put people with tons of brain in directive staff. They will make smart ideas.
-Listen to the fans 100% . Don´t make the same mistakes as F1 did.

[Rodger Davies]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

What this championship needs right now:
-Make La Sarthe a private track.

sometimes I really think you're trolling, can't decide.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

-Listen to the fans 100% . Don´t make the same mistakes as F1 did.

Seems to be doing pretty well for a failing championship.

[Pandemonium]

Even Bernie recognized that he didn´t enjoy the new F1´s. As for making La Sarthe a private track. It would truly be the best. You can have tire barriers and etc all along mulsanne.

[Pontlieue]

Originally Posted by Pandemonium

Even Bernie recognized that he didn´t enjoy the new F1´s. As for making La Sarthe a private track. It would truly be the best. You can have tire barriers and etc all along mulsanne.

Have you ever noticed that no track is using tire barriers on straights? Tyre barriers are good in corners to absorb the force of the impact. On a straight, impacts are usually in a very flat angle, so tire barriers wouldn't be helpful there.

[deggis]

What was the announcement exactly about? I missed it but on the Dailymotion feed they were talking about continued extension of WEC.

[Graham Goodwin]

3 year extension of the agreement between FIA and ACO over running of the FIA ACO

http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=32938

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

3 year extension of the agreement between FIA and ACO over running of the FIA ACO

http://www.dailysportscar.com/?p=32938

Why do they have to extend the WEC up to three years when they work together indefinitely?

[Graham Goodwin]

Basic good business practice - sign contracts between parties foe a sensible amount of time to ensure that a business plan works rather than tying yourselves in to something that you find yourself unable to directly influence if things go wrong.

[carbon_titanium]

beyond that, ACO needs FIA approvation to be WEC recognized as world championship, otherwise it would be only a "series" like ILMC without any driver/manufacturer world cup.

[deggis]

Right now, I'd really like an European summer round.

[JoestForEver]

Originally Posted by deggis

What was the announcement exactly about? I missed it but on the Dailymotion feed they were talking about continued extension of WEC.

In the post race tech talk Paul Trustwell mentioned about that. It was supposed to be Frazer Nash's G56 project but the project went bust before the announcement. As a result, no Garage 56 for Le Mans 2015, for now.

[tux]

If no garage 56 entrant with a new/alternative tech, will they just use it for a lmp1/2/gte car?