Discussion
The circuits are sterile and formulaic, and they exist in places with no basic interest in motorsport. I fail to see how a couple of races a year is going to change that (see my earlier comments about Malaysia). If it's not F1, most people won't bother trying to find out anything beyond that.
Visually they don't offer anything compelling and even if I'm watching it on TV I'd rather see something with at least a *bit* of atmosphere.
And as mentioned, they're only on the calendar because the FIA lays out some arbitrary criteria for something to be a world championship, rather than thinking about what might actually make for a good series.
Apart from that...
It goes without saying - but sponsors require an audience - new sponsors will not be attracted to a sport that has no audience.
The WEC is turning it's back on venues where there is a large and enthusiastic audience (Sebring and Petit Le Mans, being obvious examples) in favour of markets where there is none (Bahrain, Sao Paulo and Shanghai), for the sake of being "global". I think that it is inevitable that sponsors will be frustrated and will drift away as a result. Consequently, the WEC will paint itself into a corner (like it did last time) and become a nonentity once again.
The WEC is turning it's back on venues where there is a large and enthusiastic audience (Sebring and Petit Le Mans, being obvious examples) in favour of markets where there is none (Bahrain, Sao Paulo and Shanghai), for the sake of being "global". I think that it is inevitable that sponsors will be frustrated and will drift away as a result. Consequently, the WEC will paint itself into a corner (like it did last time) and become a nonentity once again.
Surely for the WEC to race at Sebring and PLM, it would require the agreement of Grand-Am and an idea of just what the ALMS/Grand-Am is going to actually be next year, so I'm not really sure it was the ACO/FIA saying 'no thanks'. The ELMS teams have been invited to PLM (and not all are going), but again, there was confusion there over the availability of automatic Le Mans invites for class wins there. Previously IMSA had 8 to give away, now they have decided to give only 3 and don't appear to have communicated that very well to the teams. There is rumour of grandfathering in P1 cars, so Audi may be able to race at Sebring, but Grand-Am have already said they are not interested in an integrated race (I believe), so making it a full WEC championship race is never going to happen.
I do take on board your point about sponsors wanting exposure, but it would be interesting to know the broadcast figures for the Brazil and Bahrain races as that is the primary sponsor/customer interface, I think. I'd say that is also the same for Silverstone as well.
It would be very sad, I think, if they didn't at least try to explore new markets. An almost defeatist attitude.
I do take on board your point about sponsors wanting exposure, but it would be interesting to know the broadcast figures for the Brazil and Bahrain races as that is the primary sponsor/customer interface, I think. I'd say that is also the same for Silverstone as well.
It would be very sad, I think, if they didn't at least try to explore new markets. An almost defeatist attitude.
Red Firecracker said:
It would be very sad, I think, if they didn't at least try to explore new markets. An almost defeatist attitude.
The minute they produce a driver or a team who says they want to compete in a world series, well maybe then is the time to take thair place on a world championship calendar a bit more seriously.Until then, I'm afraid I remain unconvinced by the 'if you build it they will come' approach, particularly if the circuit was built to attract F1 and anything else is there only because they were asked to host a race rather than because they actually wanted it...
Red Firecracker said:
Surely for the WEC to race at Sebring and PLM, it would require the agreement of Grand-Am and an idea of just what the ALMS/Grand-Am is going to actually be next year, so I'm not really sure it was the ACO/FIA saying 'no thanks'. The ELMS teams have been invited to PLM (and not all are going), but again, there was confusion there over the availability of automatic Le Mans invites for class wins there. Previously IMSA had 8 to give away, now they have decided to give only 3 and don't appear to have communicated that very well to the teams. There is rumour of grandfathering in P1 cars, so Audi may be able to race at Sebring, but Grand-Am have already said they are not interested in an integrated race (I believe), so making it a full WEC championship race is never going to happen.
The WEC said 'no thanks' to sharing Sebring with ALMS. The WEC is a standalone world championship and won't be sharing the track with other series, thats the ACO/FIA view on things. robmlufc said:
The WEC said 'no thanks' to sharing Sebring with ALMS. The WEC is a standalone world championship and won't be sharing the track with other series, thats the ACO/FIA view on things.
Ah, thanks. Was it all one way or was there a reluctance form both sides, I wonder? Don Panoz has been openly critical of the WEC as well.I think this kind of explains it (in a 'French logic' kind of fashion).
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-nev...
Gerard doesn't want WEC and ALMS on the same card at Sebring (as happened this year) because there would be too many entrants!
Solution: run two separate races on consecutive days in a sparsely populated backwater in rural USA on a track designed for F1. Genius.
http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/le-mans-nev...
Gerard doesn't want WEC and ALMS on the same card at Sebring (as happened this year) because there would be too many entrants!
Solution: run two separate races on consecutive days in a sparsely populated backwater in rural USA on a track designed for F1. Genius.
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