Donington Superleague Formula - Anyone Going?
Discussion
kevin ritson said:
Nope, the concept doesn't interest me in the slightest
The concept of a single seater with 750bhp V12 doesn't interest you in the slightest?! Forget the football connection. Wouldn't have made the trip but seeing as the Superleague is supporting our Caterham series I'll be there anyway, and I look forward to it.
SimonY said:
kevin ritson said:
Nope, the concept doesn't interest me in the slightest
The concept of a single seater with 750bhp V12 doesn't interest you in the slightest?! Forget the football connection. Wouldn't have made the trip but seeing as the Superleague is supporting our Caterham series I'll be there anyway, and I look forward to it.
I'm there.
For die hard fans of a particular series in Motorsport I can see where they're coming from (it does seem a farsical combination) , but I'm prepared to try before condemning it.
I can here them testing from where I work and I'm looking forward to it - I'm inside the wire taking photies so I oughta be
Scott
For die hard fans of a particular series in Motorsport I can see where they're coming from (it does seem a farsical combination) , but I'm prepared to try before condemning it.
I can here them testing from where I work and I'm looking forward to it - I'm inside the wire taking photies so I oughta be
Scott
Saw the quali and racing on tv and to be honest was not impressed 
Why was there so much reference to the football teams, yes I know they sponsor and race in the name but comments along the lines of "this will be a great achievement for Beijing FC who have not won a major trophy and they are beating great teams who have won so much more"
Quali format put me off as well!
Why was there so much reference to the football teams, yes I know they sponsor and race in the name but comments along the lines of "this will be a great achievement for Beijing FC who have not won a major trophy and they are beating great teams who have won so much more"
Quali format put me off as well!
wainy said:
Saw the quali and racing on tv and to be honest was not impressed
Why was there so much reference to the football teams, yes I know they sponsor and race in the name but comments along the lines of "this will be a great achievement for Beijing FC who have not won a major trophy and they are beating great teams who have won so much more"
Quali format put me off as well!
It's on Setanta - that makes sense for TV coverage - not !Why was there so much reference to the football teams, yes I know they sponsor and race in the name but comments along the lines of "this will be a great achievement for Beijing FC who have not won a major trophy and they are beating great teams who have won so much more"
Quali format put me off as well!
Was there yesterday with one of the Caterhams. Must admit I'd never even heard of Superleague Formula until I turned up at Donnington....
Watched a couple of the sessions, had no idea WTF was going on, and no idea who was driving - the commentator kept referring to the cars by their soccer team name.
The cars are proper noisy but didn't seem to have the speed to match the noise, somehow.
Anyway, after watching for about 15 minutes we shrugged our shoulders and went to the cafe, none the wiser...
Looked it up on the internet when I got home, and still don't know much more!
And yes, I am a fan of proper Motorsport, and have been for 50 years...
Watched a couple of the sessions, had no idea WTF was going on, and no idea who was driving - the commentator kept referring to the cars by their soccer team name.
The cars are proper noisy but didn't seem to have the speed to match the noise, somehow.
Anyway, after watching for about 15 minutes we shrugged our shoulders and went to the cafe, none the wiser...
Looked it up on the internet when I got home, and still don't know much more!
And yes, I am a fan of proper Motorsport, and have been for 50 years...
crossle said:
Was there yesterday with one of the Caterhams. Must admit I'd never even heard of Superleague Formula until I turned up at Donnington....
Watched a couple of the sessions, had no idea WTF was going on, and no idea who was driving - the commentator kept referring to the cars by their soccer team name.
The cars are proper noisy but didn't seem to have the speed to match the noise, somehow.
Anyway, after watching for about 15 minutes we shrugged our shoulders and went to the cafe, none the wiser...
Looked it up on the internet when I got home, and still don't know much more!
And yes, I am a fan of proper Motorsport, and have been for 50 years...
The reason the commentator kept refering to the cars team name was very simple, becuase we were told to refer to them by their team name!! We did also cover the drivers of each car in some detail throughout the day & did actually refer to the drivers by name during the race. I do think that not producing a race programme for the meeting didn't help with peoples understanding of things.Watched a couple of the sessions, had no idea WTF was going on, and no idea who was driving - the commentator kept referring to the cars by their soccer team name.
The cars are proper noisy but didn't seem to have the speed to match the noise, somehow.
Anyway, after watching for about 15 minutes we shrugged our shoulders and went to the cafe, none the wiser...
Looked it up on the internet when I got home, and still don't know much more!
And yes, I am a fan of proper Motorsport, and have been for 50 years...
Muz_Wez said:
The reason the commentator kept refering to the cars team name was very simple, becuase we were told to refer to them by their team name!! We did also cover the drivers of each car in some detail throughout the day & did actually refer to the drivers by name during the race. I do think that not producing a race programme for the meeting didn't help with peoples understanding of things.
I was there working as well.Not having a proper programme made things a touch difficult, even the official media guide pack was only half handy. In the end I was relying on word of mouth and a copy of the Caterham final instructions to competitors for my time table!
I don’t know how much promotion had gone into it all but even as someone who reads Autosport and other such regularly I knew very little about it all.
I think the initial idea could catch on if the footie fans take it to heart but imo it’s more to draw a new audience from there than to appeal to the usual motorsports enthusiasts.
One bit that did impress me was that they appeared to be fairly open about the fact that this was a new thing, that they had underestimated quite what they were trying to take on and that they would be learning on the job a lot. I think they did very well all told, perhaps they should have waited to run the majority of it in the Footie off season next year and to get the final edges knocked off it all but that said I don’t think they did a bad job with the tools and time in hand.
Have to agree with Rude-Boy's comments. I think all told they did a very good job. Motorsport is a cynical sport at the best of times so to launch this very different concept during the football season and with the current economic climate is a brave move.
As Robin Webb the co-founder said to me yesterday they could easily have cancelled as that's what most would have expected to happen. They are on a learning curve.
If the clubs & football fans do take some ownership the potential is huge, but I do still have doubts (my cynical streak coming out). If it's good enough it deserves to survive & thrive, if it's not then it will take it's place in motorsport history. Personally I hope it makes it but with GP2, A1GP & World Series by Renault is there room, drivers & money for them all to survive??
There were a reasonable amount of spectators, but not as many as I expected. Again a lesson to learn????
As Robin Webb the co-founder said to me yesterday they could easily have cancelled as that's what most would have expected to happen. They are on a learning curve.
If the clubs & football fans do take some ownership the potential is huge, but I do still have doubts (my cynical streak coming out). If it's good enough it deserves to survive & thrive, if it's not then it will take it's place in motorsport history. Personally I hope it makes it but with GP2, A1GP & World Series by Renault is there room, drivers & money for them all to survive??
There were a reasonable amount of spectators, but not as many as I expected. Again a lesson to learn????
Muz_Wez said:
Personally I hope it makes it but with GP2, A1GP & World Series by Renault is there room, drivers & money for them all to survive??
IMO, no!There seems to be a lot of money being poured into new motorsporting ventures when there’s plenty great, existing stuff that suffers because of under-promotion. You end up with a dilution of spend.
I don’t know how much money the football teams put into their cars but if they wanted to get involved in motorsport, why not sponsor BTCC/WTCC/DTM, etc..? Instant market, wider appeal and a proven formula.
I find it difficult to see how football fans will be attracted to Superleague. Racing and Football share totally different competitive dynamics at every level. Whilst a casual, partially interested observer may watch a football match and understand what’s going on, motor racing requires an element of knowledge to “get” why a 6th place finish might actually be a stunning result.
Put it like this, would Williams or McLaren sponsor a football team?
A better basis would have been to have taken the origins of football as a basis for Superleague. Regions established football clubs that then competed against other regions. So, for Superleague, you could have “Team Manchester”, “Team Madrid”, etc..
Just a thought!
rude-boy said:
I don’t know how much promotion had gone into it all but even as someone who reads Autosport and other such regularly I knew very little about it all.
There was a multi-page 'advertorial' in last Thursday's Autosport about it. Just goes to show how easy it is to skip over that sort of thing. Other than that, not much in the national/local press or local TV from what I can tell. rude-boy said:
One bit that did impress me was that they appeared to be fairly open about the fact that this was a new thing, that they had underestimated quite what they were trying to take on and that they would be learning on the job a lot. I think they did very well all told, perhaps they should have waited to run the majority of it in the Footie off season next year and to get the final edges knocked off it all but that said I don’t think they did a bad job with the tools and time in hand.
This is hardly a new thing. They have been trying to get this off the ground for several years. If they underestimated the challenge and found it difficult to get right in all that time, you've got to say they probably aren't the right people to do the job.There seem to be quite a few people around with money or with rich investors who fancy themselves as Motorsport promoters. It takes more than a love of the sport and a wad of cash to get a series like this off the ground. A printed programme might have been a good place to start
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