2023 Sportscar Discussion - WEC/ELMS/AsLMS

westracing01 · PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 3:42 pm

And that is the reason that a lot of American road racing fans are looking to races in Europe and cursing our inferior leaders. American road racing could be excellent if those in charge could see past their noses.

deggis · PostPosted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 6:44 pm

This isn't the first revelation about the WEC winter calendar plan but now with more details...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114441

Quote:

"Everyone is happy with the idea of finishing the championship with Le Mans," he told AUTOSPORT.

"It could happen quickly if we find the right way to jump from the existing calendar."

Quote:

It is understood that the series is working on running a short 2015 season climaxing at Le Mans in June before a full 2015/16 season begins in the autumn.

The late finish to this year's championship at Interlagos on November 30 would almost certainly preclude the new season beginning before the new year.

The WEC appears to be planning at least one flyaway, possibly in the US, early next year ahead of three races in Europe prior to Le Mans.

I like the general idea, because not many series have even tried this but it is problematic that LM is so much bigger than WEC itself. Imagine that A wins LM but B secures the championship by finishing 2nd... it will be completely overshadowed on that Sunday.

There was also the Montreal rumor, but now Neveu admits it directly

westracing01 · PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 5:19 pm

The problem with an early US stop is what track? I imagine COTA, but on the heels of the race this year in September something in February or March next year might be too close. Sebring is the obvious answer but would USCC race the 12 hours and WEC a separate 6 hour race? That's silly. Road Atlanta could work though.

Cheeveer · PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2014 7:32 pm

ALMS ran on the Texas and Las Vegas rovals back in the day, why not them? :lol:

codename_47 · PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2014 12:15 am

Because going all that way and taking these beautiful, powerful sportscars to race around a track designed as a compromise to give an oval track something else to do would be like riding a bike in your bathtub or flying a fighter jet in your local gymnasium or whatever the analogy is.

Daytona barely qualifies as a good roval, that's only because it has tradition and one of the biggest ovals on its side.

Take sportscars to proper road courses or don't bother.

K tnx.

trout · PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 5:12 am

i'd love to see watkins glen open up their longer configuration for the WEC. i love laguna seca, but it seems small-ish next to la sarthe. COTA seems the best fit

hedgey666 · PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2014 9:29 am

trout wrote:

i'd love to see watkins glen open up their longer configuration for the WEC.

No chance of that in this respect - it would be under 3 feet of snow at that time of year, lol. Plus, I don't really want the Glen to be destroyed to bring it up to FIA "standards".

deggis · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 6:29 am

Real shakedown.

Fish88 · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:48 am

Will they still enter WEC this season? Rebellion needs someone to fill the third step on the podium.

Cheeveer · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:51 am

They aim at Austin. Aim.

Even though they get a lot of stick, they have indeed built a beautiful car.

Gaara · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 11:59 am

Beautiful but probably slow and very unreliable.

Ian-S · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 12:05 pm

westracing01 wrote:

Road Atlanta could work though.

Road Atlanta is owned by NASCAR, so that would be a negative.

Road America on the other hand....

westracing01 · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 3:19 pm

Ian-S wrote:

westracing01 wrote:

Road Atlanta could work though.

Road Atlanta is owned by NASCAR, so that would be a negative.

Road America on the other hand....

Won't work due to time of year. Wisconsin is damn cold and snowy in March/April.

USCC is running the Lone Star Lemans with the WEC this year, so I could see a 2 hour sprint race for the USCC on Saturday and the WEC 6 Hours (1000KM) on Sunday at Road Atlanta. There's some cooperation between the two.

deggis · PostPosted: Fri Jun 27, 2014 8:20 pm

dicksplaash wrote:

They aim at Austin. Aim.

Even though they get a lot of stick, they have indeed built a beautiful car.

It's designed by ADESS though.

Fish88 · PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2014 12:08 pm

Made this comment in the GT3 thread (about the new GT3 Mclaren). And it looks like my prayers have been heard :flag:

Fish88 wrote:

Looks alright, but I rather see them stepping up taking the fight to GTE.

Quote:

McLaren closing on return to the Le Mans 24 Hours with 650S GT car

McLaren is edging closer to a decision to return to the Le Mans 24 Hours for the first time in nearly 20 years.

The British sportscar manufacturer, which won the race outright with its BMW-engined F1 GTR in 1995, has revealed its desire to produce a GTE version of the 650S GT3 unveiled last week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

McLaren GT boss Andrew Kirkaldy told AUTOSPORT: "I would be very surprised if you don't see a 650S running at Le Mans at some point and we hope to be there from 2016.

"That's what we want to do, but we still need a set of regulations to build the car to."

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest and the FIA, which jointly write the regulations for the GTE class in the World Endurance Championship, the United SportsCar Championship and the European and Asian Le Mans Series, have revealed an intent to come up with an evolution of the existing rulebook for 2016.

That follows an end to the so-called convergence talks designed to align the GTE and GT3 classes so that manufacturers would only have to produce a single base car.

Kirkaldy revealed that the 650S was already a step in the direction of a GTE car as a result of the convergence concept.

"The new car is not far from a GTE car in some aspects, like the hubs, suspension and bigger wheels and tyres — it is a good step towards that," he explained.

McLaren hasn't revealed whether it has intentions to run a factory team should its GTE-spec 650S become a reality.

This was the case when it was preparing to build a GTE version of its MP4-12C during 2012: it planned to develop the car in competition with an in-house team in the second half of 2013 before releasing the car to customers for 2014.

The car was in the final stages of design and an engine running on the dyno when the plans for converge

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114736