JUNE 12, 2009
Le Mans ready to accept F1 refugees




The Automobile Club de l'Ouest, which runs the Le Mans 24 Hours, the Le Mans Series and provides regulations for the American Le Mans Series, says that it would welcome manufacturers from Formula 1 if they no longer want to take part in Grand Prix racing.

General Manager Remy Brouard refused to say who he has talked to up to this point but told European media that "there is no ideal number. The more, the merrier. They are welcome here. If they make suggestions, we will listen".

Sport car racing was big news in the 1960s and 1970s when Ferrari, Ford, Porsche, Lotus, Alfa Romeo and Matra competed at Le Mans. The era was the highpoint of interest in sports car racing, with the technology and performance of the cars comfortably in excess of what was seen in Formula 1 at the time. In 1972, however, the FIA changed the rules in an effort to cut costs and sport car racing went into decline. CanAm, which was similarly unlimited, was reined back after the oil crisis of 1973.

All of the F1 manufacturers have competed at Le Mans, often as a warm-up for an entry into F1.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo will be the official starter of this year's race tomorrow afternoon and there is talk that Fernando Alonso will attend the race as well.



http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns21555.html

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^ Not to mention it the World Championship was finally killed with the costs saving 3.5 engine rules.

And apart form Nurburgring and Monza, the big sportcars races had equally big or ever bigger crowds.
In fact the 1930s Grand Prix races, when manufacturer wars reached their peak with the silver arrows, had bigger crowds too.

Things always look good in our dreams.
Overtaking isn't a problem there, is it?

Is diesel THE WAY TO GO or are there other competitive engine alternatives???

People don't follow sportscar racing in large numbers anymore.

Are sportscars governed by the FIA? Honestly don't know (not a fan).

All championships ultimately come under FIA running at some point, but individually the series are run by their respective organisers. But if you get into some massive rules kerfuffle it can go all the way to the FIA.

These are your 'FIA Events'

http://fia.com/en-GB/sport/championships/P...mpionships.aspx

True, but with Ferrari and Co. and a new World Championship they could.

Well I've always thought F1 would be better if it was some sort of insane touring car/GT blend where it looked like it came from the manufacturer that built it rather than an open-wheeler, but I don't think millions of people are suddenly going to watch sportscar racing because of a few famous names if the racing isn't up to puff. Sportscar racing is just as screwed up as F1 at times.

Isn't it that organizers had chosen the FIA to be the referee?

Ducati basically build the World Superbikes (popularity), and increased the MotoGP popularity despite the racing taking a turn for the worse.

A motorsport series needs a red italian religion to be truly popular and grow; and maybe it's to resurrect the silver (arrow) religion.

Actually it was killed because Bernie wanted the manufacturers from the WSC to bolt over to F1. So he managed to get the FIA to change the rules so that the WSC essentially had the same engine specifications as Formula One. It was a political move to boost the image of F1 and weaken the WSC which was very popular in the late 1980s. Like I said, I would love to see the manufacturers compete in the LMS and ALMS. Though these recent rule changes by the ACO are somewhat annoying. Hopefully they don't become as despotic as the FIA.

MotoGP TV ratings are the same as they were before Ducati entered.

Ducati haven't increased Motogp viewers.

WSB yes as it is for all intents and purposes an itialian run championship.

I don't think you can compare Ducati (with Capirossi and Bayliss) joining Moto GP to Ferrari, McLaren and Renault (with Raikkonen, Massa, Hamilton & Alonso) joining Le Mans. Not to mention others.

From what I've read they increased, in some countries by as much as 61%.

You're right nowadays the level of intelligence and attention span of most people means they watch a 30-40 minutes 'Desperate Hosewives' episode and maybe some kind of 'next young star/model show!.

Not in the significant countries.

At the rate they're growing they'll become significant.

Anyway back on topic.

Without the top teams and top drivers there's no chain of excellence.
It was the manufacturer money, engines and technical support that allowed Williams, McLaren and Benetton to dominate the 80s and 90s.

Even as far as the 60s, Lotus had a one year exclusive for the DFV, witch was build specifically as a stressed chassis part for the Lotus 49; and Tyrrell and Stewart broke with Matra as they wanted the Ford connection/money/badge.

Here a extract from an article by Gordon Kirby.







Ferrari and the manufacturers have the power/fanbase to make or brake a series.

Which countries are insignificant?


Sports car racing could be much better for TV if they went to a two hour race format for most races. The problem with endurance racing is that it's become redundant: it used to be about proving reliability and speed, but the cars are so reliable these days, it just drags out and gets boring with no real consequence of track position. There are also too many classes that manufacturers use to avoid real competition.

Race sports cars, but do most races in 2 hours, maybe 3. Keep Mans and Spa, Nurburgring.

But if the F1 mafia just moves to another series, little will change.

Bad spelling or a great pun.

Ferrari weren't in CART?

They had already reduced most of the races to 480 km by the late 80s/early 90s during World Championship era.

The point was that you need big names in big racing.
Manufacturers and superstar drivers are the big names attracting the big money.

What good has the lower cost IRL did, when it's invisible and nobody is pouring money in it ?!

Big budgets are actually more affordable, in a big series with big names, then small budgets in an unprofitable, no name, invisible series.

That's a wildly out of context quote though, it's almost irrelevant. Yes there are similarities to the CART/IRL situation, but also aspects that are the complete opposite. Bring up a quote about a single team with a unique funding structure isnt a good example. For you or Mr Kirby.

The point again was that you need big names in big racing.

Manufacturers and superstar drivers are the big names attracting the big money and the big audiences.

Yes yes, Ferrari Ducati, rah rah rah.