So, after combining two sports cars series (Grand-Am & ALMS) you now want to split them up? Ask INDY car how well that worked out for them. Sorry, I just don't think this is a good idea at all. Lets wait and see if we can support one series in this country first. When we get to the point where we have too many cars to fit on the track, too many sponsors to fit on the cars and too many fans packing the stands...we can talk
Well I'm glad you read my post and ignored my justification for the split, I do appreciate that.
What were ALMS and Grand-Am? They were sportscar series that each had a marquee prestigious endurance event (that marked the beginning of the season in Florida) with a second slightly less recognized but still no doubt exciting endurance event with a range of other sportscar races in between them. They each were led by prototypes and accompanied by GT's. Their calendars tended to stretch from 10-12 events depending on the season. They ran on everything from rovals to street courses in addition to traditional road courses. The only thing that distinguished the two were the types of cars they used and the rules, as well as their owners of the series'.
The biggest complaint so far in TUSC has been the hours they have to run.
PWC is attractive because their entire season is shorter than the Daytona 24 Hours. And the NAEC is already established, so it's easy for teams to commit to that, but to run in the entire TUSC, you're forced to do the NAEC events as well.
On top of that, IMSA (and Grand-Am before them) have continued to show (albeit quietly) interest in Class 1 cars. So even if they don't split up TUSC, they're still likely to create a high profile second series
anyways. But I don't think Class 1 is big enough to stand alone in America, and with the Gran Turismo generation of age, I don't see why IMSA shouldn't consider trying to create an American Super GT-style series instead, but throwing in the LMP3's to help market them as "The Fastest GT cars in the world". I believe the manufacturers would enjoy knowing their cars were out there beating prototypes (even if they are the baby ones).
If you look at almost every sportscar and GT series around the world, their seasons are typically averaging around 6 events (note I said average, which means more or less), yet America's bigger-is-better mentality asks teams to run double that, plus endurance events all in a single season. I just don't see that being viable in the long term. Thus my suggestion to break them into two series now and be proactive, rather than start cutting things out and being re-active later on.
Additionally, this allows the series to reach out and keep sportscar racing in markets they can't reach if they're limited to a 12-race schedule. Since they can't add any more without either seriously testing the loyalty of the teams that race in their series or...
hey look at that, splitting up the races. *coughs* VIR, Kansas, Laguna Seca (yes, I know they merged for this year... I wonder why?) *coughs*
Good points...how about this then?
NAEC (sort of in order):
Rolex 24 @ Daytona
12 Hours of Sebring
6 Hours of Laguna Seca
6 Hours of Watkins Glen
6 Hours of TBD
Petite Le Mans (10 hours roughly)
TUSC (not in order): -
Long Beach
Laguna Seca
Road America
VIR
Lime Rock
Lone Star Le Mans @ COTA
Sonoma
Road Atlanta
Mosport
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Honestly though I think your idea would be good as the budgets for teams could be easier to manage as you have the sprint series and an endurance series.
Remember that an event at a track is decided by the promoter. I'd like to see the 6 Hours of Laguna return, and that's why I recommended it, as it's been around before. But ultimately, any other events added will be if a track or promoter wants to add them. And that will only happen if teams and the series want to add a sixth event.
And TUSC races should still be around the length they are currently, in the 2 1/2 hour mark (2 hours for street races). It is still very much endurance-style racing and should focus on not trying to be or compete with PWC. Offer more track time than PWC can. And as stated above, the 4-6 hour endurance event they run will be decided by a promoter in coordination with the series. (If I were a beggar
and a chooser, though, I'd love to see the Barber 1000km run the same weekend as IndyCar.)
Think of it like this:
Pirelli World Challenge = Blancpain Sprint Series (just with one driver instead of two)
TUSC = Blancpain Endurance Series (though with more races instead of a 24h race, and with prototypes!)
NAEC = WEC meets 24h Series
