USA race?

cos · 1 Mar 2008, 18:48 (Ref:2141696)

Weidinger hopes so:

Quote:

“We’ll take a look at the established road races that are not going to be a part of the unified schedule for IndyCar and see if there might be an opportunity for A1 TEAM USA to race on home ground,” Weidinger said.

http://www.a1teamusatv.com/news_detail.aspx?id=284
and http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65418

Certainly seems like a good time for A1GP to try and break back into the North American market with a fair few established venues lacking a headline race for 2008. A1 cars round Cleveland would be good to see...

fieldodreams79 · 1 Mar 2008, 19:56 (Ref:2141720)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cos

A1 cars round Cleveland would be good to see...

...or Road America or Laguna Seca.

this is a great idea. to fill a void SOMEWHERE, even if it is one year. they could switch it up every year.

i'd love to see them at Road ATL...not only would it be awesome to see those cars there, i could go to the race....but better leave it to some place the that, for reasons i cannot understand, will have no OW race for the first time in decades.

nickyf1 · 2 Mar 2008, 00:29 (Ref:2141874)

Road America please

ThePenguin · 2 Mar 2008, 01:48 (Ref:2141918)

I think that the F1 course at Indy could be a good one for A1GP.

NAC · 2 Mar 2008, 05:19 (Ref:2141953)

Laguna Seca my pick. Would love to see the A1 cars on it

Kiwi3 · 2 Mar 2008, 09:49 (Ref:2142003)

A1GP has been to Laguna Seca and about ten spectators showed up. It would need to be somewhere with an established promoter who would really get behind it, otherwise they should leave the US market alone.

captain crunch · 2 Mar 2008, 10:16 (Ref:2142021)

Well the ALMS will keep the road america and houston dates, so there's no need for A1 to pick those up. That means the largest events dropped from the merged schedule that A1 can fill would be Toronto and Cleveland. A1 already races in mexico city anyway so no point adding that race. The european ccws race aren't likely to be back, and in any case races at permanent venues can de dropped and picked up again, a luxury street races usually don't have (apart from st. pete). This way the bulk of the scheduled races will go ahead, especially the long-standing events.

kipper · 2 Mar 2008, 11:39 (Ref:2142094)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePenguin

I think that the F1 course at Indy could be a good one for A1GP.

A race at Indianapolis would be good for A1GP in that it would be a race at a venue that is recongnised the world over. However, I suspect that a more entertaining race could be held at another venue; Elkhart Lake would get my vote.

Red Bulldog · 2 Mar 2008, 13:15 (Ref:2142206)

[QUOTE=captain crunch]: That means the largest events dropped from the merged schedule that A1 can fill would be Toronto and Cleveland. :[QUOTE]

Toronto and Cleveland in the winter? - I don't think so....
California, Texas or Florida would work - then there's always Mexico

fieldodreams79 · 2 Mar 2008, 21:17 (Ref:2142643)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Bulldog

Toronto and Cleveland in the winter? - I don't think so....
California, Texas or Florida would work - then there's always Mexico

texas or FLA? where? why are they racing in the winter? they are racing in Mexico in 2 weeks already.

i must be missing something...

kipper · 2 Mar 2008, 21:44 (Ref:2142677)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Bulldog

Toronto and Cleveland in the winter? - I don't think so

I guess there would be the possibility of putting such a race towards the begining or end of the season. As a result the race would likely to take place in more desirable conditions being that it would then fall in autumn or spring, in a similar situation to the Brands Hatch race.

Red Bulldog · 3 Mar 2008, 12:32 (Ref:2143199)

Quote:

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

texas or FLA? where? why are they racing in the winter? they are racing in Mexico in 2 weeks already.

i must be missing something...

Because it is basically a winter series, Mexico (although in the same continent) is a bit different to Canada, snow in April is quite common, spring comes much earlier in southern England than Toronto.
I was just thinking of climate for the southern US - maybe a street race?

fieldodreams79 · 3 Mar 2008, 16:20 (Ref:2143364)

RB,
i see your point, but i am not sure that there is a weekend that they could run on a street course in South unless they shared with the ALMS at St. Pete or Houston...the later making more sense because there will be no "support" race there and those races are coming up in less than 2 months. it would be cool to see them on the streets, tho.

i'd rather see them on a natural terrain road course, but that may not be feasible due to the fact that most of those in NA are in the northern part of the area.

is it possible for them to share with the ALMS at Mosport or Detroit in August? how about a share with them at Laguna in late October or is that not feasible in one weekend??

**ScotsBrutesFan** · 3 Mar 2008, 19:27 (Ref:2143529)

An obvious US date for me would be either the former Champcar test dates at Sebring unless the IRL pick them up as a road course test. These would be mid February though I admit to not knowing whether the full 12Hour circuit is available at that time.
The alternative could be to fit in with the ALMS test on the full circuit which usually happens in late January.

strider · 3 Mar 2008, 22:36 (Ref:2143639)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiwi3

A1GP has been to Laguna Seca and about ten spectators showed up

I think that's about right, but if I remember correctly the weather conditions had been and were very bad. Great performance by Salvador Duran, though.

Being realistic, Road America at Atlanta?

Pro Racer · 4 Mar 2008, 04:30 (Ref:2143813)

Laguna for me IMOL would suit A1.

nickyf1 · 4 Mar 2008, 20:34 (Ref:2144435)

I'd say Cleveland or Portland would be the best options I think, these are both dropped from the Champcar Schedule along with other tracks. Road AMerica has an ALMS race going on on the same meeting as the champcar race, so I dont know if A1 could get in.

gttouring · 4 Mar 2008, 23:13 (Ref:2144536)

Laguna seca- classic USA track good weather and environment good crowds and match to a councourse or historic weekend- this could be great...
watkins glen can offer something especially as they would likely lap faster than the IRL

Lola T92/10 · 5 Mar 2008, 05:30 (Ref:2144659)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScotsBrutesFan

An obvious US date for me would be either the former Champcar test dates at Sebring unless the IRL pick them up as a road course test. These would be mid February though I admit to not knowing whether the full 12Hour circuit is available at that time.
The alternative could be to fit in with the ALMS test on the full circuit which usually happens in late January.

I would love to see this happen but I am almost 100% positive it never will. Also, I am sure that they would never run the full course because the full course at Sebring is way too bumpy for the A1gp cars.

Kiwi3 · 6 Mar 2008, 10:38 (Ref:2145505)

Normally I would insist that the World Cup of Motorsport be top billing at any event, however considering the current lack of awareness in the US and the difficulty for any sport of entering that market I wouldn't mind joint-billing with ALMS (not IRL or NASCAR though), that way there will already be a reasonably sized crowd there.

Red Bulldog · 6 Mar 2008, 13:10 (Ref:2145610)

Quote:

Originally Posted by nickyf1

I'd say Cleveland or Portland would be the best options I think, these are both dropped from the Champcar Schedule along with other tracks. Road AMerica has an ALMS race going on on the same meeting as the champcar race, so I dont know if A1 could get in.

I say again, with the European races using up each end of the schedule, there is no way a northern US venue would work.
If there is to to be a US race, it must be in the south.

RaceFreak · 6 Mar 2008, 16:53 (Ref:2145772)

I can't even find it on TV. Why would anyone except us hard-core junkies attend (unless it was piggybacked onto another event) ?

Not likely as a stand alone event unfortunately.....

fieldodreams79 · 7 Mar 2008, 15:07 (Ref:2146360)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaceFreak

I can't even find it on TV. Why would anyone except us hard-core junkies attend (unless it was piggybacked onto another event) ?

Not likely as a stand alone event unfortunately.....

i don't disagree with that and i wonder if unification would help or hurt the A1 in the States.

Red Bulldog · 8 Mar 2008, 12:58 (Ref:2146878)

Quote:

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

i don't disagree with that and i wonder if unification would help or hurt the A1 in the States.

I don't think unification would have any effect, unfortunately the chances of a US race are slim to none.
The only hope would be if Speed televised the Mexico race live and then had good ratings, that may turn some heads

Koulle · 20 Mar 2008, 15:56 (Ref:2157361)

Generally speaking, what's the weather like around Laguna Seca?

If it's usually good, it might be worth having another go at it, especially if it's not going to be part of the merged Indycar series.

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