2011 calendar

[cptkablamo]

Originally Posted by picchiofan

An expensive fly-away race at an oddball time for the US market that the home promoter in Australia didn't want to pay for. Why would they have stayed? The Aussies were trying to drop Champcar and make the V8s the main feature anyway.

That is not true. It was never the desire of the Queensland Government to have only V8s there and repeatedly said so. The current situation only occured after A1 went bust, Indycar wanted to change the date and charge millions more than ChampCar and a reliable suitor wasn't found. The race really didn't cost CCWS more than a normal race because of the huge fees the Gov paid to the Series.

But on that I doubt ALMS will ever have another flyaway

Better make a 4-hour Asian Le Mans race at Phillip Island. Surfers Paradise is for bumper cars - V8, GT1, WTCC.

This is true and the best we could expect.

As for the 2011 calendar - can we expect a further contraction of the calendar with longer races?

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by cptkablamo

That is not true. It was never the desire of the Queensland Government to have only V8s there and repeatedly said so. The current situation only occured after A1 went bust, Indycar wanted to change the date and charge millions more than ChampCar and a reliable suitor wasn't found. The race really didn't cost CCWS more than a normal race because of the huge fees the Gov paid to the Series.

But on that I doubt ALMS will ever have another flyaway



This is true and the best we could expect.

As for the 2011 calendar - can we expect a further contraction of the calendar with longer races?

I would expect a slightly expanded calander in 2011 with the additions to be of the 2:45 length. Maybe some of the rounds may move to a slightly longer race, but I would not bank on it.



L.P.

[dj4monie]

Speaking of Sears Point, how about a flash from the past? The 2002 rain soaked race - http://www.racefanstv.com/channels/s...a-lites/22280/

[Purist]

Jeez, where do I begin.

The 2000 season was actually pretty darn good. You had factory cars from Audi, BMW, Cadillac, and Panoz. Also, the Lolas and R&Ss were new enough to still be competitive; Rafenelli's car won the race at Silverstone that year. In GTS, it was the Vipers vs. the developing Corvettes. GT was hard-fought between the Dick Barbour Porsches and the PTG BMWs.

As for Long Beach, GA held a less than enthralling DP-only race in 2006, and did not go back again. I have little doubt that the big crash on the front stretch was a major contributing factor here, both in GA not wanting to go back as badly, and the organizers not being too keen to have a repeat of that incident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLDjYyT5860
DPs don't hold up so well in street circuit impacts.

Now then, to the primary topic. For starters, if Oklahoma City comes off, that would be rather convenient, although, July wouldn't be the month I would pick to hold the race there.

I think the double-header at Road America with the Indy Cars could well be on the cards. Randy Bernard specifically mentioned Elkhart Lake as being high on his list for ICS during the Q&A on Saturday morning at Mid Ohio. Hard to say at present on Mid Ohio, but you would think the track owners would realize that a decent number of people decided to actually come specifically because there were the TWO main races for the weekend.

Based on what we know, and what we've heard, and disregarding Murpy for the moment, this is roughly what I get for 2011:
1. Sebring 12hr
2. St. Petersburg 1hr 55min
3. Long Beach 1hr 40min
4. Laguna Seca 6hr
Le Mans Break
5. Oklahoma City 3hr*
6. Miller 2hr 45min
7. Lime Rock 2hr 45min
8. Baltimore 3hr*
9. Mid Ohio 2hr 45min
10. Road America 4hr
11. Mosport 2hr 45min
12. Sears Point 2hr 45min
13. Road Atlanta 1000mi/10hr

I know this is optimistic, but I'm just putting it out there.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Purist

Jeez, where do I begin.

The 2000 season was actually pretty darn good. You had factory cars from Audi, BMW, Cadillac, and Panoz. Also, the Lolas and R&Ss were new enough to still be competitive; Rafenelli's car won the race at Silverstone that year. In GTS, it was the Vipers vs. the developing Corvettes. GT was hard-fought between the Dick Barbour Porsches and the PTG BMWs.

As for Long Beach, GA held a less than enthralling DP-only race in 2006, and did not go back again. I have little doubt that the big crash on the front stretch was a major contributing factor here, both in GA not wanting to go back as badly, and the organizers not being too keen to have a repeat of that incident.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLDjYyT5860
DPs don't hold up so well in street circuit impacts.

Now then, to the primary topic. For starters, if Oklahoma City comes off, that would be rather convenient, although, July wouldn't be the month I would pick to hold the race there.

I think the double-header at Road America with the Indy Cars could well be on the cards. Randy Bernard specifically mentioned Elkhart Lake as being high on his list for ICS during the Q&A on Saturday morning at Mid Ohio. Hard to say at present on Mid Ohio, but you would think the track owners would realize that a decent number of people decided to actually come specifically because there were the TWO main races for the weekend.

Based on what we know, and what we've heard, and disregarding Murpy for the moment, this is roughly what I get for 2011:
1. Sebring 12hr
2. St. Petersburg 1hr 55min
3. Long Beach 1hr 40min
4. Laguna Seca 6hr
Le Mans Break
5. Oklahoma City 3hr*
6. Miller 2hr 45min
7. Lime Rock 2hr 45min
8. Baltimore 3hr*
9. Mid Ohio 2hr 45min
10. Road America 4hr
11. Mosport 2hr 45min
12. Sears Point 2hr 45min
13. Road Atlanta 1000mi/10hr

I know this is optimistic, but I'm just putting it out there.

Where does the 3hr race length come from?




L.P.

[Matt]

They should switch the Sears Point and Lime Rock dates in your calender.

[Purist]

DJ, I have to disagree about a number of the tracks. Barber and Miller do NOT have layouts that are conducive to good racing for the ALMS. Barber does have good scenery and elevation changes. It just doesn't have the long flat-out runs or the severe braking zones that you would like with bigger cars, and a lot of the lap is taken up in more medium-speed corners.

Miller is very flat and featureless, with little shelter available to the spectators should they need a spot to cool off and get some shade (so they don't get baked red, like lobsters). And Miller is long enough in either form that it should be faster on average and/or better for ALMS racing than it is.

Thunderbolt's facilities are built to the same grade as those at Miller, so you can't reasonably applaud one while stomping on the other. Thunderbolt is the same length (2.250mi), essentially, as Mid Ohio (2.258mi), and if anything, has a faster, more open layout overall.

I would throw Autobahn Country Club into the ring as also being a track with a layout that is NOT good for promoting racing in an ALMS event, despite it having a full lap of 3.560 miles.

Given the good crowd and the fact the track made a substantial investment for the ALMS, I don't see Lime Rock getting dumped so easily. And I can absolutely see Watkins Glen not granting ALMS a date for political reasons, and ISC really doesn't have to listen to us so long as the Cup date, at least, is still lucrative.

Sears Point (1968) and VIR (1957) have just as much claim to being classic, American road courses as do Road Atlanta (1970) and Laguna Seca (1957). I might also note that the first two still allow for you to drive around the original course configuration, while the second two do NOT provide that opportunity. VIR has facilities that are no worse than several other courses on the ALMS calendar. Heck, the place has TWO sizable paddocks, and has at least as much in the way of crash barriers as does Miller, and probably has more spectator viewing areas.

As to those shouting down Sears Point, NASCAR and Indy Car do NOT use the Sportscar Circuit, which IS what the ALMS always used. And that particular configuration is FAR superior to either the bike or the stock car layouts.

With Canada, St. Jovite would be wonderful. I'm always a bit hesitant about Edmonton, because my tendency is to compare it to Cleveland, and I think Cleveland is the better of the two. Edmonton does have that ultra-fast esse though, which would be pretty wild to watch the mixed classes try to negotiate together.

Lime Rock is still good, but the West Bend Chicane NEEDS to be canned. It adds nothing, and if anyting, makes the track MORE hazardous.

[Purist]

Dawg, St. Pete was 3hr in its first year (or at least 2hr 45min). Trois Rivieres was a 3hr race, and I don't need to double check that one to be sure about it.

I wanted to post up and interesting graphic of sorts. For the road courses that run sportscars, or have fairly recently, here they are roughly in order of how fast they are ,starting with the fastest and with their lengths given:
1. Watkins Glen 2.450 miles
2. Mosport Park 2.459 miles
3. Road Atlanta 2.540 miles
4. Road America 4.048 miles
5. Daytona Int'l 3.560 miles
6. Watkins Glen 3.400 miles
7. Virginia Int'l 3.270 miles
8. Lime Rock (1989-2007) 1.540 miles
9. Sebring Int'l 3.700 miles
10. Mexico City 2.500 miles
11. Thunderbolt 2.250 miles
12. Miller 3.046 miles
13. Mont Tremblant 2.650 miles
14. Sears Point 2.520 miles
15. Mid Ohio 2.258 miles
16. Montreal 2.709 miles
17. Portland Int'l 1.964 miles
18. Miller 4.486 miles
19. Lime Rock Park 1.510 miles
20. Laguna Seca 2.238 miles
21. Barber 2.300 miles

And just to bring the point home on speeds, the top 5 in the list all should have pole average speeds with a front running 2008 spec LMP of 135mph or more. The top 9, for that same spec car, should have average pole speeds of 130mph or more. The top 13 should have pole average speeds of 120mph or more. Finally, in a 2008 spec LMP, all the tracks listed should have pole average speeds of 114-115mph or more.

[Purist]

Sorry to stretch this out, but there is one other list I want to give for reference. This meter is rather subjective, but from my perspective, I want to give an idea of what I consider the relative raceability of each circuit to be. Again, I will start with the track I rate most highly, and give the lap lengths of each track:
1. Mosport Park 2.459 miles
2. Road America 4.048 miles
3. Road Atlanta 2.540 miles
4. Daytona Int'l 3.560 miles
5. Watkins Glen 3.400 miles
6. Virginia Int'l 3.270 miles
7. Mont Tremblant 2.650 miles
8. Mid Ohio 2.258 miles
9. Laguna Seca 2.238 miles
10. Lime Rock (1989-2007) 1.540 miles
11. Sebring Int'l 3.700 miles
12. Mexico City 2.500 miles
13. Watkins Glen 2.450 miles
14. Portland Int'l 1.964 miles
15. Sears Point 2.520 miles
16. Montreal 2.709 miles
17. Thunderbolt 2.250 miles
18. Lime Rock Park 1.510 miles
19. Barber 2.300 miles
20. Miller 3.046 miles
21. Miller 4.486 miles

The top 7 are excellent for the racing they put on. The next 6 (8-13) are very good. The next 3 (14-16) are still good for racing. There really is not a huge difference between these top three groupings in my mind. The next 2 (17-18) are okay. They could quite easily be moved up. For Lime Rock, the issue is, of course, the West Bend Chicane. For Thunderbolt. the straights around the back of the course could do to be a bit longer. Finally, the last 3 are marginal to poor. I would say that Barber is the better of the two, but they both just have too many niggly little corners and things. Their layouts are just too complicated. Both tracks have too many corners and too many medium-speed corners that you can't do anything with. Neither one has enough really heavy braking zones. And on the whole, they really could use more, longer, flat-out runs.

[Samoan Attorney]

[QUOTE=Purist;2743879]Jeez, where do I begin.

The 2000 season was actually pretty darn good. You had factory cars from Audi, BMW, Cadillac, and Panoz. Also, the Lolas and R&Ss were new enough to still be competitive; Rafenelli's car won the race at Silverstone that year. In GTS, it was the Vipers vs. the developing Corvettes. GT was hard-fought between the Dick Barbour Porsches and the PTG BMWs.

The Silverstone race was won by JJ Lehto and Jorg Muller in the BMW V12 LMR. I remember getting a DPS in Le Mans Series & Sportscar Racer. Mimmo Schiattarella took pole in the Rafanelli Lola but a broken throttle cable cost them 10 laps in the race. But having followed the full ALMS schedule that year I would agree with your assessment, 2000 was a good year.

[dj4monie]

Didn't Alan Wilson do -

Barber Motorsports Park, Thunderbolt Raceway, Improvements to Lime Rock and of course Utah?

So can we officially smack him across the back of the head?

He's done some of the worst track layouts I have ever seen! - http://www.wilsonmotorsport.com/publ.../code/maps.htm

Denver CCWS GP was terrible, it looked worst.

Seems to me Barber was designed as a Motorcycle track firstly.

Seems all Alan Wilson tracks suffer from too many medium speed corners and not enough hard braking.

If ALMS can't race at Watkins Glen based on Auto Racing Politics, then what would allow the ALMS to race at tracks where Grand Am runs? Panoz owning Sebring, Road Atlanta and Mosport likely keeps GA off those circuits but I would say its more about ROI for those tracks and GA's record is not good in that area.

I don't see NJ and Virgina as target areas for the series. VA is NASCAR country for one. You could say the area Road Atlanta is located is the same but there's been a history of running there weather it was Camel GT, PSCR or ALMS. In that time frame there were no series running at VIR until after 2000.

Mount Tremblant is much like Mid Ohio in layout and seemingly has no hard braking areas. At least Mid-Ohio for its layout has 2 solid passing zones.

@Matt

Why would you move Lime Rock to late Aug and Sears Point to early July?

The reasons are clear for the Sears Point date, it would be a shared event with Indy Car with the race on Saturday afternoon.

Shared events going forward is the way to go for both series, especially of they are both on the same network.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

Mount Tremblant is much like Mid Ohio in layout and seemingly has no hard braking areas. At least Mid-Ohio for its layout has 2 solid passing zones.

just did some laps (GTR2) it is a great track, somehow a mix between Mosport and Road America, I liked it, and I hope that ALMS goes there

[Matt]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

Didn't Alan Wilson do -

Barber Motorsports Park, Thunderbolt Raceway, Improvements to Lime Rock and of course Utah?

So can we officially smack him across the back of the head?

He's done some of the worst track layouts I have ever seen! - http://www.wilsonmotorsport.com/publ.../code/maps.htm

Denver CCWS GP was terrible, it looked worst.

Seems to me Barber was designed as a Motorcycle track firstly.

Seems all Alan Wilson tracks suffer from too many medium speed corners and not enough hard braking.

If ALMS can't race at Watkins Glen based on Auto Racing Politics, then what would allow the ALMS to race at tracks where Grand Am runs? Panoz owning Sebring, Road Atlanta and Mosport likely keeps GA off those circuits but I would say its more about ROI for those tracks and GA's record is not good in that area.

I don't see NJ and Virgina as target areas for the series. VA is NASCAR country for one. You could say the area Road Atlanta is located is the same but there's been a history of running there weather it was Camel GT, PSCR or ALMS. In that time frame there were no series running at VIR until after 2000.

Mount Tremblant is much like Mid Ohio in layout and seemingly has no hard braking areas. At least Mid-Ohio for its layout has 2 solid passing zones.

@Matt

Why would you move Lime Rock to late Aug and Sears Point to early July?

The reasons are clear for the Sears Point date, it would be a shared event with Indy Car with the race on Saturday afternoon.

Shared events going forward is the way to go for both series, especially of they are both on the same network.

I would move Lime Rock to late September.

If you've ever seen the region during that time, you'd understand.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by Matt

I would move Lime Rock to late September.

If you've ever seen the region during that time, you'd understand.

That's fine, I was just wondering why.

Won't fans have planned around the original date though? Its usually been around 4th of July weekend, give or take a week.

If they don't mind, by all means move it.

[Duff_44]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

That's fine, I was just wondering why.

Won't fans have planned around the original date though? Its usually been around 4th of July weekend, give or take a week.

If they don't mind, by all means move it.

I think they chose July because it slots midway between the Memorial Day sports car weekend (Grand-Am/Continental GT) and the Vintage Festival (Labor Day weekend). They also have a NASCAR East series weekend there as well, which seems to move all over the calendar depending on the year (it was in June this year, I think)

I only live about an hour away from LRP, so I can just buy a ticket and drive up when I feel like it, no planning required.

As for moving the date to late September, if IMSA is willing to move the PLM later to accommodate it, I'm all for it. Anyone who got soaked (Friday) and steamed (Saturday) this year knows what I'm talking about.

Off-topic self-promo alert: Pictures from LRP this year
http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p...20Lime%20Rock/

[NaBUru38]

dj4monie, if I understand correctly what I read, Alan Wilson designs driving tracks rather than race tracks. The large quantity of twisty sections and lack of long straights and hard braking zones seems to be aimed at amateur racing and track days. That's why professional racing, where spectators want constant overtakes, doesn't work at his circuits.

[chernaudi]

Too many medium speed corners, and not enough straights and braking zones to encourage overtaking, and defininetly not enough fast corners (a la, Mosport) to separate the men from the boys, and the good from the great.

But then again, Herman Tilke is a club racer--might explain some of his track as well as the fact that F1 cars seem to need long straights that end in 1st or 2nd gear corners to encourage overtaking. Opps, sorry, that doesn't seem to work well, either.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Too many medium speed corners, and not enough straights and braking zones to encourage overtaking, and defininetly not enough fast corners (a la, Mosport) to separate the men from the boys, and the good from the great.

But then again, Herman Tilke is a club racer--might explain some of his track as well as the fact that F1 cars seem to need long straights that end in 1st or 2nd gear corners to encourage overtaking. Opps, sorry, that doesn't seem to work well, either.

Seems to me old circuits work just fine. The one downside to Jackie Stewart's Safety Crusade is it started maiming old circuits or required new circuits to be built. Then Senna's death brought in a new wave of track modifications for the worst and whole host of Tilke stop-start circuits or modifications.

Circuit racing is a very much learn as you go sport. People though tires were a good idea. Then it was sand traps. Now its pavement with various levels of grip. I don't think I wanna see a bunch of tracks that look like Paul Ricard, but I think some lessons learned over the last decade can be put to good use and return some tracks to their old character.

This is why many Europeans like American circuits, the safety Nazi's haven't taken over. Dale Sr, death pushed NASCAR into the 21st Century on safety issues. Its a shame you have to loose legendary figures in sports before you do things.

Racing is a dangerous sport and every once in awhile we loose somebody, usually down at the Club/Amateur level but regardless lost of life is a shame and generally preventable. That's another reason to discourage home-built IHMO unless it can pass a thorough safety inspection.

All off topic....

Back on Topic -

I was running around Wikipedia and was looking at the proposed 2011 Indy Car Schedule. I say looking at this schedule is looking into the future and possible tie ups with ALMS.

It looks like Alex Tagliani is trying to get a race up in Quebec City and Randy B looks like he's down for the idea. It won't be until 2012, but that could be the 2nd Canadian round I think the ALMS needs and wants.

Other 2012 rumors include the return of Houston and Detroit, as I mentioned before. Its very possible the ALMS could up to up 14 races by 2012 and could peak at 16 if you add another Northeast race and finally return to the Pacific Northwest.

I say this is the route to take to diminish the impact of the ILMC. I am sure the ACO will counter with making a certain number of races mandatory to qualify for the ILMC.

That's not to say some ALMS teams won't do ILMC. I say its less likely ALMS GTE teams will do it because most of the OEM's have operations over in Europe to cover the majority of the rounds, especially if this is more about a manufacturer's title than driver's title (or teams). For LMP's a bit tricker, but it likely means you'll need to run satellite operations in Europe and ship your North American operations to Asia for that part of the series.

But a solid 12 races in 2011, 14 by 2012 and 16 by 2014 would make it more than worth while to just do the three ILMC races where its more bankable to do the races with solid attendance for each race.

Schedule Issues -

Baltimore is on Aug. 5-7, 2011 and would currently slot in between Lime Rock and Mid Ohio. Since there was a week break between Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio this year and last year, this seems like the perfect spot for it, putting the ALMS on TV back-to-back-to-back weekends which is always good and should not be an issue with the sprint nature of the races.

Oklahoma City GP is very likely for 2011, but where would it go? If Houston returns in 2012, you all of a sudden have a very large footprint in an area often ignored by big league motorsports. In 2008, Houston was canceled with the merger of CCWS and IRL. But in 2007 it was between Utah and Long Beach.

I think it would be smart to put Oklahoma on the back part of the season maybe the race before Petit. I don't think there shouldn't be a 3 week build up to Petit that's ridiculous. I'm not sure if Petit is a fly away or a ship away race for the European teams. If its ship away, then honestly you can cut the downtime to 2 weeks by having a race or two in Sept. If its a fly-away, then I say run all the way up to Petit with maybe 10 days off before Petit. This would allow the relocation of Lime Rock if desired.

If they are going to put 3-4 more races in in the next 2-4 years then you have to start thinking about where things go.

Finally on race lengths -

Seem popular place(s) to run extended event is Utah in July, though people were not complaining about the heat there as much as Lime Rock after it rained which likely made it worst with the humidity from the damp grass and trees that surround the circuit.

I don't know what the attendance issues are for Utah, as many have pointed out, its fairly close to SLC (30 mins), but maybe you need a serious battle at the front to bring the crowds in and I would guess better promotion? I don't see this being more than a 4 hour event though given the heat issues. I don't think running into dusk is a good idea because of the featureless nature of the track IMHO.

Road America 500 is popular with the fans and many complained about shortening the race. This is less of a concern if its a shared weekend with Indy Car. I think you can get most of the support races out of the way if you run into dusk as they have done before.

Besides those events and the historical nature of the races held over the years, you might be able to maybe do a 4 hour timed race at Sears Point, run to dusk format.

Agree?

[chernaudi]

Slightly off topic--since Watkins Glen added paved runoff areas and reduced the size of the gravel traps, the NASCAR races were better than in previous years due to less yellows and more racing room.

The only problem I have with tracks like Road America, Road Atlanta and Mosport is the GTC and LMPC cars-such cars don't have the performance for highspeed cornering like the LMP cars do. With all pro driver lineups in years past(or at least drivers professional enough to leave racing room for the faster cars), it wasn't much of a problem. However, with the LMPC and GTC having semi-pro driver crews (one pro and one gentleman/amature/semi-pro driver) and the performance descrepancies between just the cars, that could be a problem, namely at Mosport because the track is relatively narrow and has only one slow corner, which is Moss/turn 5. All other corners are taken at at least 85-100mph for a prototype, and all others are 130, 140, 150 and even 160mph corners(turns 2 and 4). Fortuneatly, Mosport has a nearly straight, flatout section of track that's nearly a mile long.

Back onto the main topic, I wonder if the ALMS would want to add many more street courses. St. Pete may be back on if the date works out, but what of the other proposed street circuits. Long Beach has a history of close races and few yellows. St Pete is a fast, relatively quick and in some areas wide layout, but there's been quite a few accidnets there in the past and lengthy or numerous full course yellows.

So would more street courses be a wise move for the ALMS knowing that sometimes they produce good racing or boring racing on a whishy-washy cycle, and often have as much caution as green flag racing?

[Purist]

It's going to be difficult to move Petit with it being part of the ILMC now.

As for Mont Tremblant, that track would work very well for the ALMS. St. Jovite has four slow corners: Turns 4, 5, 12, and 14. Of those Turns 4, 12, and 14 would make decent to good overtaking spots. In addition, you can make those brave passes at Turn 1. Turns 8 and 10 aren't terribly slow, but their slow enough compared to the approach speeds into them to provide good scope for passing.

Barber and Miller are Alan Wilson designs. However, Thunderbolt is a Bruce Hawkins design. He's done the tracks for Monticello Motor Club and Coyote Wellls Race Resort as well. Also, Hawkins is the designer who oversaw the refurbishment of VIR. Wilson's design at Valley Motorsports Park looks better than most of his other works, but it's hard to say how good it would be. I'm not certain who did the modifications at Lime Rock. Also, I'm not sure who did the designs for Spring Mountain and Pacific Northwest Motorsports Park. And having the longer race at Miller really only makes sense on the full course, which would just serve to emphasize the pitfalls of an Alan Wilson design, as well as the featureless nature of that track.

After looking at some of the races, I really don't think the old Denver street circuit was that bad.

Lime Rock might look nice with the changing leaves as a backdrop for the race, but there's a reason they change, and that would be because the temperatures are dropping. In September, particularly later in the month, it's quite conceivable that you would have near-freezing temperatures up there in Connecticut. You don't want Sears Point too late either, as the fog might start to become an issue.

After the first year, St. Petersburg was no worse than any of the others. As you said, Long Beach has been pretty good. Oklahoma City shouldn't throw up any big problems. I do wonder though, about the Baltimore circuit. Also, I'm not sure what the real potential is of having a good street circuit in Quebec City. If they do Houston again, they need to figure out a way to get rid of that chicane just past the pits. As for Detroit, they really should use the 1998-2001 configuration when they bring it back again.

Frankly, I think Miller should be dropped purely in terms of the track itself. As for attendance, it's hot in July, but besides that, the place doesn't have a lot of spectator capacity anyway, and with the relatively flat terrain, the claims about visibility over large swathes of the course are overblown. Those large areas of open, relatively unimproved run-off area don't help the spectator either. Also, Alan Wilson pretty much never has infield access or crossover bridges or tunnels at the tracks he designs from scratch.

With a fully developed ALMS calendar there should be 4-5 races before Le Mans. After Le Mans, keep at least one off weekend before Petit. Also, try not to go more than three weekends in a row. The way I see it, we could already be looking at four in a row in 2011 with Baltimore, Mid Ohio, Road America, and Mosport.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Purist

Lime Rock might look nice with the changing leaves as a backdrop for the race, but there's a reason they change, and that would be because the temperatures are dropping. In September, particularly later in the month, it's quite conceivable that you would have near-freezing temperatures up there in Connecticut. You don't want Sears Point too late either, as the fog might start to become an issue.

That's a rarity that it's 'near-freezing.' Average temps for the area during that time are between 50 and 60 degrees F. Wicked comfortable temps.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by dj4monie

Baltimore is on Aug. 5-7, 2011 and would currently slot in between Lime Rock and Mid Ohio.

The IndyCar will race at New hampshire on August 14. Mid-Ohio has been squeezed. The Baltimore date isn't fully confirmed.

Originally Posted by dj4monie

I don't think there shouldn't be a 3 week build up to Petit that's ridiculous. I'm not sure if Petit is a fly away or a ship away race for the European teams. If its ship away, then honestly you can cut the downtime to 2 weeks by having a race or two in Sept. If its a fly-away, then I say run all the way up to Petit with maybe 10 days off before Petit

Silverstone is a fyaway ILMC race for some North American teams, thus the ALMS break.

[Félix]

I have to agree with you guys that Tremblant is an amazing track. I was there earlier this summer and witnessed a race between the last ALMS R8, a 333SP, a Dyson 962 and Jacques Villeneuve in a McLaren F1 GTR97. Unfortunatly, the track is surrounded with very wealthy people who don't seem to like noise nor more than 3 events a year. Plus, the track owner leans more on the Grand-Am/ISC side.

What I would like to know is: Why did ALMS leave Trois-Rivières? The event comes with a sizable guaranteed crowd and a history that a series like the ALMS might want to tie up with. Friday night was the first ever night race there with Continental Cup Grand Sport cars and I have to say it got me thinking about how well ALMS would work there on a Saturday night...

As far as the Québec event goes, nothing more than wishful thinking and speculation on the front page of a newspaper of questionable quality this spring has come out thus far. The vague idea of a race there has been around for 10 years with at least 3 vaguely suggested track locations. It could happen, and if it does it would be a huge success because the city has a stunning track record with hugely popular touristic events recently.

[NaBUru38]

I wouldn't like a race a Quebec City. Montreal and Trois-Rivières have rich traditions.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

According to Autosport, Oklahoma ("likely " on Independence Day) "

Oklahoma in July? Crazy, the damn pavement melts sometimes it's so hot. This better be a evening race. The air temp during the day is 35C-40C with humidity.