2011 calendar

[Jonerz]

Amen mountainstar. Texas 2000 was too hot at night! TMS is a little further south. A little...

Chris

[Purist]

DFW is four hours south of OKC/Moore/Norman on I-35.

Baltimore has had a bit of a reconfiguration (have not seen a diagram yet), and is now scheduled for September 2-4 (Labor Day Weekend).

Oklahoma City is a difficult one to place. Really, to virtually ensure cooler temperatures, you need it either before Sebring or after Baltimore, as things stand now. May can be pretty warm already, plus that puts it dead center in tornado season.

[HORNDAWG]

OKC should be slotted in between Sebring and Long Beach, IMO.



L.P.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

OKC should be slotted in between Sebring and Long Beach, IMO.

L.P.

The race order in 2007 -

1. Sebring
2. St Pete
3. Long Beach
4. Houston

If you put Oklahoma in Houston's place, that would be fine. But if you run Houston again with the ALMS, you're largely going to have to deal with extreme in-car temperatures. But at either event you can do a late afternoon into dusk start which is fairly rare.

Here's an idea? The Singapore GP is at night and very well lit. Why can't we do a late summer races at night or start at dusk? F1 cars don't have lights, but all ALMS cars do, it doesn't need much lighting. Plus the glow of the brakes, flames out of the exhaust...

I mentioned "3 Rivers" already and with its rich racing history that is the preferable location (IMHO) for a 2nd Canadian event. Not sure why the ALMS never went back. Great crowd, solid history, decent track, etc, etc.

Why can't we have a 3rd Canadian event? Its not like Canada is overrun with international competition. Indy Car runs two races there and at one point I believe ran 3 times in Canada going back to the original CART series.

Quebec City is the brainchild of 'Tags and his car owner. I didn't make it up and I heard that rumors a few months back, its just been listed on Wikipedia and I believe the ALMS needs a 2nd Canadian event. I just thought it made sense because I really do believe series will largely be linked together from here on out.

If the 2011 schedule shakes out much I believe it will, these tracks will be shared with Indy Car -

• St Petersburg
• Long Beach
• Oklahoma
• Mid Ohio
• Road America
• Sears Point
• Baltimore

So 7 out of 12 races in 2011, maybe 9 out of 14 events in 2012. Making a link up with Versus even more sensible.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Matt

Indycar at Sandown would be awesome.

They are only allowed something like 5 Loud days a year and not save for open wheel cars above F3 so forget that one.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Purist

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.

.

Miller has a covered grandstand on the front straight which is nice enough and has some of the nicest facilities of any track.

Elevation change, I have no idea what people are talking about when they call Miller flat. I've done hundreds, thousands of laps at Miller it's various track configs and I think it has heaps of elevation changes.

[HORNDAWG]

Sebring - mid March
OKC - first of April
LB - mid April
Laguna - first of may
Miller - mid May

Le Mans

Sears Point - July 4ish
LRP- late July 20ish
Mid-O first of Aug
Road Am - mid Aug
Mosport - end of Aug
Baltimore - first of Sept
Petit - mid/late Sept


There you go Anthony, my choice.



L.P.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

They are only allowed something like 5 Loud days a year and not save for open wheel cars above F3 so forget that one.

Don't care, would still be awesome.

It's plenty safe. If Simon Wills can roll over multiple times on the fastest part of the track and walk away without a scratch, the sports car guys will be fine.

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Sebring - mid March
OKC - first of April
LB - mid April
Laguna - first of may
Miller - mid May

Le Mans

Sears Point - July 4ish
LRP- late July 20ish
Mid-O first of Aug
Road Am - mid Aug
Mosport - end of Aug
Baltimore - first of Sept
Petit - mid/late Sept


There you go Anthony, my choice.



L.P.

So your saying Indy Car will move its date? I think Smith wants the revenue from two solid days of fan turnout. There is almost nobody at Sears Point for Cup weekend until Sunday. Less than 5,000 for qualifying and about that many staying for the K&N series race.

I believe ALMS on Saturday and Indy Car on Sunday would bring in at least 60,000 combined if not more and I think that's a conservative estimate.

ALMS alone I think historically is around 30,000 max, maybe less there.

Also no return to St. Petersburg? I like that race. There's no reason not to return. The excuses they gave for not going this year were weak at best. I don't see a reason not to return.

I also think Utah will say post-Le Mans.

I don't think putting Oklahoma in Houston's place for the time being is a bad idea. Putting it before Long Beach effectively removes St. Pete from the schedule. Its also on Indy Car's schedule until 2013 and they are looking for an extension. The proposed 2011 schedule the date is TBA, so they could move it.

Both Oklahoma and Houston don't have long historical links, so date is less important. The St Pete event goes back to 1985...

[HORNDAWG]

Baltimore street course layout. Here






L.P.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Baltimore street course layout. Here






L.P.

Someone must have been watching too many Long Beach GP videos from before '83... in terms of finish line and pit lane locations.

[Purist]

Not really.

Mid Ohio doesn't have the big stuff start by the pits, and neither did the 1998-2001 Houston street circuit. Minneapolis (1996-98) didn't have the pits along the start/finish straight. There was, of course, Long beach as you mentioned.

The king of all this though, had to be Columbus, Ohio (1985-88). That street circuit had the division of laps on Front St. between Turns 11 and 1. However, the start was on the run between Turns 3 and 4. The finish was on the short straight between Turns 10 and 11. And the pits, the pits left and rejoined the track on the outside of Turn 7, with a hairpin as tight as Macau's in the middle of pit lane.

MS, Miller has no more difference between its highest and lowest points than does Barber, and the full circuit is almost twice as long. Also, from an outside vantage, the only place you can really see the track's own elevation changes is in "the Attitudes". And since the area is relatively featureless, you have very few points of reference to bring out what elevation changes there are.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Purist

MS, Miller has no more difference between its highest and lowest points than does Barber, and the full circuit is almost twice as long. Also, from an outside vantage, the only place you can really see the track's own elevation changes is in "the Attitudes". And since the area is relatively featureless, you have very few points of reference to bring out what elevation changes there are.

Haven't been to Barber yet so it doesn't really matter. For me as a driver Miller has plenty of change, more than many tracks around the world I have been too, many flat as a pancake.

[Purist]

I certainly appreciate that, as a driver, you pick up a lot more than we can from the outside, but then again, that right there is the problem. We can't discern the more subtle elevation changes, either with external TV views, or onboard cameras.

That being said, Miller still does not have that much elevation change for its length. it does not have a configuration that lends itself well to good sportscar racing, and the surroundings are not particularly inviting. Sebring and Portland are flatter, but put on better races. And Portland has the added advantage of more appealing and shade-providing surroundings in its parkland setting.

For reference, Barber has an 80ft difference between its highest and lowest points. The number I'm remembering for Miller is 60ft. Watkins Glen is at least 110ft. VIR has a vertical difference of 130ft. I'm not certain on an exact figure for Lime Rock, but it is definitely somewhere in that sort of range. Road Atlanta is a bit more still: probably 150-180ft difference. I've heard a couple of figures for Laguna Seca, so that track falls in at 183-189ft change between maximum and minimum elevations At Road America, the front straight itself has a climb of 175ft, plus there's the ascent out of Kettle Bottoms after Canada Corner, which adds another 50-60ft (225-235ft total). And Mosport Park has a similar, or perhaps slightly greater, elevation change than that.

[Purist]

Now then, as to the specific topic at hand, you either have to move Sears Point earlier or later for a combined event. Between Mid Ohio, Road America, Mosport Park, and Baltimore, there isn't really anywhere to put it.

And yes, I'm not quite as excited as I'd like to be about Oklahoma City, if it's going to be held in July. Depending on which races go ahead, and whether the PLM build-up is reduced a bit, we could well be looking at 7 races in around 9 weeks once the series picks back up after Le Mans.

[Cuttlefish]

Originally Posted by Purist

I've heard a couple of figures for Laguna Seca, so that track falls in at 183-189ft change between maximum and minimum elevations

I think you're underestimating the elevation change at Laguna. Having just returned from the Historics, I can say it's quite a bit more than that. Wikipedia reports that it's a 300 ft elevation change.

[HORNDAWG]

Sounds as if we might get the schedule as soon as this weekend.






L.P.

[TWK]

Originally Posted by Cuttlefish

I think you're underestimating the elevation change at Laguna. Having just returned from the Historics, I can say it's quite a bit more than that. Wikipedia reports that it's a 300 ft elevation change.

Only if you add together the ups and downs. Highest point is 929 feet, lowest 749.

[dxk1]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Baltimore street course layout. Here
L.P.

If they will be running on Russell and Pratt Streets they better get the road crews out there starting tomorrow as those are two of the worst streets anywhere in the US. The potholes are legendary and can swallow up a garbage truck.

DK

[Purist]

Road works started for the course in June.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Purist

Road works started for the course in June.

I think I'll be there in around six weeks so I'll have a peek-a-boo and see what progress they have made.

[HORNDAWG]

Miller gone. Laguna back to the penultimate round. July 3rd TBD. September 3rd TBA. So expanded to 10 rounds for 2011.

ALMS


2011 AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES PRESENTED BY TEQUILA PATRÓN
February 9-10, Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Fla.
Winter Test (Wednesday-Thursday)
March 19, Sebring International Raceway – Sebring, Fla. (Saturday)
April 16, Long Beach Street Circuit – Long Beach, Calif. (Saturday)
July 3, TBD (Sunday)
July 9, Lime Rock Park – Lakeville, Conn. (Saturday)
July 31, Mosport International Raceway – Bowmanville, Ontario (Sunday)
August 6, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – Lexington, Ohio (Saturday)
August 21, Road America – Elkhart Lake, Wis. (Sunday)
September 3, TBA (Saturday)
September 17, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca – Monterey, Calif. (Saturday)
October 15, Road Atlanta – Braselton, Ga. (Saturday)








L.P.

[Jonerz]

July 3rd is probably going to be Miller and September 3rd is Baltimore I imagine.

Unless the ALMS shares Watkins Glen with the IndyCars on Independence Day weekend, which would be a dream (and virtually impossible - although ISC is technically a separate entity from NASCAR, and as a publicly traded company owes it to its shareholders to put the best product forward and therefore make money for their shareholders) ... I know I'm dreaming, and sensible Chris says July 3rd will be a six hour at Miller with fireworks and Independence Day party. But maybe that is Oklahoma's date.

Chris

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Jonerz

July 3rd is probably going to be Miller and September 3rd is Baltimore I imagine.

I really doubt Miller will be there.
"In addition, two new, high-profile venues are expected to be confirmed shortly for next season."

Good to see Lime Rock there after all, but I feel that the calendar is still rather unbalanced. Only two races on spring...

[Stefvh]

And we don't have the lengths