[WEC] WEC 2019/20 season

[Mike E]

Different race lengths!

4 Hours of Silverstone
6 Hours of Fuji
4 Hours of Shanghai
8 Hours of Bahrain (oh god)
6 Hours of Sao Paulo
1000 Miles of Sebring
6 Hours of Spa
24 Hours of Le Mans

Probably deserves a new thread, I suppose.

[Akrapovic]

Shorten Silverstone and add to Bahrain! That's what the fans want!

At least they're trying...

[canaglia]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Different race lengths!

4 Hours of Silverstone
6 Hours of Fuji
4 Hours of Shanghai
8 Hours of Bahrain (oh god)
6 Hours of Sao Paulo
1000 Miles of Sebring
6 Hours of Spa
24 Hours of Le Mans

Probably deserves a new thread, I suppose.

A heavily revised 2012 season calendar.

[Gingers4Justice]

Yeah, when I completed that survey, a shortened Silverstone race and an 8 hour race in Bahrain was exactly what I had in mind.

[Giba]

Can't see this calendar going down well, the right ingredients but in the wrong quantities

[XtC24]

I like it. Definately much better than the 'Superseason'.
Apart from the race lenghts and lack of say 1000 km races.

But there are actual winter races plus one of them is Interlagos.
Good direction.

[canaglia]

It's quite meaningless.... just set 4h or 6h for all "sprint" races.

[canaglia]

BTW brazil race just a week after daytona 24h

[Articus]

should have been the 45 minutes of Shanghai and the half hour of Bahrain let alone 8 hours...

I bet these "fans" also voted to shorten Le Mans...

Sebring and Interlagos are welcome additions.

[gregc]

Originally Posted by canaglia

4 Hours of Silverstone
8 Hours of Bahrain (oh god)

Swap those durations around and I'd be happy, but only a 4 hour race at Silverstone - very disappointing to say the least. In fact any race dropping down to 4 hours is wrong to me, 6 should be the minimum.

Best make the most of this weekend I guess...

[JoeW04]

Brilliant, a dozen people and a few camels can enjoy an 8 hour race and Silverstone and gets reduced to a 4 hour race, wonderful work WEC

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by canaglia

It's quite meaningless.... just set 4h or 6h for all "sprint" races.

The fans asked for varied lengths, to be fair. Just...this isn't what they had in mind.

WEC seems absolutely determined to minimise or drop the Silverstone race, despite fan surveys and feedback.

[Juntos]

By reading ACO press release I got to the conclusion that there is an enormous WEC fanbase in Bahrain!



Please do not BS us. We are not stupid.

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

The fans asked for varied lengths, to be fair. Just...this isn't what they had in mind.

WEC seems absolutely determined to minimise or drop the Silverstone race, despite fan surveys and feedback.

I think it has a lot to do with the huge paddock of both ELMS and WEC and the dreadful infrastructure of Silverstone.

8 hours of Bahrain don't bother me at all, it's a very good track and the racing is always good.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

I think it has a lot to do with the huge paddock of both ELMS and WEC and the dreadful infrastructure of Silverstone.

8 hours of Bahrain don't bother me at all, it's a very good track and the racing is always good.

2 paddocks in use for ELMS and WEC. Reducing the race from 6 to 4 doesn't really change much in that regard.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by canaglia

BTW brazil race just a week after daytona 24h

And another Petit-Fuji clash + Sao Paolo is same weekend as Bathurst 12H.

Brilliant job by the WEC - as always!

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Bathurst, people care about that? Come on, why should WEC consider a local GT event on the other side of the world?

And it's a provisional calendar, if Petit Le Mans moves to the slot they've always had there is no clash.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

Bathurst, people care about that? Come on, why should WEC consider a local GT event on the other side of the world?

And it's a provisional calendar, if Petit Le Mans moves to the slot they've always had there is no clash.

Because the Bathurst 12hr will be a vastly more watched and attended race than Brazil. Also, they should consider it for the health of sportscar racing across the globe, not to mention driver commitments.

PLM, with one exception, has been run over three weekends (last Sat. in September, first or second Saturday in October) so there is no traditional weekend. However, the first time Fuji and PLM clashed, IMSA did move the date and then the ACO moved the date of Fuji to clash again. Screw 'em.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Juntos

By reading ACO press release I got to the conclusion that there is an enormous WEC fanbase in Bahrain!



Please do not BS us. We are not stupid.

"Fans":

[EffectiveSprinkles]

Originally Posted by JHamilton

Because the Bathurst 12hr will be a vastly more watched and attended race than Brazil.

Yeah, no.

Screw 'em.

Now it makes sense.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

Yeah, no.


Now it makes sense.

You clearly know nothing about the Bathurst 12 hour and have no idea what you're talking about.

Am I upset about the WEC's decisions? Yes. They continually make poor choices that hurt the sport in favor of short term gain.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by EffectiveSprinkles

Bathurst, people care about that? Come on, why should WEC consider a local GT event on the other side of the world?

And it's a provisional calendar, if Petit Le Mans moves to the slot they've always had there is no clash.

It's not a "local" GT event. It's part of the SRO World Challenge. It has factory entries with factory drivers, some of which double duty in WEC.

You apparently haven't even seen the race, and have no idea what it is.

[TF110]

I know Bathurst is really popular but in terms of eyes-on, Brazil's population far outweighs Australia's. All of Australia has ~24 million people. Sao Paulo alone has half that with 12 million, just in the area near Interlagos, and the race takes place during a festival period. You can't be serious in thinking that race must be avoided at all costs by the WEC. It'd be nice but there's only so many weekends in the year. According to DSC there's wiggle room for a date change for Bathurst too. All is not lost. Silverstone dropping to 4 hours is a head-scratcher, but the reasons listed were the attendees and teams trying to leave the circuit. Not sure how true that is. Bahrain I could do without 8hrs of, but they seemingly pay the WEC so if more money comes from them I guess it's worth it since it helps float the series?

[Adam43]

Variable race lengths. Hurrah, just what I wanted. A good step.

[Akrapovic]

I don't think anyone thinks Bathurst should be avoided at all costs, but it is worth trying to avoid certainly. A week after Daytona doesn't bother me though. The amount of teams doing double duty is already dropping and will drop further. Drivers will do double duty between a week, so that's fine - and as you said, only so many weekends. The Petit clash again though is careless. If it was one clash, you say well fine, but WEC seems to make a habit of it.

I agree with your Silverstone reasoning. That's...nonsense. If Bahrain wanted 8 hours then fine, there's no harm in it. But it does feel like someone has a beef with Silverstone. It was dropped for weird reasons, then readded (showing there wasn't really a problem with having it) after backlash, and now it's one of the first to get a length cut. The fan survey said they want Silverstone, and the fan survey rated 4 hour lengths as a lot less popular. It's just...weird. Feels like there's an odd conflict we don't know about. I think when people voted for different race lengths, this isn't quite what they had in mind lol.

It's a decent calendar, it just has weird little bits where it's odd.