If you had $30 million for CART...

[gttouring]

If you had $30 million to buy CART and all the assets right now, what would you do?
what changes would you implement, what deals, and well schedule as well.

I would start with the current package and allow for dallara and GForce chassis to be run- with or without the "IRL" powerplants screw Tony George, is he going to say I can't use a 3.5 litre GM motor with a rev limit of 14K? they can run their 10,5K limit on ovals in IRL.
Lola and Reynard can have independent Team development and they can use the chassis even as the 2005 season rolls in, if they'd like to. Stock Block V8's can be used (naturlaly aspirated)in atlantic- swift chassis, (as engines are leased from CART they are all tested and distributed ensuring power equality) by 2005 and on the deal would be
Lola chassis
dallara
Gforce
reynard (if you have one)
swift/Dallara F3000 chassis [i haven't decided]
engines range from the cosworth XFE Turbo revlimit at 12K- or any revision of
a natural aspirated 3.5 litre V8 RPM imit 14K
or a stock block V8 of 4 or 5 litres Rev limit at 13 K (these are not leased but team developed- Engine managment computers and software is leased)
the ignition and Engine management is given out per engine as well, with 5 different engine fuel maps and the associated rev limits. these can be altered during the weekend but only one engine all weekend anyway.

front engine cars are a GO- 100kilo weight advantage.

Tracks-(not nescessarily in this order)
Road America
MidOhio
Long BEach
Fontana
Michigan
Milwaukee
Sebring
VIR
Road Atlanta (i would donate 10 million as the CART sale price was 15- this is to bring it up to par)
Lime Rock park
Laguna Seca
Surfer's Paradise
Korea-
Fiji Japan
Monterey
Mexico City
Argentina
Emmerson Fitipaldi Speedway in Rio Brasil
if we could I would add the Laustizring
and Brands Gp circuit,

20 events 5 ovals- ditched alot of street courses for the what Champcars is really about.

if it works out that Tony George has a problem with my allowing for 'IRL' type equipment to run with us, the Lola, Reynard, Swift or dallaraf3000 and Front engine cars (Thorbys i hope) would suffice.

just a rough sketch of what i think I would do -revisions to come!
This was I hope to encourage a new set of Engineers and thoughtful people to come into the mix and have the tiny Swift cars with really big champ car wheels run with the old teams using the big bad ass Reynard and Lola's and plenty new things to see.

[Dov]

Thanks gt for not even keeping at least 1 out of the 3 Canadian races. I can understand leaving Vancouver and Toronto (even though its my home race) off the schedule, but how could you leave Montreal off.....yes it's a flat road course, but most people would agree that it is one of the gems! Btw, don't forget how much Canada has supported CART throughout the years.....even during the years that ChampCars has struggled!!!

[gttouring]

OOPs i didn't mention the Canadian Triumverate of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal MUST be on the calender always, as it has no real budget travel expense other than truck fuel.
Like wise i missed the best new street course of St.Petes which is on and off again problems. Korea and Japan are the ones in question depending on Manufacturers.
so it is a 23-24 race calender yeouch!
sorry I didn't mention the permanents- but as I said Revisions coming.
Apologies my canadian friends- the calender will always have vancouver, montreal and toronto

[gttouring]

Revisions!!!!! a 20 race calender to underscore what was really important and the questionable 4 extra races 2 in europe and 2 in East Asia (K+J)

Motreal
Toronto
Vancouver
Road America
MidOhio
Long BEach
Fontana
Michigan
Milwaukee
St.Pete's
Sebring
VIR
Road Atlanta (i would donate 10 million as the CART sale price was 15- this is to bring it up to par)
Lime Rock park
Laguna Seca
Surfer's Paradise
Monterey
Mexico City
Argentina
Emmerson Fitipaldi Speedway in Rio, Brasil


if we could I would add the Laustizring
and Brands Gp circuit, Korea-
Fiji Japan

[Dov]

Now that's a good looking schedule! I know what you're saying gt, if it was possible, the scedule would have at least 25-30 races on it! All the top courses in North America (U.S./Canada/Mexico), South America, Europe and the Pacific countries.

North America
St. Pete
Long Beach
Cleveland
Road America
Mid-Ohio
Laguna Seca
Portland
Road Atlanta
Michigan
Fontana
Milwaukee
Toronto
Vancouver
Montreal
Monterey (Mexico)
Mexico City

South America
Brazil...a very nice road course!

Europe
Estoril
Brands Hatch (long course)
Spa Fracorchamps (in my dreams)

Pacific Region
Surfer's Paradise
Japan...Suzuka if possible
Korea

That's 23 races....sounds good to me! I'm all for standing starts and the push to pass button as long as the cars have no traction or launch control!!!

[Fogelhund]

My short and sweet schedule. Growth comes after the series stablilizes. $30mil isn't enough to subsidize more then 12 races or so as is.

Long Beach
Road America
Laguna Seca
Michigan
Fontana
Milwaukee
Toronto
Montreal
Mexico City
Brazil

[gttouring]

Of course the purchase price of CART on .56 a share was about 15 million- but if you can buy the assets for 3 million you still have the remaining 27 to support the races, so part of the purchase is also you taking on responsibility for the rules and regs package? so good schedules but what about the cars?
I owuldn't mind an evolution of the Cosworth XFE in 05 and maybe some more builders, but we can go independent as well and let tuners build some and test to compare.
I like using the stock block shelf turbo idea and have a couple of combinations of course we need manufacturer approvals.

[suzmac]

Dov...thanks for including Cleveland in your race schedule...seems no one else has...thanks alot...that's my hometown!! You can't take my Patrick away from me!! LOL I suppose I could go to Mid Ohio but Cleveland is much closer!!

[sgjb]

Well Gttouring,

Quite interesting but I must say if you only had 30 million and you did everything you have written. I would have to say you would be bankrupt quicker than current boys.

Fun to speculate though. I wouldn't touch cart unless I had a few hundred million. The blew some 80 million this year!

[Dov]

Originally posted by suzmac
Dov...thanks for including Cleveland in your race schedule...seems no one else has...thanks alot...that's my hometown!! You can't take my Patrick away from me!! LOL I suppose I could go to Mid Ohio but Cleveland is much closer!!

Welcome to 10/TENTHS, suzmac! Trust me when I say this, almost 100% of CART fans around the world want to see Cleveland on the schedule....it always produces great races...I personally think it's a "classic" race!

[ascarracinguk]

id have the current chassis....but get the lola from a couple of years back...that horrible nose on the new one....let in gforce, dallara, swift, van deiman

have 2.85 turbo engines ....that can be altered by the driver...eg overtaking...fuel strategy

no pit windows

less rules regarding chassis etc...more rules involving test bans and money saving....eg have a price cap on how much a team can spend in a year

have 9 ovals and 11 road/street courses

LB
st pete
toronto
surfers
brands gp
elkhart
cleveland
road america
mid ohio
mexico city
spa
rockingham
lautiz
calli
michigan
texas
japan
milwalki
indy

have indy and LB as the two main events...both holding the same creditation

[BootsOntheSide]

We can't have Indy, not for love nor money.

For now,s ticking with teh spec engiens and current chassis is the right move. Fpr the future I'd lvoe to se eturbos, but only if we can guarantee manufacturer investment.

I'd go for a small schedule for now, maybe 14-16 races:

St Pete's
Milwaukee
Michigan
Montreal
Vancouver
Long Beach
Chicago
Mexico City
Watkins Glen
Brands
Lausitz
Road America
Mid-Ohio
Texas
Surfer's
Laguna Seca

[indycool]

A small schedule is necessary to reform the series. Teams right now don't have the "few hundred million" or sponsorship to support a big schedule. There also isn't enough venues making money to support the higher sanction fees OWRS would need to remain solvent. Pook just proved both of thise things. The question remains: Would Kalkhoven spend $80 million to have a series, which was what was needed in '03? Time will tell.

[Dov]

Actually I've been sitting on the fence with this "push to pass" button idea. I really can't make up my mind on this one.....when I first heard about it I was dead set against it! My first thoughts were they (CART) have to leave it up to the drivers to make the pass and with no TC it was working, especially during the second half of the season. On the other hand if it creates more passing and more excitement for the fans, then what's really all that bad about the idea!? But now I'm leaning toward my original feelings on the idea.....leave it up to the driver!!!

As for the engines, I like the current package we have, but I would like to turn up the rpm's to 14,000-14,500....the cars are just as fast as always (even without TC), but the ChampCars sound not to far off from the Toyota Atlantic cars.....I want to get back (as close as possible) to the old sound the ChampCars used to have. The big question is...can Ford raise the rpm's without sacrificing the reliability? I'd also like to see 2 to 3 engine manufacturers join CART/OWRS in a few years when hopefully the ship has been turned around. Stick with the Bridgestones, they are fantastic!

For you guys in this thread who are pushing for more chassis to join the series, like gforce, dallara, swift, and van deiman...what are the advantages or disadvantages of this happening?

[climb]

Interesting thread GT.
Certainly who takes CART over, will have to input some radical changes: continuing on previous stabdards will bring to same results.

The only problem is, I'm not sure that 30 million be enough...

[gttouring]

more chassis may bring more manufacturers over period- also it would be great for competition and variety, and possibly edging out that upsart IRL- really by allowing al the chassis the IRL teams may forego an Oval only schedule and only race at selected IRL events, hence handing the reigns back to Champcars- and the IRL may get absorbed into CART rather than the opposite. The disadvantage is multiple failures per race and one car just crushing the opposition in a walk away. Using Swift and van Deiman (new big chassis or small current ones?) can be cheaper if they pilfer the atlantics- the crazy variety and smal versus big cars may be like GP stuff from the late 60's and 70's- how good was that racing?
and as cleavland is such a great race it should be on the schedule in leu of MidO? (Revision #2) I want to make it the road course race series of reknown,2 events in ohio need to be spread out better in dates good that cleavland can do night races. maybe the season needs to be 28 races long racing every week and saturday NIGHTS where they can so as not to interfere with big league stuff like NASCAR (face it we can't take them on in a heads up fight) and F1, we want to compliment road racing right now not conflict it.

and 30 million- we aren't funding the teams this year, just race dates and hiring local promotion companies for each event- let the people who live there and love the races promote it their way for their folks.

[Tim Northcutt]

One chassis maker not mentioned here...and they have one ready to produce...

Dome...

They wanted desperately to be the 3rd IRL chassis, but Michael Kranefuss got the nod, only to have the MK Falcon never get off the ground....

Dome apparently has continued their talks with the IRL and has an open-wheel champ car chassis ready to go...

Bring them in...Please...

[indycool]

gttouring, I agree that local promotion is going to be the best at those sites, as CART did it with its self-promoted events in '03. But in self-promotion, CART still takes the financial risk and lost $9.5 million in doing it in '03.

[gttouring]

OK well asset sales of 3million and 9.5 say 10 million for promotions
13 milllion spent- that stilll leaves 17 million in our pockets- my fee for organizing and being 'in charge'- eh I'll take 50grand no biggie-afterall 2005 is gonna be huge!
so what can we do with the 17 million left? and with Dome on the list
we have Lola, Dallara, GForce, Dome, Swift, Van Deiman, Reynard- Thorby's (oh that would be cool)
Cosworth XFE's
3.5 litre NA motors of undisclosed origins
revs for the natural motor 2000 over the turbo motors
so if its 14K for the Cossie- it 16K for the NaturalAspirated.
Stock blocks of proprietary design (bench tested by my lab ofcourse to ensure good power outputs from all engines)
and we'll stick with bridgstones-
STARMAZDA is support(within the current atlantics) as atlantic teams are encouraged to join via their chassis and our tires and their stock blocks.
and Trans-Am will follow as always giving GT1 from SCCA a 200lbs. weight gift as encouragement.
what are we missing now?
oh and MotoRock- Gentilozzi can play with that if he wants, his money i guess

[indycool]

gttouring, that was something like $20 million in expenses and $10.5 million in revenues for only six races.

[Dov]

Originally posted by indycool
gttouring, that was something like $20 million in expenses and $10.5 million in revenues for only six races.

You always have to ruin are fun, don't you, indycool...

[gttouring]

what did the 20 million include? supporting how many teams?
that is soo much. I suppose this brings up the obvious- what Jackass was in charge of this stuff, really if you wanted to bankrupt the series you could've really made the promotions better.
Anybody in chicago before the Chicago MotorSpeedway race the one mile oval not the 1.5 joliet-" i wanna be in chicago oval."
That was promotion- a good 6 months before the race in february or so almost everycity bus and so many billboards and newspaper ads had the Target champcar in it, the first race that year had 70,000 people attend- how they said this race was a flop i don't know, it seemed pretty good from the stands and the infield, and the super wide track, wow- why did they say it stunk? why was it cancelled again?
(sidenote the second race there they filmed the Motegi Race Scenes for "driven" and sylvester stallone was walking about with like 6 bodyguards, and the cars they used early in the day were tubeframe V8 cars for filming- pretty funny really, and crew members from various teams had to wear the Movie appropriate firesuits for filming the pit sequences (alot was done before and after the actual race) and they had a 'grandstand' of like 50 people and a rotating group of asians just to make it look like a packed house at motegi they even had the little face symbol for the track on banner evrywhere- wierd)

[indycool]

Didn't mean to, Dov.

Those numbers weren't team support. Expenses include paying the promotion company, advertising, promotion, marketing, printing tickets, hospitality expenses, catering expenses, concession expenses, staffing the event, paying the purse, putting up lights at Cleveland ($890,000), buying Raceworks in Miami, insurance, printing a souvenir program, etc. In the cases of Portland, Cleveland and Miami, they include agreements for various city services. In the cases of Cleveland and Miami, they include erecting grandstands and barriers and fencing.

Revenues include ticket sales, hospitality sales, billboard sales and concession sales, maybe parking sales.

[Tim Northcutt]

I think I'd spend my $30 million on an ALMS "Super Team" with three state-of-the-art LMP1 prototypes....

Money better spent on a top-flight road racing program than trying to run a Series when $30 million won't be enough to do it....

But I do hope that Forsythe, Gentilozzi and Kalkhoven do succeed....if they don't, there will be a huge void in my summers...and in open-wheeled racing here in North America

[f1manoz]

I would give no options to the Crapwagon circus. And FTG at the same time!

Lola and Reynard would remain as the suppliers of chassis. I would look around for other suppliers, but they are not to supply said Crapwagon circus.

Engines would remain as they are. The turbo 2.6 litre is a wonderful engine and has been the backbone of the series for years. Why change a good thing.

No pit-windows but somehow implement design and/or rule that doesn't run races into economy runs.

No testing during the season.

Technical garbage kept to a minimum - for example, no traction control. However, there will be a boost button to help overtaking.

Calendar:

North America

Montreal
Toronto
Long Beach
Road America
Milwaukee
Cleveland
Miami (involves track re-design)
Laguna (but crowds have to improve)
Mexico City
Monterrey (track redesign)

Overseas

South Korea
Australia
Brazil (Jacarapagua would be a good option)

Once series is financially stable, keep the option open for a European swing. Rounds in Germany (Lausitz), England (Rockingham or Brands (full circuit) and Belgium (Spa) would suffice.