2017 Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown(IMSA @ CoTA) - May 05-07

[Matt]

All 4 classes of the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship take to the United States' only FIA Grade 1 circuit for a 2hr40min contest. However, this time on their own standalone weekend in May, as opposed to pairing up with the FIA World Endurance Championship in September, as has been since 2014.

Other IMSA sanctioned series competing over the weekend are the Continental Tire Sports Car Championship, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA By Yokohama, and the Lamborghini Super Trofeo.

Broadcast Schedule for this race is super crap if you live in the US, with the race broadcast delayed til 7P Eastern. The race itself will run from 2:25p-5:15p Eastern.

Essentials:

IMSA Radio

Entry List for WSC(40 cars)

Entry List for CTSCC(33 cars)

Entry List for GT3 Cup(23 cars)

Entry List for Lamborghini Super Trofeo(23 cars)

Event Schedule(at bottom of page)

Austin, TX Weekend Weather

Track Layout:

Track Graphics c/o RacingCircuits.info

Last Years Race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTuVLlfNTug

Post will be updated with Spotter Guide when it becomes available.

[fieldodreams79]

What a horrendous name!

However, thank you Advanced...... Auto parts ow! For sponsoring an IMSA event.

[Matt]

Hey, at least we've got race title sponsors.

[jjvincent]

IMSA just picked the worst weekend to do it. They are up against the Cine Las Americas International Film Festival and the Pecan Street Spring Arts Festival. Good luck getting anyone to show up that weekend. It would be better to pick something like the Longhorns football home season opener. Just so you all know, they hate football in Texas and will look for any reason to avoid it at all costs.

For all of you Museum fans, the WEC will be the night before the Austin Museum Day. What better way to see the best in sportscar racing and finish it off with a museum trip.

As for PWC, it's free yoga day in Austin on the Monday after the race plus there's a Tri that same day.

[Matt]

no one cares john.

[FLGTFAN]

I think the crowd will be so large, that it will look like a WEC race!

[chernaudi]

Face it, fans don't like COTA, because of crappy management and scheduling, and road racing is a niche sport in the US. Unless one's a diehard sportscar fan, don't expect a lot of people to show up unless it's F1 or NASCAR. Which is the nature of motorsports in NA and most of the world, anyways outside of Le Mans for the road racing crowd.

[Maelochs]

CotA should build a football field in the infield. Any high-school game in Texas gets more fans than any race. So .. sell package-deal tickets. No football without a race, sorry.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Face it, fans don't like COTA, because of crappy management and scheduling, and road racing is a niche sport in the US. Unless one's a diehard sportscar fan, don't expect a lot of people to show up unless it's F1 or NASCAR. Which is the nature of motorsports in NA and most of the world, anyways outside of Le Mans for the road racing crowd.

Speak for yourself, more than a few people actually make their way to a race track occasionally. Just because it's not the top attended even it must be crap? Not everyone will like everything, just glad we still have racing.

[chernaudi]

Just be glad that COTA's still in business with some of the stuff that Epstein's pulled. And neither IMSA or the WEC will bring in crowds, because, as mentioned, road racing is a niche sport, while football is king in Texas. Not to mention that every road race at COTA is scheduled head to head with cultural events in the Austin area.

[Matt]

IMSA will have a larger crowd than WEC.

Bet.

[FLGTFAN]

OK, I'll take the bet. You're on. Evidence will be screenshots of all the "fans".

[Matt]

Also bet that WEC will claim they got 55,000 over the weekend, as their standard race-to-race number in pressers.

[chernaudi]

Even in the combined weekends, attendance for either race wasn't great. Both races were on a Saturday, in September in TX. That's football season, and even when it's hotter than hell, most people in the Austin area would rather do something else than watch sportscar race. That's IMSA or the WEC. I'd bet that most people in Austin don't care about either.

I know that IMSA trying to move to race to May is supposed to have the benefit of cooler weather, and no football season. But that's no guarantee for success. It's still spring, and Austin is a big cultural city. I wonder how PWC did when they had spring races at COTA? Probably no better than the WEC did in Sept. Not to mention that it's spring, and spring in TX often means rain, storms, and the occasional tornado. Dealing with the rain, much in various parts of the country right now, is like being drunk and blindfolded, and throwing darts.

And it's not like the Austin area is a road racing Mecca. Or motorsports in general. Only thing that COTA has going for it is F1 and it's the only active FIA Grade 1 track in the US. Granted, the latter is more of a WEC issue (their fetish for Grade 1 facilities and infrastructure outside of Le Mans), but it's either COTA or Indy GP for Grade 1 tracks for IMSA or the WEC.

Personally, I'd like to see IMSA return to Mid-Ohio or return the prototypes to VIR, and the WEC give up on COTA and bite the bullet and run Road America (no too far away from either Milwaukee or Chicago), Road Atlanta, or Sebring. Though all of that on all fronts right now is a pipe dream.

[Akrapovic]

IMSA will trounce WEC fan numbers at COTA. Not a chance WEC will match the national series. Same reason IndyCar and NASCAR trump F1 numbers.

[fieldodreams79]

There's cultural events 365 days of the year in Austin; there's always a clash. Not sure how times we have to discuss this, but people go watch sportscars because they like sportscars - not because there's no art showing on a Saturday afternoon or the Longhorns have a bye.

People love football in other states as much as they do in Texas. Places like Georgia - just look up how many players in the NFL are from Georgia. PLM is held in the heart of football season in one of the most football crazy areas in the world. Even still, 100,000 crammed themselves into the track for the event.

COTA is a soulless Tilkedrome without a tree that really only suits F1 cars. Add in It's a very long journey for most of the country to find the gates. That's why it's undesirable.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Even in the combined weekends, attendance for either race wasn't great. Both races were on a Saturday, in September in TX. That's football season, and even when it's hotter than hell, most people in the Austin area would rather do something else than watch sportscar race. That's IMSA or the WEC. I'd bet that most people in Austin don't care about either.

I know that IMSA trying to move to race to May is supposed to have the benefit of cooler weather, and no football season. But that's no guarantee for success. It's still spring, and Austin is a big cultural city. I wonder how PWC did when they had spring races at COTA? Probably no better than the WEC did in Sept. Not to mention that it's spring, and spring in TX often means rain, storms, and the occasional tornado. Dealing with the rain, much in various parts of the country right now, is like being drunk and blindfolded, and throwing darts.

And it's not like the Austin area is a road racing Mecca. Or motorsports in general. Only thing that COTA has going for it is F1 and it's the only active FIA Grade 1 track in the US. Granted, the latter is more of a WEC issue (their fetish for Grade 1 facilities and infrastructure outside of Le Mans), but it's either COTA or Indy GP for Grade 1 tracks for IMSA or the WEC.

Personally, I'd like to see IMSA return to Mid-Ohio or return the prototypes to VIR, and the WEC give up on COTA and bite the bullet and run Road America (no too far away from either Milwaukee or Chicago), Road Atlanta, or Sebring. Though all of that on all fronts right now is a pipe dream.

It's only the arrogance of the blue blazers that prevent the sole WEC race in the US+Canada from attracting large crowds like we've seen for decades at Sebring and Petit (+ Road America and Watkins Glen to a lesser degree).

IMSA's choice for CotA is mainly founded on the fact it's basically the only track in the South-West suited for the faster prototype cars - not much options in this part of the country anyway unfortunately - and the 'Texas-triangle' being a too-important-market-to-be-ignored for the participating manufactures in the series. There are enough other events throughout the year in the rest of the country/continent to make up for the lack of spectators/atmosphere. Not all events can be superb ones from that perspective and having a few less fancy events make the others look even better!

Yes, I would like to see Mid-O (back) on the schedule as well - even in a bi-annual rotation type of thing - but understand why the series runs at CotA. I also wouldn't be surprised to see a few extra spectators as result of the switch to the earlier date in the year, albeit it being it still very marginal.

General spectator attendance is simply not the biggest priority in/at this area/track, it was never the target I believe.

[Jonerz]

Thank you for knowing about the triangle, Coach. I thought it was a south Texas phrase.

On an unrelated note, the cynicism of many posters in this thread is utterly disgusting. But then again, this is the Internet.

I'll enjoy both the IMSA and WEC weekends at CotA.

Chris

[fieldodreams79]

I'd save phrases like "utterly disgusting" for real problems but point taken. And points taken on the market and enjoying the races. I've watched the events in the past at COTA and the circuit just does very little for me in the box, no matter what series is there. I've heard mixed reviews from those who've actually visited the circuit.

[Coach Ep]

Good for you!

I've done the WEC @ CotA event trackside (corner worker/marshal) twice - I've found it okay but no match at all for my experiences at Sebring and the Petit (for various reasons). Road America and Watkins Glen are on a long list of tracks still to be attended.

For those who don't know: The Texas triangle is basically the area between the Dallas-Fort Worth/Houston/San Antonio(-Austin) metros and has a total population of somewhere towards 15 million these days. Shouldn't be too hard to find 25.000 race attending sportscar fans!

[fieldodreams79]

And good for you for flagging there! Thanks for making my point that my efforts are best saved for great places to watch sportscars. Are you heading there this year?

It's a shame some of the older Texas road courses didn't survive. I know the place had plenty of speedways, but what were some of the road courses where Trans Am and the like raced back in the 60s and 70s?

[jjvincent]

I've been to COTA a number of times and a race in the spring is way better than in the fall. I think the most people I ever seen at that place for a sportscar event (not counting the teams) was in 2013 when GA ran there. Other than that, it's pretty much a ghost town. I know everyone here hates Kansas and Iowa speedway but those places get way more people to watch a sportscar event. Since they are rovals, they are bad.

PWC decided to run up against the season home opener for the Longhorns. I assume the track rental was probably about $5 for that weekend. At least for the WEC event, that's an away game and the Cowboys are in Denver.

I assume most don't know but Moto GP was just at COTA. So, they claim they had more than the 56K in attendance that was from 2016. So, you can use those pics as a gauge. Just don't use the pic of where they dump everyone on the front straight or pit road before the race. That makes any event look overly popular.

Another COTA issue: https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/ne...-worse-898296/

Hopefully this doesn't happen for the IMSA event at COTA:

[TF110]

I'd like to see the wec run at Road America and Sebring, but it doesn't look like that's happening. I'm going to try to attend the COTA wec race this year because it could be the last in the U.S. Is there any other IMSA race worth attending in the summer months? I don't think COTA is the best track for these types of cars, but it's better than no race imo.

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by TF110

I'd like to see the wec run at Road America and Sebring, but it doesn't look like that's happening. I'm going to try to attend the COTA wec race this year because it could be the last in the U.S. Is there any other IMSA race worth attending in the summer months? I don't think COTA is the best track for these types of cars, but it's better than no race imo.

In order of greatness (IMHO, and looking at June, July, August [summer] races only):

Watkins Glen (June 29th, to July 2nd)
Road America (August 3rd to August 6th)
Mosport (July 7th to July 9th)
VIR - GT only (August 25th to August 27th)
Lime Rock - GT only (July 21st to July 22nd)

Chris

[chernaudi]

I'm going to go into this in more detail in the WEC and IMSA Schedule Gripes thread that I'm gonna start, but it seems that Location, Location, Location is COTA's biggest problem. Insanely hot in the summer and early fall, stuff going on almost every weekend, and in a location that's not a road racing or even motorsports hotbed.

Granted, trying to get a race in the spring might help with the climate issues. But I think that Austin was chosen because there's a lot to do outside of watching a race. However, that also seems to be a problem.