ACO Interest

[Deleted]

On scale of 0 to 10, how would you describe your level of interest for each of these ACO properties for the 2018(-19) season:

FIA World Endurance Championship
European Le Mans Series
Michelin Le Mans Cup
Asian Le Mans Series
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19)
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19)
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018)
Fuji 6 Hours (2018)
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018)
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019)

LM P1
LM P2
LM P3
LM GTE-PRO
LM GTE-AM

[Akrapovic]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 10
European Le Mans Series - 10
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 8
Asian Le Mans Series - 7
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 2

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 9
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 10
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 8
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 10

LM P1 - 10
LM P2 - 9
LM P3 - 7
LM GTE-PRO - 8
LM GTE-AM - 7

For me, pretty high. Similar results for top IMSA and Blancpain now days. Really enjoying sportscar racing. Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup I've never watched before, but might try next year if I have time.

[Deleted]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 8
European Le Mans Series - 4
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 2 (RTLM gets 6)
Asian Le Mans Series - 2
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 9/7
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 10

LM P1 - 10
LM P2 - 7
LM P3 - 5
LM GTE-PRO - 1
LM GTE-AM - 1

It must be the most I've been looking forward to WEC -season- (not just LM) since 2012, mainly because of the rejuvenated LMP1 + Sebring + some improved details

[NaBUru38]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 8
European Le Mans Series - 2
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 0
Asian Le Mans Series - 0
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 8
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 8
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 8
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 10

LM P1 - 8
LM P2 - 8
LM P3 - 0
LM GTE-PRO - 10
LM GTE-AM - 2

[Victor_RO]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 7: things in life are moving a bit in different directions so I don't have as much time to follow as usual
European Le Mans Series - 7 - ditto
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 4 - only ever followed results and Road to Le Mans from trackside
Asian Le Mans Series - 5 - results only frankly
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 3 - huh? is this a thing?

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 7 - same grade as the championship
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10 - as I'll be trackside for both
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 7 - same as the championship
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 7 - same as the championship
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 7 - same as the championship
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 8 - the 12 Hour is still the king there, but a night-to-day race will be interesting

LM P1 - 8 - actually make the grade as many entries as there will be for Le Mans. If not, I just want to see a Toyota win at the 24 Hours.
LM P2 - 8 - tight-enough class to poke interest
LM P3 - 7 -
LM GTE-PRO - 9 - add BMW to the current mix and it'll just guarantee extra manicness. If Lamborghini and McLaren join, it'll be insane. Seriously, best crowdpleaser moment at Le Mans this year from the grandstands was the GTE-Pro last-lap pass for the lead.
LM GTE-AM - 7

Grading P3 and GTE-Am at 7 because I want those classes to stick around if I ever get enough money and practice to end up somehow getting a RTLM or Le Mans drive. Seriously, wouldn't we all try for a drive in one of those two classes if we had those two things? I know I would, but I'm realistic enough to know I'll never be talented enough to be ranked more than a Bronze, so those two classes would be my only hope. And since I have that dream, who am I to say that others aren't allowed to have it by killing those classes?

[Aysedasi]

FIA World Endurance Championship 9
European Le Mans Series 7
Michelin Le Mans Cup 3
Asian Le Mans Series 3
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup 3

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) 6
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) 9
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) 6
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) 6
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) 6

LM P1 10
LM P2 8
LM P3 5
LM GTE-PRO 4
LM GTE-AM 4

[August]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 8
European Le Mans Series - 6
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 4
Asian Le Mans Series - 2
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 1

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 8
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 8

LM P1 - 8
LM P2 - 7
LM P3 - 4
LM GTE-PRO - 9
LM GTE-AM - 4

[TF110]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 10
European Le Mans Series - 5
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 0
Asian Le Mans Series - 0
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 10
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 10
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 10
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 10

LM P1 - 10
LM P2 - 6
LM P3 - 0
LM GTE-PRO - 9
LM GTE-AM - 7

I love the WEC, LMP1 and GTE pro. I look forward to each race more than any other. I have little to no interest in the regional series. I like the WEC because it's an FIA recognized championship and that's where (a) manufacturer(s) competes in P1. I don't mind LMP2 but I don't pay much attention to it as they all run the same engine and as of now the same chassis. If there were more variety I would rate it higher. Maybe that changes next year with everyone but Oreca getting a joker upgrade. I'm a little biased though, because Toyota is obviously my favorite brand and that's where they compete for the win. But I have always like Le Mans and endurance racing. I remember the first time watching it was in 98, but could only catch glimpses of the race on U.S. TV. I don't think losing Porsche is that bad. I think it's given rise to 4 or 5 other teams who wouldn't be talked about if they stayed.

[Bcarr6]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 9
European Le Mans Series - 9
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 6
Asian Le Mans Series - 5
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 2

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 7
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 9
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 8
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 6
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 7

LM P1 - 9
LM P2 - 7
LM P3 - 6
LM GTE-PRO - 9
LM GTE-AM - 6


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bentley speed 8]

FIA World Endurance Championship 10
European Le Mans Series 9
Michelin Le Mans Cup 1
Asian Le Mans Series 2
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) 10
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) 10
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) 10
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) 8
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) 10

LM P1 10
LM P2 8
LM P3 4
LM GTE-PRO 9
LM GTE-AM 7

I just hope I will be able to watch all the WEC races. I can do with the replays for other series like IMSA or ELMS, since they put up the whole race for FREE after 2-3 days.

[GasperG]

FIA World Endurance Championship - 10
European Le Mans Series - 0
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 0
Asian Le Mans Series - 0
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 8
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 8
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 8
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 7
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 9

LM P1 - 10
LM P2 - 3
LM P3 - 0
LM GTE-PRO - 3
LM GTE-AM - 0

[Coach Ep]

FIA World Endurance Championship 6
European Le Mans Series 4
Michelin Le Mans Cup 1
Asian Le Mans Series 2
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) 8
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) 8
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) 2
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) 2
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) 1
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) 9

LM P1 - 7
LM P2 - 7
LM P3 - 2
LM GTE-PRO - 5
LM GTE-AM - 2

For me the best part of the WEC was gone before it even started: the ILMC. Never been a fan of WEC's desire to be a F1 clone by going to sterile, low atmosphere tracks, setting low entry caps and standardizing many aspects of the series. So I guess I'm very much in the same boat as Chiana here but probably not as enthusiastic as him as the ACO more or less continues on its chosen path.

Anyways, I'm more of an IMSA focused person these days, the presence of many old school tracks is a major attraction over WEC's parking lot fetish so the return to Sebring is huge!

Here's hoping the new 2020 (or whenever) P1 rules will benefit both sanctioning bodies and provide more harmony than conflict - the sport would certainly prosper as a result.

[joeb]

FIA World Endurance Championship -- 7
European Le Mans Series -- 6
Michelin Le Mans Cup -- 0
Asian Le Mans Series -- 0
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup -- 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) -- 8
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) -- 15 (I don't think 10 was high enough!)
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) -- 7
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) -- 5
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) -- 5
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) -- 9

LM P1 -- 9
LM P2 -- 8
LM P3 -- 5
LM GTE-PRO -- 8
LM GTE-AM -- 4

[wolfhound]

The results are out from the global fan survey run by Motorsport network.
They had fans from 179 countries of which 43% were under the age of 35.
Fans said they preffered a 8 to 10 race calender and the favor tracks were LeMans, Spa, Silverstone, Nurburgring, Sebring and Fuji.

For more see
http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/133090

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

FIA World Endurance Championship 6
European Le Mans Series 4
Michelin Le Mans Cup 1
Asian Le Mans Series 2
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) 8
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) 8
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) 2
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) 2
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) 1
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) 9

LM P1 - 7
LM P2 - 7
LM P3 - 2
LM GTE-PRO - 5
LM GTE-AM - 2

For me the best part of the WEC was gone before it even started: the ILMC. Never been a fan of WEC's desire to be a F1 clone by going to sterile, low atmosphere tracks, setting low entry caps and standardizing many aspects of the series. So I guess I'm very much in the same boat as Chiana here but probably not as enthusiastic as him as the ACO more or less continues on its chosen path.

Anyways, I'm more of an IMSA focused person these days, the presence of many old school tracks is a major attraction over WEC's parking lot fetish so the return to Sebring is huge!

Here's hoping the new 2020 (or whenever) P1 rules will benefit both sanctioning bodies and provide more harmony than conflict - the sport would certainly prosper as a result.

I understand your frustration, but you can't place all the blame on the WEC for choosing these tracks when the FIA stipulates that only certain ones can be used thanks to the speeds of the lmp1's and the multiclass nature of the series. Does IMSA run an FIA sanctioned championship? If not, they may not have to worry about that. But the WEC does since it wants to keep that status. I think places like Silverstone and Fuji have a lot of character because of where they are and their storied history, not to mention at Fuji you get the backdrop of one of the most beautiful mountains in the world! Compared to somewhere like Sebring it's picturesque, but since Sebring has maintained it's 'purity' it's seen as a lot more appealing to many. That's my take on it at least. I don't like acres of paved run off, but it's hard to find a track to run a world championship with these cars' speeds without it.

[MaskedRacer]

Just let it be known that I am first and foremost a fan of GT racing and the IMSA series. A big fat "TEN" for GTE Pro from me as seen below:


FIA World Endurance Championship - 7
European Le Mans Series - 0
Michelin Le Mans Cup - 0
Asian Le Mans Series - 0
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup - 0

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19) - 7
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19) - 10
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018) - 7
Fuji 6 Hours (2018) - 7
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018) - 7
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019) - 10 (curious to see how this goes for sure)

LM P1 - 5 (lowered from 8 with Porsche gone)
LM P2 - 3
LM P3 - 0
LM GTE-PRO - 10
LM GTE-AM - 3

[TheMightyM]

IMSA has a more compelling product than the WEC right now. Part of it is that I prefer 2:40 to four hour races as the norm with the occasional, special longer race to the WEC's standard cookie cutter six hour contests.

FIA World Endurance Championship: 6
European Le Mans Series: 8 -- I'm saddened when ELMS teams go to the WEC
Michelin Le Mans Cup: 1
Asian Le Mans Series: 1
Asian Le Mans Sprint Cup: 0 -- as Victor wrote above, this is a thing?

Spa 6 Hours (2018-19): 7.5
Le Mans 24 Hours (2018-19): 9
Silverstone 6 Hours (2018): 6
Fuji 6 Hours (2018): 4
Shanghai 6 Hours (2018): 4
Sebring 1500 Miles (2019): 8

LM P1: 8, though it depends what on the actual variety and quality of the product
LM P2 (for 2017): 8, less if a series is like the WEC in 2017 and effectively spec
LM P3: 3 -- too many spinning am drivers and about two of the five constructors actually matter
LM GTE-PRO: 8 -- I should like this more, but coverage of the class always seems to get lost compared to the LMP1 and even LMP2 battles in the WEC. Also usually not as close/interesting as IMSA GTLM.
LM GTE-AM: 3 -- meh.

[Deleted]

LOL how the hell is CHIANA giving away some of the more better scores here?

I think my scale was somewhat more generous than others, I mean I'd probably drop make at least the regional series drop by couple of points now. I mean if I don't actually really follow them, why grades

[Aysedasi]

Likewise.......

[Deleted]

Yes

I don't actually care for Spa 6 Hours as an event either, I'm only looking forward it to next year because it's the opening race for these new nonhybrids and possibly Alonso. However even in 2019 it will be worth watching if LMP1 is genuinely as interesting as it seems to be

Le Mans and Sebring will be epic

[Coach Ep]

Spa used to be mega with around 50 cars showing up for the LM dress rehearsal - it's not quite the same with entry numbers in the low 30s. I fear the same scenario for Sebring with entries artificially capped to a low 30 number and the track being longer than most of the other regular WEC tracks.

Glad I get to keep my blue flag muscles in shape during the 12H sessions/race!

[TF110]

Spa is still epic. As long as there's a race it'll be great. The track itself lends to that imo.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Coach Ep

Spa used to be mega with around 50 cars showing up for the LM dress rehearsal - it's not quite the same with entry numbers in the low 30s. I fear the same scenario for Sebring with entries artificially capped to a low 30 number and the track being longer than most of the other regular WEC tracks.

Glad I get to keep my blue flag muscles in shape during the 12H sessions/race!

Agreed on Spa, didn't even bother with it this year

Most likely they will force that micro grid nonsense for Sebring too which is a shame, but at least it won't be a clone event to every other race. Thanks to both the non-neutered amazing circuit and the distance limit.

Interestingly, if you listened to the RLM piece couple of months ago, it was actually the ACO that first suggested having combined race with IMSA again, like in 2011 ILMC and 2012 WEC, but Bennet and Atherton and NASCAR refused as they wanted to keep their precious DPis on top.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Agreed on Spa, didn't even bother with it this year

Most likely they will force that micro grid nonsense for Sebring too which is a shame, but at least it won't be a clone event to every other race. Thanks to both the non-neutered amazing circuit and the distance limit.

Interestingly, if you listened to the RLM piece couple of months ago, it was actually the ACO that first suggested having combined race with IMSA again, like in 2011 ILMC and 2012 WEC, but Bennet and Atherton and NASCAR refused as they wanted to keep their precious DPis on top.

They enforced the "micro" grid because of freight costs. If they have 30 cars and it costs a set amount for those 30 to ship they go with it. If it costs a certain amount more for just one more car it's not financially viable. So I get the feeling they'd pay too much just to ship 2 or 3 more cars when they can save money by limiting it. Maybe if more entries add up and they get to an amount where the freight is covered by entry fees, it would make financial sense. So why pay for a freight of 40 when you only get 32? So maybe they would be more inclined to pay for 40 if they get an entry amount of 36, 37 etc.?

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by TF110

They enforced the "micro" grid because of freight costs. If they have 30 cars and it costs a set amount for those 30 to ship they go with it. If it costs a certain amount more for just one more car it's not financially viable. So I get the feeling they'd pay too much just to ship 2 or 3 more cars when they can save money by limiting it. Maybe if more entries add up and they get to an amount where the freight is covered by entry fees, it would make financial sense. So why pay for a freight of 40 when you only get 32? So maybe they would be more inclined to pay for 40 if they get an entry amount of 36, 37 etc.?

I'm not entirely against the "full season entry cap", but I'm against blocking one-off entries. I remember couple of years ago Riley wanted to enter Viper for oneoff COTA round but ACO told them no, even though they just had regular micro grid of 30 something vehicles. I also despise when they say "we may accommodate one or more guest entries" when in fact, if they wanted, they could have quite a few if they relaxed their pit allocations and stuff, just like in the ILMC

At Sebring they won't even have the excuse of garage space, since there aren't any garages, just traditional NA pit spots. Which there are plenty of and which WILL be identical to the IMSA ones from what I remember from Neveu on RLM