I don't understand the Grade 1 argument, because now it's impossible for WEC to win that argument. They dropped Grade 1 tracks and went to Grade 2s, and the return point is 'Well they might become Grade 1s, because they're FIA based, so they know what's coming'. There's Grade 1 circuits in the US they can use, and they choose not to. They've dropped a further Grade 1 to go to a Grade 2. If the argument is 'They might become Grade 1s', then they'd have just stayed at the Grade 1s they were using. 3 out of the 8 scheduled circuits are Grade 2s. And to be honest, when your others include things like Spa, Monza, Silverstone and Fuji, I think the majority of those Grade 1s are just brilliant choices, regardless of circuit grade. Apart from Bahrain (which is paid for, so whatever), it's a damn fine calendar. And to be honest, whilst Silverstone is not quite as good as it used to be, when you actually look at it and are honest, it's a pretty damn good track. I'd argue from Brooklands all the way around into Abbey is actually pretty awesome. Really it's just Farm/Village/Loop/Aintree that are a bit meh.
I genuinely feel that anyone really criticising that 2020/2021 calendar is being far too harsh. It's hard to find a better calendar than that in the world. IMSA is the only one I can think of that's probably as good, or better. Or maybe VLN.
For me, Hypercars, BoP and LMP2 are all completely unrelated subjects. Looking at LMP2, I think it's huge step back from what we had in the previous generation, but the one upside to this generation was the speeding up of the cars reduced the amount of accidents. Rolling that back re-introduces the same issue as before, but also bunches up to GTE, as they've made some pretty rapid progress in lap times.
I too would like the Hypercars to be faster, just to keep the current lap time balance. But since it's a BoP series, that shouldn't be an issue that has to be discussed. Aston Martin are saying they're slowing the car down. So why not just slow it down less? I don't understand why we're BoPing everything back and creating this problem.
I'm also frustrated with the ACOs paper-overing of the LMP2 mess by allowing badge engineering. This was 100% not allowed before. It was said that manufacturers could not be involved in LMP2 at all. Alpine were allowed because they weren't a manufacturer at the time - ok fair enough. But they shouldn't be rebadging the chassis. Then it became ok to rebadge even if you were a manufacturer. And now we have the Russian thing too. Why is it happening? A cynic would say it makes the grid appear more diverse, since the current regulations have wiped out all competition for ORECA. So now it looks like we have 3 good chassis.
And now they're looking at Hypercar and saying you
have to have a badge to get in on the action there? What exactly does that achieve, other than give the false impression on manufacturer involvement, because TVR printed some £3 stickers?
The ACOs fascination with manufacturers was the downfall before and the reason the WEC is in the mess it's in, It will be the main issue with Hypercar and LMP2 going forward.