[Purist]

There is no replacement for the Nurburgring? There is no replacement for the Nurburgring Nodschleife, but I wasn't going to try to get that one past you guys.

Erki, no, they don't have to run 18 events a year. I have no expectation for the teams contesting the World Sportscar Championship to compete in all ALMS, LMS, or JLMC events, nor would such an arrangement be possible scheduling-wise, except perhaps (maybe, possibly) for the teams with multiple cars.

I have no problem with you saying the Le Mans 24-Hours is it, but that won't cut it in today's world of motorsport. For major, internation sportscar racing to make a dent, there MUST be larger series, and a World Championship, period. Most motorsport fans will NOT be sustained on just one, or even four or six significant races a year. Like I said, even F1 is steadily increasing it's calendar of events, which peaked last year at 19 (and will probably be there again next year). I don't want this branch of the sport to struggle. I don't want to have to look REALLY hard to find out what's happening in it. I certainly don't want to see it fall any further into obscurity in the motorsport media and print than it has in the last 12-15 years. Sol like I said, for sportscar to be a big deal again, it MUST have those series, and a World Championship, plain and simple.

As to Bathurst, Erki, since Sportscar and GT racing has seen fit to run at Hockenheim (pre-2002) and Monza, I don't see how they could complain about the lack of run-off at Bathurst, because that would be THE issue. The width of the paved track between the white lines is perfectly adequate as it is (yes, I have looked at several video clips to confirm this).

Now, your probably wondering what Hockenheim and Monza have to do with this. Well, it's very simple. The forest section at Hockenheim had quite minimal verges, and the paved width out there was as narrow, if not narrower than, what would be encountered at Bathurst. Also, with the narrow verges, although a car could theoretically stop fully off the racing surface, it is quite possible that that would not have been the case, and that would leave you with something VERY much like what you would have to deal with if a car stopped up on top of the mountain at Bathurst. And Monza has two or three stretches where the verges are at least as narrow, and in some places narrower than, those in the forest at Hockenheim. There is a quite narrow stretch between Curva Grande and Variente Seconda. For much of the run from Lesmo Seconda to Variente Ascari, there is not even a car width of grass on either side of the racing surface. And I'm not sure that there's a whole lot of room on either side between Variente Ascari and Parabolica either. And if none of that is enough, sportscars have, and still do, run on temporary street circuits, where run-off all the way around the course is nill to non-existent.

I will also note that at Bathurst itself, the pit and paddock facilities have been redone in the last couple of years, so those should be satisfactory for sportscars.