General Sportscar Chat thread

[J Jay]

While Davidson & Buemi are former F1 drivers, they were in backmarker/midfield teams. Even in F1 there's not much press to be had from driving slow cars, unless your team's on the brink of financial collapse of course

It's easy to pin it all on Bernie (and it wouldn't be far from the truth), but as Alex said he had some help in that regard. Most of the manufacturers at that time wanted in on the F1 gravy train.

Even though people are turning off from F1, it's still a big leap to assume a significant number will take to the WEC instead. I know I did, but I may be the exception that proves the rule ... People aren't turning up to races or watching live broadcasts, but these made-for-tabloid headlines still make for good "water cooler" conversations.

[seanyb505]

As with most things in life, the enthusiasts do not pay the bills. It's the watered down products swallowed down by the majority that are the money makers. Perfect example - Toyota. Quite the successful program right now, I'll say less than half a percent of the Camry drivers know about it.

As an enthusiast it's always disappointing to see the product watered down to appeal to more people. More people means more resources, but 9/10 it also means straying from what made it desirable in the first place. It makes me sad, but I also completely expect it.

[Paradise City]

Noone knows/cares about the WEC outside of the niche motorsport people. And stickin' the thing behind a paywall will guarantee it stays that way.

I think people who get tired of F1, drift away from motorsport. You do need a good antenna to follow endurance racing with all its complexities, permutations and demand for concentration that follows from grasping a long race properly. It's not a straight forward sport to follow and it often defeats me - a relatively dedicated motorsport fan. That's not a call to change those aspects btw but it does prevent a mass following.

I think the paywall is damaging. It's puts off people who might drift in and be drawn to the novelty of the thing. The only people that pay are people that are already engaged with the series and that's no way to expand the base.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by Paradise City

Noone knows/cares about the WEC outside of the niche motorsport people. And stickin' the thing behind a paywall will guarantee it stays that way.

I think people who get tired of F1, drift away from motorsport. You do need a good antenna to follow endurance racing with all its complexities, permutations and demand for concentration that follows from grasping a long race properly. It's not a straight forward sport to follow and it often defeats me - a relatively dedicated motorsport fan. That's not a call to change those aspects btw but it does prevent a mass following.

I think the paywall is damaging. It's puts off people who might drift in and be drawn to the novelty of the thing. The only people that pay are people that are already engaged with the series and that's no way to expand the base.

Could not agree more.

[joeb]

David Hobbs wrote a nice piece on Huffington Post about the lack of sportscar coverage in major media. He was referring to the coverage in the UK in particular, but the same applies to other locations as well:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/davi...b_6268168.html

[Deleted]

Mmh third article about the same thing in couple of weeks time.

[Mike E]

I didn't realise Spyker were still in business. Well, they aren't any more.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/in...s-out-business

[joeb]

Mike Hedlund posted a pretty good analysis of the driver categorization issue:

http://maximumattack.tumblr.com/post...or-sports-cars

[Mike E]

Thanks for posting that. Always interesting to get an insider's point of view.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Mike E

Thanks for posting that. Always interesting to get an insider's point of view.

As he said, it seems like such a straightforward issue, but the devil is in the details as they say. Pretty interesting that the fia/aco/IMSA don't have a stayed reason for the need for drivers ratings.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Mike E

I didn't realise Spyker were still in business. Well, they aren't any more.

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/in...s-out-business

"However, I would like to make clear that as far as I am concerned 'this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning', to quote Winston Churchill. I will relentlessly endeavour to resurrect Spyker as soon as practically possible and, assuming we will be successful, pursue our goal to merge with a high performance electric aircraft manufacturer and develop revolutionary electric Spykers with disruptive sustainable technology.

--- “We expect to emerge from this restructuring a stronger, more innovative company that is well positioned for growth and profitability. We are proud of the consistent high quality of our automobiles and our valued customer and partner relationships.”

That sounds like the usual whatever-we've-given-up-but-let's-say-something-nice nonsense speech they give at the end. But I guess since even Saleen recently managed to rise from grave everything is possible

[joeb]

Anyone know who this driver is? I won't give any hints. I found an old vhs that has part of the 1993 Daytona 24 on it. Great stuff.

[J Jay]

The 'tache says Dorsey Schroeder, but it looks a bit too gaunt to be him to me.

Can't think of anybody else it could be though.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by J Jay

The 'tache says Dorsey Schroeder, but it looks a bit too gaunt to be him to me.

Can't think of anybody else it could be though.

You got it, I should have cropped off the Oldsmobile hat to make it harder! Funny thing is his voice hasn't changed one bit.

[rich07]

Nice lamp!

[Deleted]

Poor old Dorsey. Presumably unemployed at his age. Hopefully he gets a ride for next year, and not in some useless club series

I know he's commented SCCA runoffs in the past too but that's not really more than one-off

[joeb]

Originally Posted by rich07

Nice lamp!

Thanks!

[Coach Ep]

Let's hope he'll get snatched up by Radio Le Mans (or maybe the PWC folks for their broadcasts).

On another note: I'm really - and pleasantly surprised by the ongoing rate of announcements, usually it would dry up by the time we've come to (mid) December, it's almost Christmas this time and they keep coming and coming, especially in PWC and ELMS but also in WEC, TUSC, BES and the early season 'one offs' (Dubai, Bathurst). Even the sprint series seem to be making more announcements than before.

Must be a healthy sign!

[TF110]

Just playing gt6, and this came in the update released a few minutes ago





http://www.gran-turismo.com/us/news/00_5092138.html

Mazda LM55 Vision GT. MAZDA's vision on a future lmp1. Damn it looks good!

[joeb]

I love it, wheels to cockpit height might not be quite realistic.

[GT6]

[QUOTE=TF110;3487800]Just playing gt6, and this came in the update released a few minutes ago

did i miss something?

[Simmi]

[QUOTE=GT6;3487888]

Originally Posted by TF110

Just playing gt6, and this came in the update released a few minutes ago

did i miss something?

Only the 17-year phenomenon that is Gran Turismo.

[GT6]

[QUOTE=Simmi;3487944]

Originally Posted by GT6

Only the 17-year phenomenon that is Gran Turismo.

should i sue them as i have been gt6 for longer than that and triumph had that name even longer than me, i know because i had one and drove it to le mans for many years

[joeb]

Level 5 is selling off inventory:

http://level5motorsports.com/shop/

Some good stuff there!

[rich07]

Some very good stuff there indeed! Talk about top shelf no expenses spared especially the transporters.

I'll put my hand up for the 'A' transporter and the Rolex 24 winning Ferrari 458 GTD. My bank manager might have a problem with that though