The Provisional 2014 WEC calendar...

[TF110]

Tracks want money. The wec probably doesn't have the means to add races. Teams don't have issues running another european round. Even most of the drivers do some other series to keep busy and make a living. This is the wec, not a regional series. If you don't have money to do the wec you probably aren't racing in it.

[TimRTC]

Anyone else think the Easter date is a little bit of an odd move for the Silverstone round. This year it was a week earlier and now it will clash with the BTCC at Donington and possibly the British GT Oulton Easter meeting too.

[jc_nl]

Originally Posted by trickyd

People say adding races is bad for privateers, but so is travelling vast distances. Most/all the teams are based in Europe, having races in Germany and Italy wouldn't hurt anyone, especially in the massive mid season gap that takes up most of the actual motorsport season!

Adding a race in the mid season gap would hurt the privateer teams a lot!!!

If you put a race in there it would mean flying to Brazil, which is way more expensive that going there by sea as they do now.

[TF110]

Originally Posted by jc_nl

Adding a race in the mid season gap would hurt the privateer teams a lot!!!

If you put a race in there it would mean flying to Brazil, which is way more expensive that going there by sea as they do now.

No it wouldn't. They are being shipped to Japan from Texas in less than 20 days! Unless the WEC are flying them to Fuji, its definitely feaseable.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by jc_nl

Adding a race in the mid season gap would hurt the privateer teams a lot!!!

If you put a race in there it would mean flying to Brazil, which is way more expensive that going there by sea as they do now.

Sailing times from Europe to Brazil are typically between 14-20 days, you'd need to add a little more on in terms of loading, clearances, etc, but I think the core argument here is that there should be scope to fit in an additional round after Le Mans and still be able to get the cars to Interlagos.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by TimRTC

Anyone else think the Easter date is a little bit of an odd move for the Silverstone round. This year it was a week earlier and now it will clash with the BTCC at Donington and possibly the British GT Oulton Easter meeting too.

That threw me today. I was in a meeting with my boss and we were talking about my June 14 leave when I mentioned I'd like the Friday and Monday of the April weekend off too - he of course was quicker off the mark and said 'Of course you can......'

[Starfish Primer]

Originally Posted by TimRTC

Anyone else think the Easter date is a little bit of an odd move for the Silverstone round. This year it was a week earlier and now it will clash with the BTCC at Donington and possibly the British GT Oulton Easter meeting too.

Easter means no Silverstone for me as in Easter I travel to Spain to visit my family I will try Spa on May.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by isynge

Sailing times from Europe to Brazil are typically between 14-20 days, you'd need to add a little more on in terms of loading, clearances, etc, but I think the core argument here is that there should be scope to fit in an additional round after Le Mans and still be able to get the cars to Interlagos.

And that would be excellent. Let's just say that Nurburgring was added to the calendar directly after Le Mans. You've got to transport from France to Germany (not at all a massive undertaking compared to Texas to Japan!), and then from Italy to Brazil. Let's say we put Nurburgring three weeks after Le Mans (July 6)... that still allows for ten weeks (?!) to get to Sao Paulo. You could very easily add another European round like Monza directly after and then ship to Sao Paulo. It's feasible, but is it probable - you'll have to answer that one, Ian, given I don't have any knowledge in shipping logistics.

[Acid09]

Three weeks after Le Mans is not nearly enough regrouping time for the privateers.

You guys seriously underestimate how much of a break is needed post Le Mans.

[deggis]

2011 ILMC had Imola pretty soon after LM (11-12 June => 03 July).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_I...s_Cup#Schedule

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by deggis

2011 ILMC had Imola pretty soon after LM (11-12 June => 03 July).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_I...s_Cup#Schedule

Exactly, and it's not like we saw a bunch of teams dropping out. At Le Mans there were 56 entries, at Imola 49, roughly just the drop of the ALMS teams.

A "regrouping time" of over TWO MONTHS is NOT necessary.

[dj choc ice]

Originally Posted by TimRTC

Anyone else think the Easter date is a little bit of an odd move for the Silverstone round. This year it was a week earlier and now it will clash with the BTCC at Donington and possibly the British GT Oulton Easter meeting too.

I hope the date of the Silverstone round changes and it doesn't clash with the British GT Oulton round, that race has for the past umpteen years been the big season opener as a race fan. I'll possibly stick my neck on the line but I preferred it when the LMS/WEC Silverstone round was in September, it nicely rounded off the year and the weather tended to be better as well. Strangely the atmosphere was better as well, the atmosphere in the grandstands in 2013 was meh while the place was buzzing with excitement in 2012.

[TF110]

A few teams drop out of LeMans from reliability or incidents. So they get a head start on packing

[Mal]

WEC definitely needs an end of season finale like PLM.

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Beetle

And that would be excellent. Let's just say that Nurburgring was added to the calendar directly after Le Mans. You've got to transport from France to Germany (not at all a massive undertaking compared to Texas to Japan!), and then from Italy to Brazil. Let's say we put Nurburgring three weeks after Le Mans (July 6)... that still allows for ten weeks (?!) to get to Sao Paulo. You could very easily add another European round like Monza directly after and then ship to Sao Paulo. It's feasible, but is it probable - you'll have to answer that one, Ian, given I don't have any knowledge in shipping logistics.

Sorting something like this is perfectly feasible, and if you look at some of the names written on the sides of current WEC cars (think about what DHL and GAC do to make money) there's already a level of expertise there. Plan well in advance, make sure the booking's with a good operator and you can certainly do something in the scale of gap currently existing between Le Mans and Sao Paolo. As this presumably would be a FIA level booking covering the full package (much like was outlined in the article Mal kindly linked to a while back) you could get a decent agent to make sure you didn't encounter the sort of paperwork snafu that eliminated WR's entry at Sebring a few years back.

I guess the only concern might be if someone had a complete cataclysm at the extra round - then you're looking at problems in terms of car repair in time to make the shipping date, but then you could potentially look at the series doing a little bit of a hedge with some airfreight - obviously not on the scale of 4 747s that the whole lot needs, but enough to make it a bit more affordable. Equally as you can readily fit a car into a standard container there's no requirement for the whole series to travel on a single ship, so missing a sailing date by a couple of days wouldn't necessarily paint you into a corner regarding using air freight.

[Fogelhund]

The shipping part is pretty easy, it really comes down to costs... what do you want to spend to ship? F1 has several events a week apart across continents... it can be done, but is it economically feasible for WEC?

[isynge]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

The shipping part is pretty easy, it really comes down to costs... what do you want to spend to ship? F1 has several events a week apart across continents... it can be done, but is it economically feasible for WEC?

I think the issue here is to try and debunk the notion that it's always going to be months needed to ship something by sea. I know slow steaming is all the vogue at the moment but we are talking about vessels a little more advanced than the Cutty Sark here...

[Maelochs]

So, if shipping isn't the impediment, shouldn't you be looking past that to what the reason might be for the long break?

As someone said above, if the teams really wanted another European race, it probably could be done. Maybe there is some reason they don't? Or maybe the available dates at the available tracks, and the sanctioning fee vs. tickets sales mash don't work out?

Instead of thinking the WEC is just too stupid or too evil to plan another Euro race post Le Mans, we should think about the reasons they might have.

After all, they are in the business (as in, making money) by staging a world championship series for sports cars. If the money was there, I'd have to think they'd do another race.

[deggis]

If they want a) stability b) another round in future (2015?), maintaining this gap makes sense.

[TF110]

We are thinking of reasons. Eliminating freight time is a part of the reasoning why no races were added.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by Mal

WEC definitely needs an end of season finale like PLM.

Agreed. Also, I've always been a supporter of the idea of combining series into one major race, like the ILMC and ALMS did in 2011 for Petit Le Mans (that was an excellent race - 56 cars!). Whenever they did it, it was a smashing success. I guess the different people that took over when the ILMC turned into the WEC didn't want their series to mix? Personally I think it's a mistake. Imagine the races we'd get with a combined ALMS/WEC at COTA, AsLMS/WEC at Fuji or Shanghai, or ELMS/WEC at Silverstone or Spa.

I know the calendar is all over with for 2014, but this (roughly) would be my ultimate preference:

1. 6 Hours of Silverstone (WEC/ELMS)
2. 6 Hours of Spa (WEC/ELMS)
3. 24 Heures du Mans ("headliner event")
4. 1000 km Nürburgring ("headliner event")
5. 6 Hours of Austria (WEC/ELMS)
6. Mil Milhas Brasil ("headliner event")
7. 6 Hours of COTA (WEC/ALMS)
8. 6 Hours of Fuji (WEC/AsLMS)
9. 6 Hours of Shanghai (WEC/AsLMS)
10. ? Hours of Sepang (WEC/AsLMS, "headliner event")

[Brake dust]

Just think that some momentum of the chapionsip is lost with the long summer break.

[carsten66]

In the near future I don't think we will see a race after Le Mans at the Nürburgring, simply because there is no time slot to fit in a race in addition to the event packed months May, June and July at the Ring. And traditionally from mid July in Germany we have holiday time...

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by carsten66

In the near future I don't think we will see a race after Le Mans at the Nürburgring, simply because there is no time slot to fit in a race in addition to the event packed months May, June and July at the Ring. And traditionally from mid July in Germany we have holiday time...

Perhaps Monza or Hungaroring, then?

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Perhaps Monza or Hungaroring, then?

Algarve