Asian Le Mans series?

[The Badger]

Originally Posted by courageous

How many false starts do they need before they realise trying to build an Asian Le Mans Series from scratch will not work?

Have a few open formula sportscar races for the first few years to warm the area up.

Well , as it is an asian series , let some asian manufacturers get involved in their series ! Theres plenty of chassis out there to have a successful championship , without having to have the diesels there just to destroy the racing .

Im tired of the Japanese manufacturers only wanting to do Le Mans ..... let them support their local series and prove that they are worthy of a place on the grid .

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by The Badger

Im tired of the Japanese manufacturers only wanting to do Le Mans ..... let them support their local series and prove that they are worthy of a place on the grid .

Agreed. Put in some auto invites for the winners of the series and/or key races.

[Dutton]

Originally Posted by johntt

I would call it the PLMC (Pacific Le Mans Challenge) and have it as an off season Winter series.

The one thing with a winter series is that there are plenty of Asian locations that get cold winters.

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by Dutton

The one thing with a winter series is that there are plenty of Asian locations that get cold winters.

Yes thats true, however GP2 Asia works quite well, as does A1 GP which runs mainly through the winter and often in Asia.

[The Badger]

The weather didnt change that much in Asia in 20 years !!! ..... Group C didnt have any bother , and I cant see how it could be that differant now .

Silverstone in winter ..... thats bad !!!

[Dutton]

Well, as an example, I was in Mongolia for July 1999. The town square in Ulaan Bataar (it has like a million different spellings) still had one huge chunk of multi-feet thick ice left.

I should add during this month I was there every day was between 40c and 55c (104F and 131F).

I am not say it is not possible to hold a race series in Asia during the winter, for plenty of places will be quite usuable. I was merely saying that running it winter limits geographical areas a lot compared to the summer.

There are parts of Asia that get properly cold winters. Fact.

[Fogelhund]

I can't believe people are still talking about this. With the current economic situation, you'd think this was deader than an Investment Bankers Christmas bonus.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

I can't believe people are still talking about this. With the current economic situation, you'd think this was deader than an Investment Bankers Christmas bonus.

Hmm, and here I thought I paid their Christmas bonuses, via congress, like it or not!




L.P.

[deggis]

NEWS: http://www.lemans.org/sport/sport/ac...D_3642_gb.html

Slight change of plans again... Fuji changed to Okayama, and instead of 1000km races, 2x 3h races.

"ACO will provide preferential travel conditions for 10 teams from the American Le Mans Series, 10 from the Le Mans Series and 4 from Japan-China."

Does that mean covering part of travel costs?

Can't say after already failing last year, the timing would be any better right now.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by deggis

NEWS: http://www.lemans.org/sport/sport/ac...D_3642_gb.html

Slight change of plans again... Fuji changed to Okayama, and instead of 1000km races, 2x 3h races.

"ACO will provide preferential travel conditions for 10 teams from the American Le Mans Series, 10 from the Le Mans Series and 4 from Japan-China."

Does that mean covering part of travel costs?

Can't say after already failing last year, the timing would be any better right now.

The change in venue is new(s) but the 2 races at each is not. Here


L.P.

[courageous]

Could the switch to Okayama suggest a possible decent TV deal?- Supporting the WTCC, which is part financed by Eurosport, who also cover LMS & Le Mans...

[Asa]

There are some Radicals and they raced at Zhuhai, China last year. But this is only just beginning and there is still a long way to go before prototypes are really popular.

[Rodger Davies]

Originally Posted by deggis

NEWS: http://www.lemans.org/sport/sport/ac...D_3642_gb.html

Slight change of plans again... Fuji changed to Okayama, and instead of 1000km races, 2x 3h races.

there goes the last Toyota link I was clinging to then.

[Japanese Samurai]

According to Sports-carracing.net, Pescarolo Peugeot will go to Okayama and Shanghai!

[Bentley03]

Update on entries from the ACO here. Looks quite promising.........

[LeMans.pt]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Update on entries from the ACO here. Looks quite promising.........

Taking Goh's Porsche, all the other teams are European. There is a strong marketing interest in Asia, but there is also the will to make more rounds. It´s incompreensive that the LMS only has 5 rounds... but, ACO doesn't gives a damn about LMS....

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Bentley03

Update on entries from the ACO here. Looks quite promising.........

They list a Ford in GT2, so I guess that means the Robertson car.

[JAG]

That's an amazing entry, this series could really make an impact in years to come, once more Japanease manufacturers and teams come onboard.

[The359]

It mentions entrants from the Japanese GT Championship, I wonder if they're simply meaning the Nova Aston Martin and JLOC Lambo or if some other SuperGT machinery is going to show up.

And where will they class them?

[JAG]

Probably a few GT300/GT2's and the above GT1's.

I'd like to eventually see Toyota, Nissan and Honda GT500 3.4l engines find their way into customer LMP1 chassis as these engines will be eligible for LMP1 in 2011.

I'm sure Mazda , with their 2l turbo engine, will be enthusiastic about this as they don't have a GT500 presence in Super GT.

[courageous]

I have always thought that adding Super GT cars to any Far East Le Mans Series made sense - speed wise, GT500 would match LMP2 & GT300 would match GT1.

I am a bit confused by this
In GT1, Corvette, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Saleen are among the entries

an automatic invitation for the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours for the winner of each category (LM P1, LM P2, LM GT1 and LM GT2)

What GT1 entry will be eligible to carry over from this year to 2010?

[The359]

I presume they'll simply allow them to change categories.

E-I seems to speculate this as the entry list so far:

1x Peugeot
2x Pescarolo
2x Courage-Oreca

2x OAK Racing
1x Goh
1x Quifel ASM
1x KSM?

1x Luc Alphand
1x JLOC
1x ARC Bratislava
1x Nova

1x IMSA
1x? Felbermayr
1x Drayson
1x Robertson

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by courageous

I have always thought that adding Super GT cars to any Far East Le Mans Series made sense - speed wise, GT500 would match LMP2 & GT300 would match GT1.

I am a bit confused by this
In GT1, Corvette, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Saleen are among the entries

an automatic invitation for the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours for the winner of each category (LM P1, LM P2, LM GT1 and LM GT2)

What GT1 entry will be eligible to carry over from this year to 2010?

I doubt that GT300 and GT500 will be included.

What is confusing about the GT-1 entries?

As to the invites for Le Mans, it is issued to the team, so with the advent of no GT-1 in 2010 the ACO would probably just give the winner of GT-1 the choice to enter in any class.


L.P.

[EuropaBambaataa]

Originally Posted by The359

It mentions entrants from the Japanese GT Championship, I wonder if they're simply meaning the Nova Aston Martin and JLOC Lambo or if some other SuperGT machinery is going to show up.

And where will they class them?

The Hankook KTR Porsche 997 and the Daishin/Kawamura Ferrari 430 can be converted back to regular GT2 cars (there's also the 996s, but who wants them?). Doesn't Hitotsuyama have a 997 too?

[Japanese Samurai]

There is a rumor that Hitotsuyama Racing have already sold 997.