Build Your Own 2004 ALMS Schedule

[jhansen]

I noticed that several of you voiced your displeasure with the 2004 ALMS schedule. I'm going off the theme of the Build Your Own Race Team thread and I'd like to hear some of your thoughts. What would you would propose for a 2004 ALMS schedule? I'll keep this pretty loose. Pick your own dates, venues, number of races, etc. Be creative. Let's see what we can come up with.

[paul-collins]

I'm actually not all that upset with it - nothing two or three more races wouldn't fix.

Add in one or two between Sebring and that stupid awful Test Day (seven weeks before Le Mans! Crazy I sez...), and one between Road America and PLM, and it would be fine.

I'd like to see Mont-Tremblant, VIR, Watkins Glen and/or Mexico City added. I think a sprint at VIR followed by an enduro at Mexico in the spring, and then either of the other two I mentioned after Road America (or, even better from a logistics standpoint, move Road America back two weeks and put one of the other races on its date) would do it for me.

[Tim Northcutt]

My Ideal Series (provided two circuits would be race ready):

Mar. 17-20 -- Sebring (12 hrs.)
Apr. 9-11 -- Boundless MotorPlex (Dallas area - 4 hrs.)
June 25-27 -- Mid-Ohio (2 hr. 45 min.)
July 2-5 -- Road America (8 hrs.)
July 16-18 -- Sears Point (2 hr. 45 min.)
July 23-25 -- Edmonton (4 hrs)-- streets if the circuit talked about in other threads isn't running)

Aug. 6-8 -- Mosport (2 hr. 45 min.)
Aug. 20-22 -- Mt. Tremblant (2 hr. 45 min.)
Sept. 2-5 -- VIR (6 or 8 hrs.)
Sept. 23-25 -- Laguna Seca (4 hrs)
Oct. 19-22 -- Petit Le Mans (10 hrs or 1,000 mi.)

I'll submit my "more relealistic" season in a few...

[Tim Northcutt]

For My "Realistic" Series, Change these Venues or Dates:

Apr. 9-11: A race venue in Mexico

July 2-5: VIR (8 hrs.)

July 23-25: Mt. Tremblant

Aug 20-22: OK..I'll give Lime Rock a chance...

Sept. 2-5: Road America -- (6-8 hrs)

[Tim Northcutt]

On another thread, questions have surfaced about where to do the April date...

One was the new Puerto Rico circuit at the San Juan Airport that has been laid out by the designer who set up the Burke Lakefront Airport layout for Cleveland. Trans Am will run there very soon...

I like Airport Circuits...Cleveland is a great race with CART...lots of passing and action....San Juan's circuit is 1.6 miles, and Cleveland's is closer to 2 miles if I remember correctly...


This would be a very good possibility.....especially given that it would be a rather picturesque setting on San Juan Harbor...

Also Give this some thought....

An airport at a Sunbelt City location that might offer more runways or space, as well as good weather, for an April race (Houston? San Antonio? New Orleans?) so that the circuit could be about as long as Cleveland's.....the shipping and transport costs would be much less if you did it in the States, and there are lots of Gear Heads in Texas as a base for support to try to build the event....

I'll bet Chevyguy would attend a texas event....

To Chevyguy....


What is the word on the Boundless Motorplex???? Is it coming along, and will they hit the 2004 target to open it for racing????

I know they are looking at MotoGP, but the place is also supposed to be FIA as well for sportscars....from what I've read about it anyway...

I'd sure like for the April event to be on a specifically set up road course like Boundless Motorplex in the Dallas area...that would save the hassles of shutting down airport traffic, setting up grandstands and amentities, etc....

[Fogelhund]

Mar. 15-20 – Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, 12 hours
April 16-18 - Mexico, Brazil????
May 15-16 - VIR or The Glen perhaps.
June 25-27 – Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Lexington, OH, 2:45
July 2-5 – Lime Rock Park, Lakeville, CT, 2:45
July 16-18 - Mont Tremblant, Montreal ???
Aug. 6-8 – Mosport International Raceway, Bowmanville, ON, Can., 2:45
Aug. 20-22 – Road America, Elkhart Lake, WI, 2:45.
Sept. 5-7 – Road Atlanta, Braselton, GA, Petit Le Mans, 1,000 miles or 10 hours
Sept 19-21 – Portland (OR) International Raceway, 2:45
Oct 14-16 – Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA, 2:45
Nov 7-9 – Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Monterey, CA, 4 hours

[Tim Northcutt]

I like many parts of your 2004 schedule, and your travel flow works better than mine does...

My Only Question:

How difficult will a mid-May date be for the ALMS teams????

It was a lot of travel and work for them to go from Test Day to Sears Point in 2002, then prepare for Le Mans....

VIR would let them do some testing of set-ups for LM though

[LouisTheShark]

"What is the word on the Boundless Motorplex???? Is it coming along, and will they hit the 2004 target to open it for racing????"

The parent company just announced they are buying WOW and DIRT and their SEC filing states the following: "The Company had no cash capital at the end of the period and no assets. The Company will be forced to either borrow or make private placements of stock in order to fund operations. No assurance exists as to the ability to achieve loans or make private placements of stock."

On their website they claim they own or lease 5 race tracks, but those tracks were owned by DIRT. Neither sale, DIRT or WOW are closed deals yet.

Their latest press release states: "Based in Richardson, TX, Boundless is a racing and sports entertainment company. Boundless is currently pursuing the acquisition of dirt motor sports racing sanctioning organizations, promotional organizations and racetracks in the United States. Boundless also may acquire the rights to other international racing series in the United States and internationally."

Not sure how the Boundless Motorplex is to fit within their stated direction. It seems everything they are doing involves dirt racing.

[Magical Trevor]

Originally posted by Tim Northcutt
How difficult will a mid-May date be for the ALMS teams????

I thought about this too. I wondered why the Lime Rock date wasn't on Memorial Day, as that's when Lime Rock has it's biggest event. I guess LRP favored to keep it's meazley Trans-Am race instead...

[Tim Northcutt]

I thought that Boundless had actually broken ground and had their road circuit under construction????

the layout and the distance of the road circuit (3.2 miles) looks decent from the rendering posted on e-tracks.....


I wonder how far along it is, and if there are some enterprising Texans who might want to buy a "work in progress" for a good price to complete it...the circuit and facilities described on e-tracks sounds like this would be a first-rate facility....if it ever becomes completed and in operation...

[73_Gstock]

I'd have the following:

March 19th Sebring 12 hrs
April 4th Peurto Rico 2:45
May and June at LeMans (ACO won't give up the test no matter how useless or pointless)
June 27 Mid-Ohio 2:45
July 5 Lime Rock 2:45
July 18 Infineon 2:45
July 25 Portland 2:45
Aug 8 Mosport 4 hr
Aug 22 Road America 500 mile
Sept 6 Barber 2:45 --Labor Day, nothing else is suprisingly on
Sept 25 Road Atlanta Petit 1000 mile
Oct 16 Laguna 4 hr into dusk

Add two races, increase the length of two.

[73_Gstock]

for what its worth, I heard, but don't know where, that Boundless has nixed the idea of the road course

[LouisTheShark]

I don't know how far along they are but I didn't find any references to a ground breaking. In April they said they had submitted a second set of "final" proposals of the track design to the FIM/FIA for approval and they claimed to have raised half of the $250 million they needed.

They hoped to get approval of the track plan within the next 30 - 45 days (end of June) to stay within their sprint 2005 completion timeline.

There have been no progress updates posted on the track website since April.

[sgw2]

Laguna Seca was moved to October because the weather is better and it is the traditional big race date there (my home track).

PLM was moved to September because CART wont pay ALMS for Miami.

The schedule has to consider some other important dates:

April 25, Le Mans Test Day
May 9, Monza 1000km Le Mans Endurance Series (LMES)
June 15/16, Le Mans 24 Hours
July 11, Nürbürgring 1000km LMES
August 15, Silverstone 1000km LMES
September 12, Spa-Francorchamps 1000km LMES

On the IMSA board a consensus has emerged that ACO needs to move the LM test day to two or three weeks prior to LM to allow ALMS to schedule two more races in April/May time frame.

The wish list has Watkins Glen, Barber, and VIR at the top. Mt. Tremblant also would get favorable reviews.

ACO indicates that LMES would like to add an Asian race (Fuji? Kuala Lumpar? Korea? China?). Scott Atherton has decided to keep ALMS North America focused, and get out of the political business of dealing with city races.

Personally, I'd like to see a deal cut with Grand-Am (let then get a Road Atlanta or Mosport date) to add Watkins Glen to the schedule. If Mt. Tremblant or VIR or Barber (most likely) come up to standard, then they would make great additions.

I'd love to add Long Beach, but in reality, once the CART contract is up, most likely IRL and Grand-Am will replace CART and Trans-Am. ALMS wont get an opportunity.

[paul-collins]

Originally posted by sgw2
On the IMSA board a consensus has emerged that ACO needs to move the LM test day to two or three weeks prior to LM to allow ALMS to schedule two more races in April/May time frame.

I doubt this idea is limited to just the IMSA board.

Frankly, I don't see the need for more than a 4 week separation between the two - and this year they have seven weeks!

I suppose if you want to say that teams
[list=a][*]need two weeks between TD and any LMES event that would occur between TD and LM, and[*]need three weeks from the LMES event to LM,[/list=a]I could see my way clear to allowing for 5 weeks. But seven???

[LouisTheShark]

In the old days there was not such a time provision for teams to go to Le Mans and still some N.A. teams competed there.

Wouldn't a special travel program to deal with the additional cost of transporting equipment to and from Europe a better way than punish the N.A. fans and teams not going to LM?

[Fogelhund]

I apologize for not clarifying my April/May events.

Look, this is pie in the sky stuff, and I know exactly how much influence I have in this matter. So, I arranged to have LM test days moved to early June. As a result, there is no longer a conflict.

[Zinger]

The Bathurst 24 Hour in November would be a great way to cap off the seasons.

[Liz]

I had an interview with the owner and team manager of Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing and they had all they could do (in tandem with AJR) to get all their equipment packed and shipped to Le Mans after Sebring, and then after the test day to send everything to the factory where the cars had to be finished. In a world where everyone had endless supplies of American dollars and the crew and factory backing to match, perhaps we could have five races between Sebring and Le Mans and not end up with 10 car fields.

Me, i'm happy with what we have for next year and except for Road America, which is impossible for anyone without a car to attend, we will have all the races next year covered by members of our web crew. Considering we also cover SWC, that's about all we can afford too!

[Tim Northcutt]

Thoughts to Consider:

Let's look at possible venues not considered in various regions....some exist, some have available facilities, some have "Please buy me, Don Panoz" written all over them....

Pacific Northwest:

Seattle International Raceway -- OK, so the circuit is not that exciting, but it is a little over 2 miles long, it is near a major population center, and it has facilities for the teams and spectators...

Spokane Raceway -- They have renovated this circuit...looks very nice on their website...but I have no idea if they have the facilities for the teams, althought they do handle magor drag racing on thier front straightaway (supposedly the longest main straight in North America...

SeaTAc Air Station -- In the Seattle/Tacoma area...Is it still an active base????

Western Canada:

Edmonton -- There has to be a way to do this as a transition year bfore the proposed circuit is completed or approved or whatever for 2005

Race City -- this circuit in Calagary could handle a race...but I know Zero about it....

Eastern Canada:

Calabogie -- It it ever comes about...sounds like a zoning fight up there from other threads...and probably way too close to Mosport...

We already have Mt. Tremblant on our wish list....

Northeast USA:

Bridgehampton -- On Long Island, Don Panoz should spend whatever it would take to buy this and out-spend the golf course and/or housing developers to get it....a historic circuit in the largest media market in the USA....the circuit exists...spend the money, Don!!!!

Ft. Dix/McGuire AFB -- HUGE military complex that was closed or has nearly all of its activities shut down not far from major metro areas, including NY City...

Griffiss Air Force Base -- in Rome, NY, between Syracuse and Utica, there are business interests already pursuing a possible road course facility on this closed air base....

Otis Aif Force Base -- Just south of Boston where Cape Cod attaches to the mainland....minutes away from the biggest metro area in New England and one of the big summer vacation spots in that region....


Central USA:

Brainerd MN -- An exisiting 3.2 mi. road course....lots of racing there already via SCCA, etc.....never been there...would it handle sportscars like ALMS????

Chicago -- How about Midway Airport, or even the Lake Shore Drive & McCormick Park area in the Downtown???? City politics has been a bane for ALMS in DC, Miami, and other places, but Chicago would be awesome....

NOTE: There are other Air Bases in Michigan that were closed and are now Idle....can't remember the specific names...but I remember seeing various economic use studies being done for many now-closed facilities by the respective states, including Michigan, to make them economically viable...

Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- I did a thread on this back in the spring...use a part of the F-1 course, but instead of the road circuit turning right and entering the oval at Turn 2, turn left down a wide in-the track road called Shaw Boulevard and bring it out in the north short chute near Turn 3...the result would be a 4.6 mile course that would utilize all of the 300,000 seats at IMS, and would give the infield spectator mounds some awesome race actioon to watch from as well...

Far-fetched??? -- Got news for you...now that F-1 has moved to June here, they have been testing MotoGP SuperBikes out there this fall...
Labor Day weekend at the Brickyard with a 1,000 km, or a 6-8 hr race would be a huge success....

I'm not big on Rovals...in fact I hate them...but the facilities of Indy are the best on the planet when it comes to auto racing...it would be an awesome venue for ALMS....

Putnam Park -- Just east of Indy, the test track....they have land out there to set up temporary stands...it is 30 minutes from Indy and Terre Haute for fan lodging, etc, not far off I-70 for access...built on decent terrain....but it's only 1.8 miles...I'm clueless on what kind of facilities, if any, are located there...

Indianapolis Raceway Park -- Has a good road circuit on the gounds, and knows how to handle crowds, etc....good sized circuit, but it is flat as a pancake...not a lot of personality to it....


TEXAS:

I think it is Ideal for an April Date....here are options:

Cabaniss Naval Air Station -- In Corpus Christi, they have designed a 2.6 mile circuit there that SCCA has run some eents on....it is a start and is worth considering...

Carswell Air Force Base -- in the Fort Worth area, another one of those shut-down bases....big market, lots of runways and big hangars for garage areas for the teams....

Austin TX -- There also was an air base there that was shut down...they were looking for viable economic uses for it....

Other California Venues:

The New Riverside: Supposedly, thee is a new road course being built in that general area....don't know anything more than that...

Buttonwood: The only thing I know about it is that it has four different road course configurations that can get fairly large (2.5 miles or so???) but I have no clue on whether or not it is even close to being suited for ALMS racing...

NOTE: There have to be closed Air Force Bases or Naval Air Base facilities in the Southern California area...how about San Diego????

One Last Note:

I know that Air Bases and such will be very flat and will have no character to them....

However, they all have a lot of wide, paved roadways/runways, the open land to set up stands and amenities as well as park cars for the fans, and infrastructure like hangars, and other serice buildings that would lend themselves to being converted to race courses...

It would be a cost-effective way for ALMS to get into untapped metro areas for races, and the local governments would be willing to possibly work with them for the economic benefits without going through the hassles of street circuits, noise ordinances, closing municipal airports to commercial traffic, etc...

[Tim Northcutt]

I forgot to put one venue for the Southwest USA as a possible April or October/November race that helps teams heading back west for Laguna Seca :

Arizona Motorsports Complex in the Phoenix Area:

Doesn't get in the way of IRL or Grand Am at Phoenix International Raceway, and it is a 2.2 mile purpose-built road course...not a roval...

[paul-collins]

Brainerd would need serious upgrading, from what I've heard, to be acceptable to ALMS.

Chicago is out of the question, so long as Elkhart is in the mix.

Panoz was asked about Bridghampton on Wind Tunnel, and he said basically that there's waaaay too much politics involved - particularly, when you consider who the NIMBY people would be, and how much money they'd have to finance an anti-race campaign. But he'd love to go, if it could be worked out.

Texas or SoCal in April is a good idea, but I have to wonder if any existing facilities are worthwhile; I'd think that Los Angeles options would be under heavy scrutiny right now. I'd love to see a reborn Riverside, wherever it has to be built. It's really too bad that it got closed, as development seems stalled now, but it's lost just enough of the track to be useable.

edit: correction, it's pretty much all gone.

http://www.tamsoldracecarsite.net/Ri...side%20Overlay

[Tim Northcutt]

I've gotta think that the LEAST political way (believe it or not)and the one that would also be the least expensive to create, is the closed air bases.....

The big issue with those locations would be the actual conditions of the runways themselves....but air bases that were shut down within the last 5-7 years would have relatively decent pavement still in place.....

The local communities near these closed facilities really took an economic hit, and virtually all of them are looking for new ways to use them for economic growth...the various congressmen who represent the districts where they bases closed are also active in finding ways to make them viable in some way, and the government would love to lease them out or sell them in some way shape or form to generate $$$$ from them....

[veeten]

like post-WW II England, when many of the former RAF airfields were converted into raceways with help from the car clubs & the BRDC.

a similar attempt could be done here.

[Tim Northcutt]

It makes a lot of sense, since land is expensive, developing even more so, and anything that does not already sit as "land Used" will face opposition from every type of NIMBY group that can ever be imagined on anything from teh ground up, unless it is so far in the sticks that you wouldn't have any support facilities like hotels, good access highways, etc., around it....

On Another Note:

Can anyone tell me if Spokane or Seattle International would be OK venues for ALMS????

Since the real ALMS season is making two "western road trips," why not do two Pacific Northwest venues to pair up with the two existing, and popular California circuits????