If You Ran The Schedule ...

[Flatspot]

Let's suppose we were each in charge of the series schedule. Time, market,and cost constraints only allow 14 races. ...Which races and in what order?

My Picks:

1. St. Pete's
2. Mexico City
3. Long Beach
4. Milwakee Mile
5. Cleveland
6. Road America
7. Toronto
8. Miami
9. Monterrey Mexico
10. Montreal
11. Portland
12. Gold Coast
13. Fontana
14. Laguna Seca

A much tougher excercise than I thought.

[macdaddy]

If the ISC wasn't an issue, I'd add Michigan, keep Fontana, and make EuroSpeedway a 500-miler. The "Triple Crown" would be reborn!

But you're absolutely right, Flatspot, in suggesting that narrowing it down to 14 truly is a tough task! Every track on your list deserves to be there, but then again, so does Vancouver.

But, if I were in charge, I'd reinstate a Detroit GP just to be greedy. (45 miles away!) Otherwise, I'd have to agree with Flatspot's list.

[Dov]

My Picks: (no particular order)

1. St. Pete
2. Mexico City
3. Long Beach
4. Milwaukee Mile
5. Cleveland
6. Road America
7. Toronto
8. Mid-Ohio
9. Monterrey Mexico
10. Montreal
11. Portland
12. Gold Coast
13. Fontana
14. Laguna Seca

The same schedule as Flatspots, except I replaced Miami with Mid-Ohio. I would also add Michigan to the schedule if it was possible.

[Omega99]

Same list as Dov, but I'd add Vancouver. If your going to take into account cost constraints, you might as well have events that are already profitable. It would be hard to drop any of the other events though, but I suppose it would be Portland. It's dropped off in popularity lately, but I would definitely miss the track. Like the others, however, it could always be added again later. I wouldn't particularily miss Denver or Miami, and it's fairly certain we won't be seeing the European events next year. If it were 15 events, I'd keep Portland on there. (And of course, Michigan would be sweet)

[Phoenix1]

UK track please - Donny or Silverstone maybe?

[Snrub]

Using only current tracks in no particular order and not nessisarly being good for CART, I'd eliminate the following 5:
Name - Reason I don't like it
Vancouver - No passing.
Mid-Ohio - No passing.
Brands - No passing.
Germany - Never has really had that great a race there. more CART's fault for never getting the right aero setup.
Miami - My last pick. Obviously one of the lesser street races has to go. St. Pete's was decent and has potential, Denver produced a very good race (though Mario may have made it better than it should have been).

From a marketing perspective probably only Mid-Ohio should be on that list. Brands should be running on the full circuit. I don't care if they have to put concrete barriers and tires around it to make it like a street venue and pay the local residents to shut up.

[corkholio]

Surfers Paradise
St. Petersburg
Long Beach
Milwaukee
Portland
Cleveland
Toronto
Mid-Ohio
Road America
Road Atlanta
Montreal
Sebring/Gateway
Laguna Seca
Mexico City

[Jay]

wow...I actually like corkholio's for the most part... I'd probably swap Sebring/Gateway for Vancouver, throw in Monterrey...oh, and Laguna Seca would be a Cart/ALMS combo. I'm not sure if Champ cars at Road Atlanta is feasible though...

I really like the idea of a street race in Miami, but they really need to have an acceptable track. I've been driving last year's on Grand Prix 3 (computer sim), and I find it amazing to believe that they actually had a car race on such a narrow, no place to lap a car never mind pass race track. I mean, it was REALLY bad! I think I remember Johnny Herbert telling me it was 'shyte' for ALMS too... but that weekend of CART+ALMS in Miami has enormous potential.

[DNQ]

Well, I think 16 rounds is more likely next year, but if it has to be just 14, I'd probably go with this; this is my best effort at keeping money making races without sacrificing good races. And unfortunantly, it's the street races that are the most financially healthy...

St. Petersburg.
Long Beach.
Milwaukee.
Laguna Seca.
Portland.
Cleveland.
Toronto.
Vancouver.
Montreal.
Miami.
Mexico City.
Surfers Paradise.
Fontana.

Gone - The European round is too expensive at the moment, so it's gone. Mid-Ohio and Fundidora Park are the road courses I have had to sacrifice, whilst Denver is the missing street circuit.

Then as soon as we were able to go up to 18 rounds again, I'd add Sao Paulo, Donington and a street race in Korea, then either Mid-Ohio again, or another race in Brazil or Mexico.

[BobbyB]

Just a question with cost being the concern... I know that Surfer's is quite popular with everyone and perhaps it generates a fair amount of money, but how does it fare when the transport-costs of shipping all that machinery halfway around the world are factored in? With little to none in the way of North American sponsor benefits (presumed), how can this good ol' race be economically viable to CART when costs will have to be trimmed like never before?

[david_james2000]

What there championship needs is a few more American drivers also i'd go with 16 rounds for 2 years (no particular order)

St. Petersburg - Street/USA
Long Beach - Street/USA
Cleveland - Street/USA
Denver - Street/USA
Road America - Road/USA
Mid-Ohio - Road/USA
Portland - Road/USA
Laguna Seca - Road/USA
Milwaukee Mile - Oval/USA
Fontana or Daytona - Oval/USA
Mexico City - Road/Mexico
Monterrey - Road/Mexico
Vancouver - Street/Canada
Montreal - Road/Canada
Surfers Paradise - Street/Australia
And one in Brazil somewhere

But for the future i'd add
Donington - UK
Lausitzring - Germany
Nogaro - France (dont ask why i like the circuit)
Pulkovskoe Koltso (St. Petersburg) - Russia
Comp-Speed - China (heard rumers there where try to get cart to this curcite)

Also change the engines to normally aspirated 4ltr V8's with only 4 manufactures (Ford, Cadillac, MG and Porsche) and 3 Constructors (Lola, Panoz/Van Diemen and one other?)

[paul-collins]

erm, you won't get Vancouver and Montreal if you drop Toronto. I'd bet that Molson would have some nasty things to say about that move.

[david_james2000]

Originally posted by paul-collins
erm, you won't get Vancouver and Montreal if you drop Toronto. I'd bet that Molson would have some nasty things to say about that move.

Good point I do like both circuits, but when i think about it Toronto is better.

and before anyone point this out yes i know Cleveland is a airport circuit

[david_james2000]

Ok I've had a good think about this one now and this is how I'd do it. (Yes I know I've repeated myself on a few things)

1. Run to a 16-race calendar (see below) for at least 2 year no more then 3 then increase it to 20-race calendar, but also invest in marketing in Europe and the Far East for future races and sponsors.
2. Encourage team to take on a few more America drives to help boots US interest in series.
3. Make it easy for fans to get see the drives/teams by crating a Champ Car Village at each race weekends.
4. Link up with the ALMS for a few race weekends.
5. Run to a 2-day event: - Day 1 - 1st Practice 2hour, 1st Qualifying 1hour, 2nd Practice 1hour.
Day 2 - Warm up 15min, 2nd Qualifying single lap, Race X Amount Distance
6. Ditch the stupid pit stop window rule, but keep the single lap qualifying for the final qualifying as it make a interesting race if a front runner gets it wrong and start from the back of the grid.
7. Testing will be restricted 4hour per day and there will be 3day at Sebring & 2day Laguna Seca before the start of the season, 2day at Portland after the race weekend, 2day at Sebring before Surfers Paradise, 1day at Fontana a week before the race and 2hour at Elkhart Lake & Mid-Ohio before 1st Practice giving a total of 44hours testing in the year.
8. Winter testing will be restricted to 6day, 5 hours per day after the last race of the season running at Laguna Seca, Portland, Sebring and Firebird Raceway

Yes I've took some ideas from F1 but put my own twist to them, I know not everyone will like my idea's but you can't keep everyone happy.

Chassis (Only 3): - Lola, G-Force, Dome
Engines: - Normally aspirated 4.0ltr V8 - RPM 10,000 - BHP 700 BHP (Estimated)
Manufactures (Only 4): - MG, Porsche, Ford, Nissan/Infiniti or Cadillac
Tyres: - Bridgestone

Calendar: -
S 1 St. Petersburg - USA
R 2 Monterrey - Mexico
R 3 Brasilia or Jacarepaguá - Brazil
S 4 Long Beach - USA
O 5 Milwaukee Mile* - USA
S 6 Toronto - Canada
R 7 Laguna Seca - USA - with ALMS
R 9 Portland - USA
S 8 Denver - USA
S 10 Cleveland* - USA
R 11 Elkhart Lake (Road America) - USA - with ALMS
R 12 Mid-Ohio - USA - with ALMS
R 13 Montreal - Canada
S 14 Surfers Paradise - Australia
R 15 Mexico City - Mexico - with ALMS
O 16 Fontana - USA
(O = Oval, R = Road Course, S = Street Course *Night Race)
Future Venues: -
R Donington - UK
O Lausitzring - Germany
R Nogaro or Pau - France
S Pulkovskoe Koltso (St. Petersburg) - Russia
R Argentina - Buenos Aires
R Sugo - Japan
R Comp-Speed (Beijing) - China
St. Petersburg Long Beach Milwaukee Mile Toronto Laguna Seca Portland Denver Cleveland Elkhart Lake Mid-OhioMontreal Surfers Paradise Mexico City Fontana

[macdaddy]

I'd add a touch of nostalgia, and incorporate a dirt track somewhere!

[paul-collins]

Dirt track would be interesting, but would guys end up having roadsters for that race alone? Consider that the USAC racers in the 60's and early 70's would run front-engined on the dirt and rear-engined on the tarmac (before sprints split off on their own)...

[david_james2000]

Originally posted by macdaddy
I'd add a touch of nostalgia, and incorporate a dirt track somewhere!

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm here?

[macdaddy]

No sarcasm... Just think that it would be quite interesting.

[rodrigomarban]

My $0.02:

I agree with most posts, but I would like a place like Mexico City as the season finale. I was there last year and the people were just over-excited. It was so crowded that there wasn't enough space even for a needle. The grandstands were vibrating harder than they would do on an earthquake. Somewhere I read that the same thing happens in Canada, so those are my favorite ones.

[david_james2000]

Originally posted by macdaddy
No sarcasm... Just think that it would be quite interesting.

ok just wondering

Originally posted by rodrigomarban
I agree with most posts, but I would like a place like Mexico City as the season finale.

I thinks is important that championship start and finishers in the US for a marketing point of view and also finish on a big race like Fontana, I would agree Mexico City would make a excellent final race that why I would have it as the 2nd last race.

[DNQ]

Yes, I agree. Start and finish in the US, for sure.

[Flatspot]

I picked Laguna Seca as a finishing point as that was the tradition during C^RT's hayday. The attendance at the race was above 70,000 and began to drop when it was not the final race and has really dropped (30,000-) since it was moved to June. Oct./Nov. is the proven formula there.

In my original post I typed Miami instead of Mid-Ohio by accident. My bad, so I agree with Dov's list. I could easily see Vancouver in lieu of Portland but would ultimately like to see both.

Start and finish in the US? Absolutley!!!

[david_james2000]

So if the Calendar was : -
S 1 St. Petersburg - USA
R 2 Monterrey - Mexico
R 3 Brasilia or Jacarepaguá - Brazil
S 4 Long Beach - USA
O 5 Milwaukee Mile* - USA
S 6 Toronto - Canada
R 7 Portland - USA
S 8 Denver - USA
S 9 Cleveland* - USA
R 10 Elkhart Lake (Road America) - USA - with ALMS
R 11 Mid-Ohio - USA - with ALMS
R 12 Montreal - Canada
S 13 Surfers Paradise - Australia
R 14 Mexico City - Mexico - with ALMS
O 15 Fontana - USA
R 16 Laguna Seca - USA - with ALMS
(O = Oval, R = Road Course, S = Street Course *Night Race)

Also been look back at what other race/tracks where user and i'd like to see the reture of Watkins Glen, Detroit - Belle Isle Park, Houston - Texas

[Tenoch]

Sounds good but i would place Long Beach at the end or as the race that opens that summer period, since it is the "Monaco" of cart as for the Monterrey race I'd drop that and the European rounds, the ciruits are unispariting as would I drop Denevr what a horrible setup. Get rid of Miami and stop trying to make it seem the hip race of the year shift that to Long Beach.A third nigth race should be formed to allow a triplecrown so that there can be a knig of the night.

[macdaddy]

Problem with the night races is the expense. Milwaukee's lights are permanent, so a night race is likely for next year, but I don't think they'll be running Cleveland at dusk this year. Too bad, because the sunset over the lake was beautiful! But right now there's nobody in Cleveland to pick up the cost, other than CART itself.