IRL Trying to Come to Canada - Impact on CC

[fia289]

Originally Posted by enemy-ace

I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that it would outsell any OW series as well.

43 cars around Gilles Villeneuve does have some kind of attraction doesn't it ?

Fred

[Kicking-back]

Originally Posted by JohnSSC

They have not been worried apparently about losing venues such as Laguna, RA, Mid Ohio, The 500, etc so maybe the plan is to turn CC into a sort "Pacific Rim F3000."

Formula Nippon is already that!

Out of the frying pan, into the fire....

[Snrub]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/15575/ Ranger (a Quebecer) was testing again and rather successfully. This time it was with the full time drivers and Timo Glock. If the OWRS guys are smart they'd better help this guy get a ride. The best way to secure the Montreal race would be to secure local interest in CC.

[Mosport67]

Originally Posted by Snrub

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/15575/ Ranger (a Quebecer) was testing again and rather successfully. This time it was with the full time drivers and Timo Glock. If the OWRS guys are smart they'd better help this guy get a ride. The best way to secure the Montreal race would be to secure local interest in CC.

If they were smart they would have kept Pat. Ranger though would be a really good second choice. Adding another Canadian would be a positive for ticket sales everywhere in Canada.

[fia289]

Adding Ranger is a great ticket seller anywhere, this kid is good...

Where he land for this year is complete mistery, he's tested champ, Renault V6, but nothing is confirmed as of yet.

Fred

[luke]

CCWS.com

The Champ Car World Series has joined with long-time sponsor partner Molson Breweries and event promoter Normand Legault to hold extremely successful races at Montreal’s Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in the past three seasons, and today reaffirmed its commitment to race at the popular Canadian venue.

“A lot of things have been said in the press and by people that aren’t necessarily the decision makers in this process,” Legault said. “The most important thing to note is that we have a contract with Champ Car for two more years and after the 2006 race I will sit down with Champ Car and see what else we can do. We currently have Formula 1 and Champ Cars, and we are not looking hosting more than two race weekends per year.”

The Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford has competed on the 2.709-mile Montreal road course since 2002, drawing crowds of over 133,000 in each of the three seasons, making it one of the most well-attended events on the Champ Car calendar. Like it has been in other successful Canadian Champ Car events, Molson Canada has played a key role in the success of the Montreal event, and intends to put its valuable expertise toward other successful Montreal races in 2005 and ’06.

Great news!!

[enemy-ace]

Excellent. I think it would be wise for another series such as either Busch or ALMS or maybe even Grand Am to race with CC in Montréal. You can never have to much racing on a weekend. I would be hesitant to invite Busch though. Wouldn't want to invite King Kong to your tea party.

[codename_47]

Well, that was fast!

Interesting that as soon as a Champcar-negative (and unsubstansiated, it seems) rumour comes out, the Champcar site is quick to quash such fears with a statement that may not say anything official, but at least quells people's fears!

This may not be the end of the IRL to Canada speculation.
If NASCAR wanders up to the oval mentioned earlier in the thread there's a chance the IRL could jump on it's back and come along for the ride, but for Montreal at least it doesn't seem likely....

[enemy-ace]

Canada doesn't have any Ovals that could support any kind of big league event.
It would have to be a road/street circuit.

[paul-collins]

Originally Posted by enemy-ace

Maybe so, but I imagine with the amount of drivers that Busch attracts from the Nextel Cup plus the addition of some Canadian drivers that a Busch race would be really well received. And not just from fans from Montréal.
I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that it would outsell any OW series as well.

I'll take that bet. Mexico last year had somewhere in the vicinity of 200k for raceday for Champcar; Busch had 90k last weekend. I believe Montreal would be similar.

Toronto, on the other hand...

[Liz]

I would love to see the Speed World Challenge race in Montreal with the Champ Cars. They draw the same kind of audience and possibly Memo could drive in both series that weekend which would make some people very happy.

I don't believe Another Series would be very popular in Canada, but maybe they would like to race in Winnipeg in April, or Regina. Or even Flin Flon. There are lots of cities in Canada where I would not be likely to go, and Another Series is welcome to them.

[Dov]

Originally Posted by Liz

I would love to see the Speed World Challenge race in Montreal with the Champ Cars. They draw the same kind of audience and possibly Memo could drive in both series that weekend which would make some people very happy.

Forget Montreal, i want to see the Speed World Challenge race here in Toronto alongside the Champ Cars. I just started to take notice of the SWC series last year and let me say the racing is fantastic. It's somewhat like the Aussie Super Car V8 series or the BTCC.

[paul-collins]

Dov, you know they're coming to Mosport, right?

[BootsOntheSide]

Liz, are you planning trips to Korea, South Africa, Germany or any of the other pie-in-the-sky venues ChampCars has looked towards?

[JohnSSC]

You forgot Argentina, Boots!

[Dov]

Originally Posted by paul-collins

Dov, you know they're coming to Mosport, right?

I thought that they might be, but thanks for confirming it, p-c.

[Snrub]

Why is Korea pie in the sky? Given the official ground breaking ceramony it is hard to believe that it is not a done deal.

[N I Tram]

Okay, if they've got the race sorted, let's see them make it successful over a long period of time. Let's see them make it profitable despite the transport costs and inevitably low initial ticket sales. Let's see them desperately find a fifth-rate Korean driver to bolster interest.

[JohnSSC]

This still makes little sense to me.

There are a number of terrific venues here that have already been built that do not require trans-Pacific transport costs to be incurred. The only reason (I can think of) to do this is if the long-term goal is to move away from the North/South American markets.

My question is still: Why? You already have a market here that is in tune to motorsports and far more affluent. The Amigos are moving to countries where wages are far lower, motorsports are not well known and the venues don't exist. If you are going to go, then why not go to Suzuka, for example. The Japanese have a good demographic, are familiar with motorsports and the facilities already exist.

I swear that these guys use a dart board to make decisions regarding the future of this series.

[gttouring]

IRL has never stated to be a "global" series, Champcar is, in fact the WorldSeries.
so it makes sense for them to run all over the planet. get good races in and raise the profile, i think they have their hands full though-IRL is one adversary, if superfund gets going full steam, well they are very simliar in performance to CCWS, and there are others. Champcar needs to ramp it up a tad to get more manufacturers or chassis in the game- Mygale? Dome? Van dieman (it is a spec ford series now anyway)
anyone?

[JohnSSC]

But manufacturer involvement has been the "kiss of death" to so many Series - why would anyone want more of it? Look how expensive the IRL has become since the manufacturers moved there, and F1 is the very definition of overkill.

Adding additional chassis options will only make CC more expensive then it is now. More testing, development, etc would be required to get the new chassis' "competetive." Look what happened to the Reynard when development stopped.

I admit that some diversity would be good, but the Series is barely keeping it's head above water now.

[luke]

[luke]

Originally Posted by dubby99

Why can't the IRL stay where it belongs?

Originally Posted by BootsOntheSide

For the same reasons that ChampCar didn't?

Well as nearly all of the current irl schedule is ex Champ car races, (Homestead, Phoenix, St.Petersburg, Motegi, Indy, (Fort worth, started with irl but, nearly had a Champ Ca race), Milwaukee, Michigan, Fontana, I believe Champ Car has the right to expand to new areas, for example, different parts of Asia, Europe, along with South America.

[N I Tram]

They've got the right to expand, but are they right to? They're losing more great US races (not neccessarily directly to the IRL) and making some major gambles in its new choices of race locations. Why are they doing the very things which eventually bankrupted CART.

[Snrub]

Presumable the reason that they're going to Korean instead of say Suzuka or Fuji, etc. is because of the criteria KK recently outlined: High sanctioning fees. If a local is willing to pony up the big bucks they're willing to go there. This isn't just about having a successful race, I think they could easily do that in an aditional Canadian, Mexican or South American situation. Before we start getting overly cynical, remember how much it is costing the OWRS guys to keep the series afloat. Cash needs to come into the series by any means, not necessarly through the traditional model. Given teams subsidization, etc, it's not just about money for the owners, it's also about paying for the teams with less than optimal levels of sponsorship.