[ELMS] ELMS 2013 Discussion

[urdragon]

Originally Posted by deggis

You're right, but even the English version on elms.com is extremely confusing.

http://www.europeanlemansseries.com/....php?news=2214


"qualifying a 3-hour", is that supposed to say "qualifying and a 3-hour..."? That would make sense.

If it was true i would be the unique prefering 2*3h than six hours, anyway is too much racing for a weekend, with 2*2h or 2*1,5 it would be perfect for me. Anyway i think the article says 1 single 3h race.

[kober]

Le Calendrier 2013 devoile

Chacune des cinq manches se déroulera sur deux jours, avec des essais libres le vendredi, ainsi qu'une séance qualificative et une course de trois heures le samedi

And that means: "Each of the five rounds takes place over two days, with free practice on Friday, and a qualifying session and a race for three hours on Saturday".

[Bentley03]

Originally Posted by kober

And that means: "Each of the five rounds takes place over two days, with free practice on Friday, and a qualifying session and a race of three hours on Saturday".

Got there in the end......

[ger80]

who is going to get the pits when they share with WSBR?

[isynge]

I think my main issue with how the calendar now stands is that we've got a very busy April / May period, with quite a few events I'd like to go to in appealing locations, with the consequence that I'm unlikely to be able to do the lot of them, and then post Le Mans, a lot of stuff that frankly is a lot less likely to be accessible.

I guess a weekend break to Budapest in September is not entirely unfeasible - but realistically it almost feels like the old days when the season essentially finished with Le Mans.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

GT3 cars welcomed in ELMS 2013! Wasn't the case this year but nobody showed up?

http://audi-motorsport-blog.blogspot...ries-2013.html

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

GT3 cars welcomed in ELMS 2013! Wasn't the case this year but nobody showed up?

Yes... though the offer came out midseason, so there is a bit more hope someone would make full season plans...

[DeathOrGlory]

Maybe Blancpain teams?

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

I don't know really. Point is in Blancpain GT3s are the top class, the lone one (even they are devided in three). In ELMS they will be only the fifth one behind P2, PC and both GTEs.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by Subaru_WRX_STi

I don't know really. Point is in Blancpain GT3s are the top class, the lone one (even they are devided in three). In ELMS they will be only the fifth one behind P2, PC and both GTEs.

Exactly. Pro drivers will always prefer Blancpain over ELMS GTC.

[urdragon]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Exactly. Pro drivers will always prefer Blancpain over ELMS GTC.

Unless they (The pro's) drive the top class LMP2 ...


The GT's are the gridfillers at ELMS, the problem should be the lack of LMPs and also (For the ACO) the multiclass at GT's .

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

IMO what made life difficult for the 2012 ELMS was clearly the lack for GTE competitors. The LMP2 field was a good one.

[Fogelhund]

Originally Posted by urdragon

The GT's are the gridfillers at ELMS, the problem should be the lack of LMPs and also (For the ACO) the multiclass at GT's .

Problem being... the grid didn't get filled, with the gridfillers.

[Jameson]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Exactly. Pro drivers will always prefer Blancpain over ELMS GTC.

True. But perhaps a few gentleman drivers prefer to drive for top5 class results in ELMS rather than not get into top30 overall in BES. After all, BES has 15 or so fully pro cars and then a massive number of Pro-Ams which are mostly a mixture of pro and quick young silver. In BES, the real gentlemen are having a hard time, unless they enter the gentleman cup so ELMS might be the solution for them.

Also, both being 5 weekends but ELMS without a 24h race, it's going to be massively cheaper than BES.

[urdragon]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

Problem being... the grid didn't get filled, with the gridfillers.

Don't expect to fill ALL the grid with the gridfillers, maybe if there were assymetrically more LMP's than GT's you could blame GT's, its a generalised problem, not one of the GT classes only, i mean ELMS needs (2012) both more LMP's and GT's which is harder to solve.

Originally Posted by Chiana

Provisional entry list for Donington now back down to 19...

12x LMP2
02x LMPC
02x LMGTE-PRO
03x LMGTE-AM
00x GTC/GT3

Maybe Ur right, i would give a "wild card" to a GT3 winner team to align a GTE at Le Mans or some solution like this.

[GTKers]

Main problem here is: Who does want to pay to drive watching the mirrors every 2 seconds?

Better play with a gt3 on the Blancpain than be in a tent in a renaul event and spend 3 hours being overlapped

[Simmi]

The only reason I could see that you'd do it was if you were a team who wanted to eventually move up into the WEC or Le Mans but wanted to do it in stages and learn multi-class racing. Maybe you don't have the budget quite for a full-blown GTE.

But that's clutching at straws to be honest. I'd either secure a GTE somehow or just go Blancpain and take a crack at the Spa 24.

[Thumper]

Having chatted to a number of teams, the general reaction to the calendar and circuits has been favourable, but the reduction in race distance from 6 hours to 3 has not been well received. This is especially true of teams running in P2, where the requirement to run a gentleman driver still stands. Most would much prefer a longer format that would enable them to justify a three-driver line-up.

The suggestion that race length and meeting duration has been reduced to keep the costs down just doesn't hold water. I've heard from two teams, independently, who each claim that the saving will be around 10-12% max, but that they will lose out in other ways, not only financially, but also as a result of the format being less appealing to sponsors and drivers.

Also critical will be the TV deal that goes with this.

[NaBUru38]

Thanks, Thumper!

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by Thumper

The suggestion that race length and meeting duration has been reduced to keep the costs down just doesn't hold water. I've heard from two teams, independently, who each claim that the saving will be around 10-12% max, but that they will lose out in other ways, not only financially, but also as a result of the format being less appealing to sponsors and drivers.

Also critical will be the TV deal that goes with this.

Why would it be less appealing to sponsors? 3 hour distances are much more TV-friendly than 6 hour races.

I do agree that this format is less appealing to drivers (especially professional drivers) because of less race time. Most teams need a gentleman-pay driver, and having a 3 driver line-up is too much for a 3 hour race.

[Maelochs]

Sponsors get half the exposure if the race is half as long?

The sponsors’ costs don’t go up if the team breaks, runs a full race, runs a longer race ... but a sponsor’s value received goes down if the race is half as long because it is half the time to be in front of fans, on TV, or mentioned on RLM.

Three hours isn’t particularly TV-friendly, either. A three-hour race is a 3:30 timeslot (pre- and post-race included) which is a big chunk of time already.

A TV deal which offered 90 minutes at the start and 90 at the finish would probably be better for the TV network (could run a football match and another shorter event in the middle) and also would end on the hour, when most events start, whereas the 3:30 show would cut into the next hour.

A network willing to devote 3:30 I’d think would be willing to devote 6:30—if they thought they had the fan base to justify one, the same fan base would justify the other. How many of us would only watch the first half of a race?

Much more likely someone would watch the start and first hour, do some yard work to keep the wife quiet, and watch the finish.

Of course, I am not a TV executive and am only guessing.

The big deal though, is team funding—not being able to offer a slot to another funded driver cuts into team revenue, which means they need more sponsor dollars, while offering less sponsor exposure.

[Salamus]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Sponsors get half the exposure if the race is half as long?

The sponsors’ costs don’t go up if the team breaks, runs a full race, runs a longer race ... but a sponsor’s value received goes down if the race is half as long because it is half the time to be in front of fans, on TV, or mentioned on RLM.

Unless you're expecting grid sizes of 50-60 cars, there will be plenty of time for each sponsor to get their "15 minutes of fame."

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Three hours isn’t particularly TV-friendly, either. A three-hour race is a 3:30 timeslot (pre- and post-race included) which is a big chunk of time already.

I don't know how TV schedules work in Europe but here in North America, a typical sporting event has a 3-4 hour time slot.

Originally Posted by Maelochs

A TV deal which offered 90 minutes at the start and 90 at the finish would probably be better for the TV network (could run a football match and another shorter event in the middle) and also would end on the hour, when most events start, whereas the 3:30 show would cut into the next hour.

You just said that a 3-hour race provides half the exposure, isn't 2 90-minute sessions even worse?

Originally Posted by Maelochs

A network willing to devote 3:30 I’d think would be willing to devote 6:30—if they thought they had the fan base to justify one, the same fan base would justify the other. How many of us would only watch the first half of a race?

Motorsport fans will watch a race no matter the length. But an average viewer doesn't have the patience for a 6-hour race.

Originally Posted by Maelochs

The big deal though, is team funding—not being able to offer a slot to another funded driver cuts into team revenue, which means they need more sponsor dollars, while offering less sponsor exposure.

I guess teams will have a make a hard decision, have two gentleman drivers or one gentleman and one pro. Like I said before, I find that this is the only problem with shortening the race distance.

[pablocomics]

A few days ago Endurance-info made a ELMS silly season and they was speaking about 20 cars on the grid.
They also talked about a likely new french team with a LMP2, any idea about who is that team? Maybe Sbarta?

[Canada ALMS fan]

Originally Posted by pablocomics

A few days ago Endurance-info made a ELMS silly season and they was speaking about 20 cars on the grid.
They also talked about a likely new french team with a LMP2, any idea about who is that team? Maybe Sbarta?

And if half that grid is their version of the GTC class, I'll call it now, you can put a fork in this series. It's done.

[Speed-King]

There were talks about running together with French GT at Imola, but apparently the French GT teams weren't interested in doing an endurance race, so they'll remain a support race.

Kinda tells you what to expect, though.