Le Mans Series 2008

JAG · 18 Aug 2007, 18:21 (Ref:1991481)

As we're hitting the tail end of the 2007 LMS season it's time to look ahead to 2008.

Some DSC news snippets:-

Currently 85 entries for the 2008 series, GT2 backmarkers seemingly have no chance!

A1 Ring could replace Nurburgring (please), Barcelona may be in for Valencia.

Will Audi enter at last with Joest?

How many customer 908's?

**FIRE** · 18 Aug 2007, 18:56 (Ref:1991493)

85!? These are probably not all full season entries?

johntt · 18 Aug 2007, 21:00 (Ref:1991537)

afaik the A1 ring is abandoned with a large trench down the middle of the pit straight after mr red bull decided not to buy it.

barca for valencia - why bother with a race in spain where sportscars aren't really that big. donington would be far better.

audi with joest and private pugs - yes please!

TheNewBob · 19 Aug 2007, 15:59 (Ref:1992088)

Quote:

Originally Posted by johntt

barca for valencia - why bother with a race in spain where sportscars aren't really that big. donington would be far better.

Agree with the Spain bit, but not Donington. We already have Silverstone in there, and last year's Donington round was a headache for all the teams, so it would be better to go to a country with a large sportscar following - if a Dutch round is out of the question, what about countries fairly near? Brno, anyone?

Speed-King · 19 Aug 2007, 16:34 (Ref:1992107)

Brno has problems drawing large crowds for WTCC, so I don't think LMS would be a sucess there.
Maybe they should change from Nürburgring to Lausitz-Ring. Would give the series a bit of Daytona-Flavor...

TheNewBob · 19 Aug 2007, 17:43 (Ref:1992137)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Brno has problems drawing large crowds for WTCC, so I don't think LMS would be a sucess there.

What are their FIA GT crowds like?

johntt · 19 Aug 2007, 18:11 (Ref:1992158)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Brno has problems drawing large crowds for WTCC, so I don't think LMS would be a sucess there.
Maybe they should change from Nürburgring to Lausitz-Ring. Would give the series a bit of Daytona-Flavor...

Good idea with Lausitz - didn't think of that one.

I reckon they should ditch monza and use mugello instead, its a far more interesting track.

As for spain - replace it with somewhere with a sportscar following as has been said. Denmark anyone? Get an Audi in there and have Tom make a guest appearance.

The359 · 18 Aug 2007, 22:32 (Ref:1991579)

I thought A1-Ring had been destroyed after Red Bull did buy it, but their plans to turn it into a test track failed.

ger80 · 19 Aug 2007, 17:45 (Ref:1992140)

Video streaming like the Spa one would be great for the complete season ...
Timing should be improved, its updating to often from my point of view

Marcel ten Caat · 19 Aug 2007, 21:42 (Ref:1992326)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

Currently 85 entries for the 2008 series, GT2 backmarkers seemingly have no chance!

But do the organisers want Ferrari vs Porsche only or do they want Spyker, Panoz to give a more mixed field and more status

For some reason I think they prefer a Spyker over Porsche number X.

JAG · 20 Aug 2007, 16:28 (Ref:1992892)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stranger

But do the organisers want Ferrari vs Porsche only or do they want Spyker, Panoz to give a more mixed field and more status

For some reason I think they prefer a Spyker over Porsche number X.

Maybe more GT1's.

Looks like no LNT Panoz' next season unless Panoz develop the car.

ger80 · 20 Aug 2007, 17:28 (Ref:1992934)

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAG

Looks like no LNT Panoz' next season unless Panoz develop the car.

Is it a Team LNT statement?

HORNDAWG · 20 Aug 2007, 18:45 (Ref:1992989)

Jag where did the 85 possible entrants come from? (I can't seem to find that reference)

L.P.

Ebi · 20 Aug 2007, 19:18 (Ref:1993010)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ger80

Is it a Team LNT statement?

yes, the team owner him self said that during a live interview during the race at spa

Purist · 20 Aug 2007, 04:55 (Ref:1992456)

Beat me to the punch, but yes, there are no suitable Danish tracks to my knowledge.

My schedule:
April: Monza 1000km
April/May: Brno 1000km
May: Spa 1000km
June: Le Mans Break
July: Norisring 500km (LMP)
August: Brands Hatch 1000km
September: Zandvoort 1000km (Assen is more of a bike track)

Just for argument's sake, if they ran in Spain, I'd go for Jerez. Mugello would be great for a second Italian round; Monza has history, and its one of a very few serious slipstreaming tracks left. I'm not sure if A1-Ring is operational or not, but Salzburgring should be. If they were to run in France, use Paul Ricard, without the chicane on the Mistral Straight.

The Rockingham roval is painfully tight; I'd prefer Valencia to it. For Lausitz, I'd really want them to run the Grand Prix circuit with oval Turn 1.

**Bentley03** · 20 Aug 2007, 05:44 (Ref:1992475)

I actually believe the present calendar is two thirds of what it should always be.

We have 4 traditional/classic circuits which are ideal for this type of racing. Monza, Spa, Nurburgring and Silverstone should, I believe, remain unaltered (and should occupy the same weekend each year).

The fly-away season finale appears not to have been a popular decision. Then again, finding an acceptable fifth (and sixth?) circuit in Europe has proved very difficult.

I'm really not sure what's for the best, but I'd be very interested to know the consensus from the team's themselves.

AstonGeoff · 20 Aug 2007, 06:57 (Ref:1992502)

I agree with the 4 trad/classic races.

Why not have a French round on the Bugatti Circuit at LM????

And not have a race 2 weeks after the big one, btw.

How many races does the series need? 5 at most, Prototypes are expensive to run and the only reason there are full grids is that with a limited number of rounds most of the teams can get a budget together. Add too many or fly away rounds and the series will end up with 30 car (or less) grids like ALMS. Or even more teams dropping out after 1 or 2 races or only appearing for their favourite or local races.

JAG · 20 Aug 2007, 16:36 (Ref:1992899)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bentley03

I actually believe the present calendar is two thirds of what it should always be.

We have 4 traditional/classic circuits which are ideal for this type of racing. Monza, Spa, Nurburgring and Silverstone should, I believe, remain unaltered (and should occupy the same weekend each year).

The fly-away season finale appears not to have been a popular decision. Then again, finding an acceptable fifth (and sixth?) circuit in Europe has proved very difficult.

I'm really not sure what's for the best, but I'd be very interested to know the consensus from the team's themselves.

Brazil looks like it could be a success, maybe a round in Japan, especially if the series is heavily over subscribed.

**FIRE** · 20 Aug 2007, 16:36 (Ref:1992900)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bentley03

I actually believe the present calendar is two thirds of what it should always be.

We have 4 traditional/classic circuits which are ideal for this type of racing. Monza, Spa, Nurburgring and Silverstone should, I believe, remain unaltered (and should occupy the same weekend each year).

The fly-away season finale appears not to have been a popular decision. Then again, finding an acceptable fifth (and sixth?) circuit in Europe has proved very difficult.

I'm really not sure what's for the best, but I'd be very interested to know the consensus from the team's themselves.

Besides the 4 classic 1000 km events 2 or 3 500 km races?

Le Vieux · 21 Aug 2007, 09:53 (Ref:1993422)

Sprint races?

500km races?

I thought these races were part of the Le Mans ENDURANCE Series?

The Badger · 21 Aug 2007, 10:40 (Ref:1993465)

Sportscar racing is all about endurance ..... not sprints !!!

Speed-King · 21 Aug 2007, 12:33 (Ref:1993578)

Generally I'd agree with you on that, but I would not be oppossed to an occasional flat-out sprint race.
And maybe this is just what the series needs to gain popularity. Right now only true gearheads know about the LMS and I think that should change.
Look at the ALMS: They "support" the IRL and CCWS on some dates in order to gain exposure, maybe LMS should do the same. That's why I think that a sprint race at the Norisring (remember, we had this before) would be a good move on the German market, even more so if the series somehow managed to get a decent TV coverage (live???) for that race.
Maybe they could do the same in the UK at a BTCC event. I don't think that 1/3 sprint races would distort the endurance aspect of the series too much...

Mal · 21 Aug 2007, 12:53 (Ref:1993600)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Generally I'd agree with you on that, but I would not be oppossed to an occasional flat-out sprint race.
And maybe this is just what the series needs to gain popularity. Right now only true gearheads know about the LMS and I think that should change.
Look at the ALMS: They "support" the IRL and CCWS on some dates in order to gain exposure, maybe LMS should do the same. That's why I think that a sprint race at the Norisring (remember, we had this before) would be a good move on the German market, even more so if the series somehow managed to get a decent TV coverage (live???) for that race.
Maybe they could do the same in the UK at a BTCC event. I don't think that 1/3 sprint races would distort the endurance aspect of the series too much...

THe best way to get exposure in Germany would be to link up with DTM which regularly gets 90,000 spectators and with Audi being so strong in DTM their is a potential connection.

Speed-King · 21 Aug 2007, 13:18 (Ref:1993629)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

THe best way to get exposure in Germany would be to link up with DTM which regularly gets 90,000 spectators and with Audi being so strong in DTM their is a potential connection.

Norisring would necessarily mean DTM as that's the only race weekend they have there.

Quote:

and they already go to Donington

They went to Donington last year, this year it's Silverstone. To limit the paddock space used, I'd make the sprint(=support) rounds LMP-only, as the Protos are clearly the main show in the LMS.

JAG · 21 Aug 2007, 16:32 (Ref:1993788)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mal

THe best way to get exposure in Germany would be to link up with DTM which regularly gets 90,000 spectators and with Audi being so strong in DTM their is a potential connection.

And they give away 50,000 tickets, plus heavy promotion, which is one of the reasons only two manufactuers compete, and seemingly every season it's on the brink of collapse., despite appearances.

One of the best ideas is to link up with Renault World Series who heavily promote their meetings, as at Monza and Spa.

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