[LM24] F1 Feeder Series....

[Muppetdave901]

....More fuel to the recent fire (from the FIA WEC Facepalm feed):

"Fernando Alonso name-checked the 24 Hours of Le Mans yesterday in the Monaco GP drivers' press conference - one of the three biggest and best known races in the world. Today Dario Franchitti, 3 time winner of the Indy 500, says he'd like to try the World Endurance Championship...sport car racing is on the top of everyone's mind!!"

I know it keeps getting commented on a lot by the likes of Radio Le Mans, but endurance/sportscar racing does seem to be becoming a lot more popular amongst the drivers (that said they do seem to be a lot more 'mobile' moving between disciplines in recent years).



[ETA - Possibly should have popped this in the wider sportscar section, sorry!]

[GT6]

Well I think they realise that there is a future in sportscar racing both in the WEC and the GT races that are currently gaining in popularity where as the feeder series is past it's peek and as the grids there begin to shrink less chnce for them to make a living there

[Muppetdave901]

Yeah I think they're really valid points.

I guess there's a big part that Bernie's playing in that - to the sport's overall detriment; as you say through shrinking the grid and thus the number of opportunities, even the top names might get twitchy or as the popularity of other disciplines rises, so does the money and people become more transient.

[batmobile]

Or they prepare their retirement from the F1?

[Gingers4Justice]

This is all good stuff on one level, but the last thing the WEC needs right now is to get Bernie jealous in the years it needs to start growing.

But why on earth wouldn't an F1 driver want to try an LMP1 car? Not significantly slower, more pleasant atmosphere, new challenge, but you get to race flat out....for longer.

The beauty of Le Mans is it as rewarding as it is punishing. Drivers like McNish have incredible levels of bad luck, while some drivers like TK seem to have it all their way and they're remembered forever.

Wurz rocked up and won at his first attempt.

Thing is with Le Mans, is that before you go for the first time, you completely underestimate what it's going to feel like and what it's all about. No matter how hard you try to tell some people, it's not thought of anything other than a qwerky anorakish thing in the middle of France that's a bit of a hobby - then they go there and get completely over-awed. That's not just fans, it's drivers as well.

That's part of what I love about it. I'm envious of those fans and drivers like Kobayashi who are doing it all for the very first time - and will simply have to come back.

[Simmi]

Vitaly Petrov didn't want to come back. Apparently he hated it. And now he's not even in F1.

With all the Russian money floating into sportscars I wouldn't be surprised to see him return one day - just like Senna is doing.

[wolfhound]

I would be very surprised if Porsche do not have at least one recent F1 driver for their return to prototypes.

[Muppetdave901]

as Gingers4Justice says, there does seem to be a true love for LM between drivers. It is the 'blue riband' event, but whenever you hear/see/read interviews with them, they inevitably have the same level of enthusiasm for it as we all do, which I think is great.

We all know how the attitude is so vastly different to F1 - we've all seen the drivers wandering about the paddock and how they're usually happy to say hi and pass the time of day. I'm sure it isn't, but it just seems so much more relaxed - for us and them which must be a great sensation in what is in reality a pressurised (although highly enviable) job.

[GT6]

The fact that in the feeder series the chances of a competitive drive are very limited with only one person being able to claim a win in each race, but in the WEC there are 12 winners in each race and even in the top class there are 3, so for top drivers a much bettter chance of writting your name in history as well as earning a decent living

[deggis]

Is there a direct quote available? If these drivers' press conferences are even transcripted officially. It's not this: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/107610

[GTfour]

This to me is all hardly surprising. As said earlier, the pressure of the media, the obligations to the countless sponsors and the rules forbidding the drivers of F1 to drive anything else whilst under contract, make sportscars look like the real drivers heaven.
On top of that, we have the master of megalomania, Bernie Ecclestone, who will soon A) Die or B) quit because of his age. I think that when this happens, F1'll truely become a lesser series then the cream of sportscars. Heck, we might then even see Ferrari pull out of F1 to finally show up at Le Mans with a factory LMP1 effort.

Here's to hoping.

[GT6]

with the massive loss announced by Lotus F1 and some of the other teams having problems i think the feeder series might be even shorter of seats soon

[GTfour]

Indeed. Also their overly greedy decission to put ever more F1 TV airings behind payed for decoders doesn't do the popularity of this circus any good. If I look at myself, this has had the effect of me only having seen one race in this season so far...
But as Gingers4justice so rightly put it, I'm afraid Bernie'll do his utmost to put down the WEC just to save his goose with the golden eggs.

[vincegail]

Originally Posted by GTfour

On top of that, we have the master of megalomania, Bernie Ecclestone, who will soon A) Die or B) quit because of his age.

Or C) goes to jail!

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by vincegail

Or C) goes to jail!

No, he won't do that - he wouldn't be able to collect his £200.......

[GT6]

And Bernie will always collect his £200

[danberry]

I can see why f1 drivers would think that. I've always loved f1 and pretty much single seaters at all levels thinking they were superior but having seen drivers like heidfield and kovalienen dumped and guys like chilton and pic getting drives its getting a bit silly. I've recently started watching motors tvs coverage of alms and I love it. As previously stated there are so many winners because of the different classes so there is constant racing throughout the field- and we all get to spend more time watching racing because they are endurance races! I'm sure the webbers of the f1 world will be seeing heidfield doing well in lmp1 and think they may like a bash at that, especially with porsche coming in. I'm certainly changing my perception of the motorsport 'elite' classes more towards sports car racing.

[deggis]

Originally Posted by GTfour

On top of that, we have the master of megalomania, Bernie Ecclestone, who will soon A) Die or B) quit because of his age. I think that when this happens, F1'll truely become a lesser series then the cream of sportscars. Heck, we might then even see Ferrari pull out of F1 to finally show up at Le Mans with a factory LMP1 effort.

Here's to hoping.

And then you woke up.

And here is the original quote referred by WEC Facebook page, and it's quite irrelevant:

"Everyone has heard of the Monaco GP, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24 hours"

ps. I actually remember some rumors of Alonso actually being at the race couple of years ago? Then again that doesn't meant much at all either.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by deggis

ps. I actually remember some rumors of Alonso actually being at the race couple of years ago? Then again that doesn't meant much at all either.

2009 I think, he's good friends with Antonio Garcia from Corvette.

[nkoske]

If you want to learn to develop a car, I don't think there's much of a better place than current prototypes especially with the lack of testing in F1 currently.

Don't most other F1 feeder series use spec cars?

[wolfhound]

Originally Posted by nkoske

If you want to learn to develop a car, I don't think there's much of a better place than current prototypes especially with the lack of testing in F1 currently.

Don't most other F1 feeder series use spec cars?

The only F1 feeder single seater that is not spec is F3 and that is Dallara's with different engines. Lola made a few attempts to break into the F3 market e few years back but the teams/drivers did not want to risk a different type of car for some reason. Lola's actually won a few races during this period.