Audi Advances
Audi was running at Sebring this week. According to the best minds that analyze such things (Mulsanne Mike, for instance), the 2012 R18 really quite a different car than last year’s R18. Hopefully, the changes will improve the outward vision. A pal of a friend of the Bear drove the R18 a couple of months ago, and reported an “absolute blind spot out of the right hand side.” “It explains the McNish crash at Le Mans,” he said.
In other news from the Bear’s Chief European Correspondent, Romain Dumas is headed back to Porsche soon, there’s a big tug of war over Timo Bernhard, and Oliver Pla was quick at a secret Peugeot test.
Insiders in Europe believe ALMS will have Audi, Mercedes, and perhaps others not fully homologated by the ACO in some form of local GT class – but it’s unclear when that gets done.
The ALMS Field
The American Le Mans Series LMP1 and LMP2 fields, are slowly getting sorted out. In the premier class, it looks like Dyson will field two cars, though we don’t know yet who provides the second. It could be Humaid al Masaood again, or it could be someone else. A third entry seems a stretch, but remains possible. Cytosport is committed, but it now appears likely Mike Lewis’ Autocon partners won’t be able to save the entry and are looking for rides with others. The likely outcome for the class appears to be about what we had last season: two Dyson and one Muscle Milk prototypes.
LMP2 will be a bit stronger (that’s an ursine joke) than it was in 2011. Level 5 is reported to be a two-car entrant. Readers don’t have to be reminded that was last season’s expectation, too. Murphy’s is thus restrained in his excitement for Level 5 in 2012. Rumor has Newman Haas in the field, but if anyone’s seen any firm evidence, give a “holler.” The firmest entries appear to be Conquest and Black Swan. The Bear expects to see at least two LMP2 entries at every event, and as many as five at a few.
LMPC has six confirmed entries. None of those include Intersport, whose drivers and team employees seem to have fled to new team BAR 1 Motorsports, which the Bear believes is a probable entry. For those concerned with this and other LMPC teams obtaining funding, Murphy reminds you that in this class the drivers are the funding. With one more possible, the prototype Challenge class will be s-8 in 2012.
GT will struggle to reach 10 entries this season. The Lizards will return to try to recapture the hardware they believe they deserve – with some justification – every year. Extreme Speed is likely, but has one foot in Grand Am, and that might extend past Daytona. Falken is back and expecting to improve on its 2011 – which will make it a contender for some of that end-of-season bling. BMW wants a splash for its M3 ahead of its motorsports reorganization that will put that venerable racecar into DTM and hand the keys to GT/sports car racing to the Z4. Corvette has had a disappointing start to its GT(2) program, but is always in the mix (if not mixing it up). Driver changes are in the offing, primarily driven by a desire to provide more stable factory driver support to privateer Corvette teams in Grand Am and around the world. As the Bear tweeted, Antonio will take a full-time seat. Expect Olivier Beretta to be full time with Jack Laconte’s Larbre Racing. Other Corvette Racing drivers will moonlight at Grand Am’s “major” events (Daytona, the Glen, Indy), but will not routinely partner in Grand Am DP and GT entries as they did last year. Grand Am teams are demanding “dedicated” drivers, and to the extent it can, the KGeneral is obliging. The Bear believes the other three Corvette “regulars” – Gavin, Magnussen, and Milner – are set, though there’s been a bit of rumble around a Magnussen move.
The winter’s most popular parlor game has been “Where’s Risi?” in which players try to come up with the most convoluted 2012 racing solutions for America’s premier Ferrari team. A kind of “Where’s Waldo?” for Ferrari fans. 2011 wasn’t a good season for the Houston team, and they’ve responded with some big changes, including substantial personnel turnover. Included in that is driver Jaime Melo, who won’t be back. The early season is pretty well fixed. Risi will field two new 458’s at the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in January, replacing one previously entered under the Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale name (you didn’t fall for that little ruse, did you?), then one at Sebring in March. It’s not so certain after that, but some Waldo players are putting their chips on Grand Am. In the end, the only player who counts is Guiseppe, and he hasn’t shown his hand – yet. There was momentary excitement, a kind of ripple in the force, when Canadian Scott Maxwell a journeyman driver at best, tweeted that he’d landed a drive with Aston Martin. ALMS was the assumption, the hope being it portended another GT entry; Grand Am’s Continental series with Multimatic’s Aston Martin Vantage is the reality.
Grand Am
Grand Am unveiled the Corvette-bodied Daytona Prototype, the first of its new “DP3’s”. Its initial pace at Daytona wasn’t very impressive, lagging behind the DP2’s. Was it just new car teething? Sandbagging? At the time the Bear dismissed its importance, but then heard differently. The Corvette is seriously slow, unable to crack 190 anywhere on the DIS layout. There might be some other “good news,” though, in that a rumored an insurer is weighing in with a desire for slower top ends. That will give the series “cover” to slow everyone else down without it looking like a blatant move to put the Corvette in the game. Murphy guesses that no “balancing” will be quite enough, however, so he’s putting his money on Ganassi Racing to dominate in 2012, just as it did in 2011, 2010…
Scheduling Struggles
While Grand Am announced a 2012 schedule with not much fuss (though it did add its Lime Rock date later), the American Le Mans Series has struggled to pin its calendar down. Not all of that has been the fault of the Braselburgers, the comedies at Baltimore and Texas being the principal culprits, with the ACO’s June big black hole blowing out any chance to get Detroit. It does demonstrate the lack of options the series has been left with, however.
Bernie and Red finally settled their differences, confirming Austin for November, but not before a self-imposed construction delay. The result of that is the ALMS date remains unannounced, its early October date in limbo – for now, at least – pending some assurance the track will actually be complete enough to host a “trial” date ahead of the F1 circus. Meanwhile, as if the current Baltimore (9/1) to PLM (10/20) gap isn’t enough, the Keystone Kops routine in Charm City has left that event with empty coffers and a $12 million debt. It has just two weeks to remedy that situation. Someone is going to have to come up with some serious cash or it’s buh-by to Baltimore. Necessarily, another Braseburg Two-Step – or perhaps a Cotton Eyed Joe – is underway, the dance partner this time being Virginia International Raceway, Murphy tweeting on December 7 that talks were underway, and AutoWeek chiming at about the same time. No announcement has been forthcoming, though, so as it stands now, the ALMS calendar could well have two gaps, eight weeks from May 12 to July 7, and nine weeks from August 18 (Road America), to October 20 (Road Atlanta).
There are real concerns about Bahrain’s appearance on both the F1 and WEC calendars. Regardless of the insistence by the FIA, ACO, and Bernie that everything is just hunky-dory, a bomb outside the British Embassy and rioting on the Pearl Roundabout doesn’t exactly contribute to any confidence amongst observers that either event will – or should – take place. More than 35 people have died in clashes and protest-related violence since February. Bahrain’s protests are the largest and most sustained to have hit the Arab monarchies and sheikdoms that line the Persian Gulf. There hasn’t been much progress on reforms promised after the February-March protests, contributing continued protests and clashes with security forces as recently as Thursday this week. Murphy is among many who think that both Bahrain race dates are questionable at best. The status of its putative replacement makes the dropping of Petit Le Mans as a round of the World Endurance Championship a real head scratcher, doesn’t it? There’s good new in this for the civilized world (lately that doesn’t seem to include much ground between the Mediterranean Sea and Delhi). If Bahrain’s WEC round is cancelled, where does that series go? If the FIA and ACO get their act together before March’s Sebring opener, perhaps Petit Le Mans is back. Otherwise, probably just a hole in the schedule between Japan and China.
The Andy Lally Challenge
At Murphy’s last report, the American Le Mans Series field had already closed out its 2011 with a total of $1,795,000 paid to all competitors.
When we last left Andy Lally, he had six races remaining on the Sprint Cup schedule, and he unfortunately struggled to the finish. For Sprint Cup’s Rookie of the Year, leading a lap at Talladega might have been a highlight, but his race ended in an accident after 162 laps in 39th place, with a purse of $81,300. In the previous race, at Charlotte, a brake problem ended his race after just 20 laps, but the 42nd spot still paid $64,825. At Martinsville, Hermie Sadler filled in, as he had earlier in the season, but then Andy bounced back for a finish in 29th and a $101,475 purse at Texas Motor Speedway. That was it for the season; Andy failed to qualify at Phoenix, and Mike Bliss drove at Homestead in the season’s final race. The $246,800 earned in three races in which Andy drove brought his season total winnings to $2,865,656. That final total almost doubled the earnings of the entire American Le Mans Series field for 2011, and brings the Bear’s Andy Lally Challenge to a close.
Kevin Buckler’s No. 71 entry gave up the 35th spot in owner’s points at Talladega to Bob Jenkins and was unable to gain it back. Buckler’s driver, whether Andy or someone else, will start next season having to qualify to make the grid.
The Bear wishes you all a Happy Christmas and a Wonderful 2012.
Murphy H. Bear
Tags: Andy Lally, Audi, Austin, Bahrain, Baltimore, Bernie Ecclestone, Conquest, Corvette, Ferrari, Ganassi, Guissepe Risi, Intersport, Jaime Melo, Jan Magnussen, Kevin Buckler, Larbre Racing, Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta, Red McCombs, Risi Competizione, Scott Maxwell, Tommy Milner, Virginia International Raceway
Re the Bahrain race dates, it makes as little sense now as it did when announced, to even contemplate staging a race in that country. Wait! I’v got it! How about
Kabul?? Yeah, that sounds way better than another boring event at RA.
Regarding your concerns about the Level 5 LMP2 entries: Keep in mind that last year they ultimately ended up with no competition and, therefore, no real need to run the full season to win the title. If there’s definite competition, I feel certain that Level 5 will commit at least one full-time entry. Two entries, however? That’s a little more questionable if they actually plan to run the WEC as well.
Unfortunately, it is looking as though the only “good, BIG, news” we are getting this offseason, is items revolving around programs that have attracted rent-a-ride drivers. Sadly this is becoming expensive club racing.
I hope that there is a catalyst that reverses the direction this is headed, but I’m not confident of that.
@Brett:
“Sadly this is becoming expensive club racing. ”
Not quite. Expensive club racing is D-Sports Racing.
More expensive club racing?
Formula:
Ok, D-Sports Racing is expensive club racing. Then the ALMS is Super-expensive club racing. Happy?
@Murphy:
I might agree with that statement were it not for factory involvement. (hey, Corvette’s still in the GT class)
“A pal of a friend of the Bear drove the R18 a couple of months ago”
http://youtu.be/Ovq8K1Bqa1Q ?
Fox, do you pretend to miss the point just to be contrary, or are you really that thick? The point was made that there’s an overwhelming preponderance of moneyed amateurs in all the classes except the few GT factory-supported entrants, thus: “Expensive club racing.” The phrase is simply a colloquial way of conveying that thought.
If you want to get all technical, D-Sports racing is a hell of a lot cheaper than ANY ALMS class entry. But that hair splitting misses the point.
Don’t be a chuckle-head. Just chuckle and move on.
So Risi and Ferrari want more exposure or is the latter just tired of losing to Germans? Always hard to tell. Speaking of the DPs, if they slow everyone down to appease GM, what happens with GT? And at what point does your artificially slowed sports car become a bit disappointing to drivers, investors and the fans? Or does the ability to bang fenders and still finish on the same lap trump everything?
byamile: You can talk about speed, but from the cheap seats Murphy can’t tell the difference between making a circuit of Daytona at 1:39.195 (Ferrari 333SP, 1998), and 1:40.099 (Riley Porsche, 2011) if both cars aren’t on the track at the same time.
Not meant as a snarky question. I really do wonder what “fast enough”looks and feels like to competitors and fans.
More important is what “fast enough” looks like to insurance companies. Daytona wants low 1:40s for race speed (not qualifying), so no matter what runs on that track, it can’t go faster. The same way the ACO has determined an acceptable lap time at Le Mans and aims to keep the cars at that speed. Every other class will get sorted below whatever top class each series has.
@Murphy:
I got the point, but you apparently didn’t get mine. Club racing is all amateurs, no factories, no professionals. The ALMS, like it or not, still has factory involvement(that it’s not at the same level as a few years ago does not change this fact), drivers are still mostly professional(a lot of people still labelled “amateurs” simply have too much experience to be called such), and even most of the amateurs are above the level of the average club racer.
No, it is not correct to call it expensive club racing. It does not even accurately reference any of the problems with the series. It bears only the most minute of resemblance to club racing.
If the ALMS is expensive club racing, then so is:
NASCAR
IndyCar
Grand-Am
EUROPEAN Le Mans Series
Super GT…
I could go on, but you get my point. Amateurs with money permeate every motorsport on a level most don’t realize. The label “expensive club racing” either applies to ALL top-level motorsports, or NONE.
If you ask me, the phrase “expensive club racing” is completely inappropriate in this issue, no matter how you attempt to justify it.
As for speeds at Daytona, I side with Murphy. Current DPs really aren’t THAT much slower than the previous generation of prototypes were at Daytona. The fact that they’re so close -when one of the original points was to slow down speeds at Daytona- actually says a lot about how the DP has developed.
I see nothing wrong with slowing the other DPs down to the Corvette DP level and letting all involved develop their way back up to current speeds. That’s what racing should be about.
Honda and GM think speeds will be down to 215 at Indy this year, but that if the racing is good there’s nothing wrong with letting them work their way back up to 225 and beyond over time. I definitely must agree with them on that, particularly considering the car they’ll be running is rather unproven.
Give the engineers challenges to overcome. If that means slowing the cars for a few years, fine by me. Just don’t slow them down by a ridiculous margin.
If the insurer won’t underwrite the risk above x speed, you don’t have much choice in the matter. It’s really the effect that a new ceiling will have on the GT teams that interests me, not the top speeds of the top class. Maybe no one will care. That’s certainly a possibility. But with all the discussion here of what is and isn’t spec racing, I kind of doubt it.
Right now the gap between DPs and GTs is at almost 10 seconds… they could easily slow the DPs down by 1 or 2 seconds and still have a difference that is big enough to make sure that the GTs have no chance at winning overall. So I don’t think there’s a need for making the GTs any slower.
That said, the Corvette troubles don’t seem to be all that significant – At the Daytona test yesterday, the Vettes were already quite a bit faster than a couple of weeks ago.
Agreed. I think the first year of DPs, GT won overall.
Yes, there were only six DP’s in that first race, only obout three were REALLY ready to race, and all had some kind of trouble that put them behind Buckler’s GT Porsche.
Either you are a pro, as in paid to drive, or you are an amateur, in which case you pay to drive.
The number of ALL Pro LMP cars this year will be ONE. Otherwise, ALL of the other Prototypes will be fielded as a result of wealthy owners, and ride buyers. Any series is defined by it’s premier categories, and the ALMS is no different.
Given a clear definition, the ALMS is indeed primarily populated by Amateurs, in the Prototype categories. You can call it what you want, but an Amateur is what they are, whether they are talented club racers, with lots of money to spend on big toys.. or you call them wealthy sportsman, or whatever… They are still Amateurs. If you prefer, then the ALMS has become a playground for Amateurs, instead of Expensive Club Racing… Splitting Hairs here.
Regarding GT… yes, there are still some Pro teams, and those numbers are dropping and will continue to.
———————————
As far as the issues with the Corvette DP, it appears to be top speed… always difficult to judge, but the cornering speeds should be as good. There aren’t many tracks where such top speeds come into play anyway, not the way they do at Daytona.
———————————
As far as I can tell, it is about the exposure, Media, and management at the ALMS, nothing to do with winning, or losing. They’ll be the first to tell you, they shot themselves in the foot this past year. Hence plenty of turnaround in staff.
If the ALMS “claim” to have the right to change the rules to fit the American market is true, then there is one easy way to increase the LMP count. All they need to do is drop the requirement for a Pro-Am driver combo in LMP-2. Allow the teams have two Pro drivers.
I believe that would bring 6-8 cars to the series in a short time.
Brett says: “As far as the issues with the Corvette DP, it appears to be top speed… always difficult to judge, but the cornering speeds should be as good. There aren’t many tracks where such top speeds come into play anyway, not the way they do at Daytona.”
Good points. Also remember that Daytona has never really been a track that suited the GM powered cars. GM (Pontiac /Chevy) has only won it twice in the DP era, and has no GT wins in the DP era at the 24. Daytona has always been the playground of the Porsche’s and High winding OHC V-8′s. I also wouldn’t read ANYTHING into testing speeds, especially in December. I would be far more concerned if they are off the pace after the Roar. It’s also highly possible that they are holding back so GA doesn’t make an “adjustment” to appease the Gen. 2 cars competing. I would be shocked if the Gen 3 cars are not somewhat faster than the Gen 2′s but it will be masked by the fact that all the fast teams will have Gen 3 cars, so they will be faster anyway. Remember too, that unless something has changed this winter, GA races on a really crappy tire, and that can have as much influence as anything on comparing speeds.
>I believe that would bring 6-8 cars to the series in a short time.<
Just out of interest – where would those come from? Daytona?!
IRL?!
And are we talking about LMP2 as the top class here or still as a secondary category?
I know of three teams that are very interested but are not willing to play the Pro-Am game. Run it as a second class. I don’t see aythig wrong with running both LMP-1 and 2. Although it is easy to change a P-car from one class to the other.
6-8 cars would suddenly show up to the ALMS secondary class, because they would be allowed to run a full pro lineup? Please. The increased visibility of being in the primary class, going for wins overall, should cover the increased cost of LMP1 over LMP2. Of course, there barely is enough value in any to con(vince) any sponsors to come to the table and foot the bill at this point. LMP2 needs to stay Pro-Am. If there are any real potential pro teams, they’ll either settle on Pro-Am, or raise the funding for Pro. No Soup for you.
So you are saying if someone wants to race first thing he does is explain that for $1M we can get one car and race against two or three other cars. Or spend the same million dollars and get two cars but one driver has to be a amature in each car.
Makes perfect sense. Buy a current car which will not fit the rules in 2014 ad go race for two years and then spend another million on a new car in 2014. Of course one can hope that there is another grandfather clause. However that defeats the purpouse of the words “Le Mans”, since the ACO is not going to accept grandfathered cars for the 24 hours. So keep your Pro-Am and have maybe three cars in P-1 and maybe three cars in P-2.
1. LM… accepts WEC entrants first, autobids second, and major manufacturers third. If all of these accept entries this year, there will be ZERO at large bids. LM really should be taken out of the equation for any realistic team being built, if they aren’t going to qualify in one of the above methods.
2. There is no promise that LMP2 cars won’t be changed by 2014 as well. The ACO and stability should not be used in the same sentence.
3. You want an All Pro LMP2, so that you can run at LM, where you can’t run all-Pro….
4. Spend a million dollars, run in a class that gets covered in the great “media” platform (LOL), spend a million dollars to run two cars in a secondary class, that barely gets any coverage in the great “media” platform. 2 times next to zero, is still next to zero. Having said that, the costs are more like $3 million for the LMP1, $2.5 million for the LMP2… single cars, on the cheap. You can’t just buy them, you have to spend the money to run them, staff, trucks, hotels… Sure, there are economies of scale.. I imagine it would be about approaching $4 mil on the cheap to run two LMP2.
What’s the difference anyway, we are talking about teams that will never see the light of day, no matter what the rules are.
Looks like Peugeot might throw a bit of ice water on the WEC’s plans for world domination. See Murphy’s recent tweet. In any case, I’m not sure non-factory pros
would share your disdain for Pro-Am efforts. It’s a job driving fast cars. It may not be perfect, but what is?
Assuming the rule makers stay the course and you certainly have a point, the rules for LMP-1 change in 2014 and LMP-2 in 2015. The big issue is the changes for LMP-1 are significant.
The cost numbers I put out where for the roller and nothing else. The P-1 roller cost $1M and the P-2 Roller costs $515K each. To race two LMP-2 cars costs significantly more than $4M if you do it correctly. Our shop and office was $4.5M. Plus trucks, spares, payroll, hospitality, testing/racing and the cost is close to $12M for start up and the first year operation.
It is really a catch 22. No matter what one races, it is still competing without media coverage which means the sponsors have to find other ways to generate a ROI.
WSJ says financial situation at Peugeot is very serious, so rumors about the axe falling on the proto program don’t appear to be far fetched. Layoffs will approach the 6000 mark in Europe. Government has a stake as part of a rescue in the past, so spending seen as gratuitous may be frowned upon. Interestingly, Audi’s parent is seeing 12% rise in global sales during a lousy year. No wonder they’ve launched that R8 series in China.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203893404577097953967654734.html
DP’s at Daytona..
Gen 2 DP’s were tickling 20MPH at Daytona with last set of rules.. Track insurance does not want cars going 200 at DIS..
There are also new motor rules for 2012 which are intended to slow all the cars.
Also, keep in mind, these rule changes for Gen 3 bodywork were intended to lure manufactures in to the series – not to make them look better. The sizing templates were created to get away from the wedge (Riley) & more exotic (Dallara) noses and give GM and Ford more of a silhouette which they could try to style – ala Corvette and i think Ford to come..
So, the object was make sure the cars do not go over 200 and lure in manufactures.. Which i think they did a good job of.
Now for lap times.. I’m confident you will see cars running faster in the race.. ( perhaps they might not want to show all the cards in qualifying for a 24 hour race..
Who cares about Grand Sham? With all the great racing in Europe you guys wanna talk about this wash out of a series? Ferrari will build it and they come, that’s a no-brainer this explains Risi being asked to showcase the car at Daytona, beyond that. It likely comes down to Risi’s sponsors as to how much racing they do in the ALMS beyond Sebring. I would say if they finish in the Top 3 in at Sebring and get double points, they will likely push for a ALMS Teams and Driver’s title. Grand Am is unlikely because new cars usually ave teething problems and frankly the GT3 version of the F458 has proven a bit fragile in long distance European events in 2011. I doubt that will continue but who knows Porsche is likely the strongest here as they usually are.
I wouldn’t fret too much about slumping GT classes in ALMS either. I think they are ready to allow GT3 cars into the series. There are also RSR which is in the last year of its contract with Jaguar. Though many are bearish (pun intended) on their return, I think they’ll show up, we’ll know more after the first of the year. So in all, there isn’t much turnover and while the Robertson’s are liked, they aren’t really competitive either, in terms of the overall show, they won’t be missed that much.
I think the final number will be 12-13, so that would include both RSR Jags and the Miler Porsche with maybe Lotus showing up or Aston Martin showing up for part of the season.
Now that the Arabs have decided to forego the Dyson connection and do their own thing in Grand Am full time, that will most likely reduce the LMP-1 class by one car. Not a good sign. Two cars in the so called premire class.
@Clay why you still complaining about coverage? Grand Sham doesn’t do better than Camping World Truck on Speed, where ALMS did fairly well against it.
I still don’t understand this constant harping on ROI for sponsors because the series is in two areas at ones, on TV with ESPN Coverage (though shorten) and Online with WatchESPN (formerly ESPN3) which can been seen on several ways including mobile devices which none of the other major cities including F1 can not tout. DTM is online and TV locally (and the UK) and all SRO series are either both on TV or Online or just Online.
This is because TV advertising is based on a model designed in the late 1960′s which can’t be applied to the internet because of unique web hits are not the same as viewership. This especially the case if people are reloading a page but with that said you can track all sorts of things online.
That said WatchESPN is available to the majority of the ALMS fan base, only those that live in small town America and Rural America might be shut out but thems the breaks, if it wasn’t for the Tennessee Valley Authority the Rural South would be still using oil burning lamps and outhouses. Count your blessings.
Google TV is now $99 and if you’re IP has access to WatchESPN/ESPN3 then there’s no excuse and actually you might learn something, as the mainstream media does such a poor job of informing the public.
That will get the stream off your PC and onto your TV, I wish the excuses would stop on both either, those that watch it and those that pay the teams to race.
Year 2 of the stream and its likely to be better, I had no problems last season.
25MB Internet (not shared BS Cable Connection) helps.
Anthony, you have no clue what you are talking about. Here is the only research you need. Last season our primary sponsor requested 350 of their dealers to watch the ALMS races. Of the 350 dealer only 13% yes I said 13% were able to watch the race on ESPN3. BTW, the 350 were all in good size markets.
So imagine what our primary sponors marketing company says about that. The question was simple at the board meeting. Why are we going to spend $8M when there is no media coverage for the majority of the country? Do you have an answer? It has always been my understanding that companies sposor race teams to get marketing exposure via media. Guess I was wrong.
The 200-300,000 that watch the races on streaming video do not justify the expense of sposorship and the expense of activation. I assume in your case, you are wealthy enough to go racing without sponsors, but I am not.
Most of the sponsors I know, race as a business. Which means no exposure, no return. So why do it? I understand there is a formula the marketing gurus use. For every million spent, there needs to be at least the potential of 4 million watching. I am thinking ALMS is a long way from that.
I have bee hammered about ROI for the past 7 months. At least with Speed, there is the potential to turn on the TV and watch the race. Not so with ESPN3.
But I am sure there are a lot smarter people on here than I am. I am only passing on what I have been told by the people writing checks to us.
13% is low, however I don’t see a way out of this. To expand coverage doesn’t mean putting it on TV. It likely means putting it on Vimeo, U Stream, You Tube or Live Stream. During the OWS movement which I am apart of doing IT for Occupy LA, MILLIONS were watching the cheesy Web Cam based content.
So the problem is ACCESS not so much where it is. The websites I mentioned are not blocked, geo-blocked (You Tube can be at times at the request of the content owners)
This turning on the TV Stuff is 1970′s at best, I press one button and my PC wakes up and I am greeted with a better TV Guide than what’s on most Cable/Sat systems.
There two ways I can watch ESPN3 without getting up from my seat, I don’t even type in the URL or go to “favorites” its just there, one push from the OK button on my remote and I can control the mouse pointer from it, select the race (in the case of a replay) and in about 45 seconds I get the stream.
So I keep saying it beyond access which I agree needs to be improved, willingness to change with the times is all needed by the majority of the fan base. Not spending time complaining especially coming from somebody like me which falls on deaf ears as I wrote a primer which will be updated for the 2012 season as prices on hardware, especially Google TV have dropped.
Since this is season 2 of a 3 season deal, this might be the time to lobby the ALMS to put their stream on a much easier to access and wider known web site.
Anthony:
While I have no issue with streaming it does not matter that you do not have to get off your seat. The vast MAJORITY of the American people are not going to use this technology. You can call it 1970′s all you want. The bottom line is this is not what sells a sponsor.
What may be good in five years (and that is up for debate) does not give sponsors the coverage, thus exposure they need now for dollars spent. As far as corporate America and their advertising and marketing agencies are concerned, ALMS does not exist.
No matter what Mr. Atherton says or how they paint this pig, it is a huge failure and is going to drive teams away, The ALMS/IMSA business plan with regards to media coverage and the schedule is a absolute disaster beyond description.
I am a little privateer. I dont have huge dollars of my own to spend. I had to go out and sell the idea and we were successful. But the question is where do I spend that money we have in the bank? It is still sposor dollars and to them they wat results, i e. ROI.
“That said WatchESPN is available to the majority of the ALMS fan base, only those that live in small town America and Rural America might be shut out but thems the breaks, if it wasn’t for the Tennessee Valley Authority the Rural South would be still using oil burning lamps and outhouses. Count your blessings.”
[Deleted by editor] …where is the biggest sportscar racing support in the country historically and currently:
Daytona
Sebring
Road Atlanta
Wow! The greatest support for this racing is in the South!
“This turning on the TV Stuff is 1970′s at best, I press one button and my PC wakes up and I am greeted with a better TV Guide than what’s on most Cable/Sat systems.”
It doesn’t matter if you consider it 1970s at best. It’s what 99% of the target market does! If you don’t cater to the majority of your market every business is doomed! Yes, business can and will change at some point in the future, but those people haven’t changed yet and it’s not like you can force them to. Dear God, this is fucking common business sense.
“I got the point, but you apparently didn’t get mine. Club racing is all amateurs, no factories, no professionals. The ALMS, like it or not, still has factory involvement(that it’s not at the same level as a few years ago does not change this fact), drivers are still mostly professional(a lot of people still labelled “amateurs” simply have too much experience to be called such), and even most of the amateurs are above the level of the average club racer.”
Formula Fox, by your definition here, USAC is more professional than the ALMS when it comes to number of competitors, number of professionals, and number of factories, which according to your justification makes it superior than ALMS. Just FYI.
Darn Privateer, I think you went too the toolbox and pulled the old brass wheel hammer out and hit these guys. Not that they will figure it out, but at least you do.
>>@Clay why you still complaining about coverage? Grand Sham doesn’t do better than Camping World Truck on Speed, where ALMS did fairly well against it.<<
Actually, the Craftsman Series destroyed both sportscar series on Speed with peak numbers at around 1 million, whereas both sportscar series where struggling to get past 500.000 – or for most of the time actually even close to that.
I reality, the only way sports car racing is going to be relivant is with one series. If not, then IMSA/ALMS management needs to get their head out of the sand and make some changes. There is not going to be a 2007-08 again for a while if ever.
Two classes of LMP cars has passed its prime. There is no reason to try and hang on to the ACO program when the ACO has shown they do not care. In addition having a huge hole in the schedule at the start of summer to accomidate one or two teams at the expense of the rest of the series is in no way a good business plan. Add a very lame schedule and that creates a absolute marketing nightmare for sponsors. All of the competing series are racing and where is the ALMS? Explain that to the various marketing department heads.
@Prviateer Motorsport:
“Formula Fox, by your definition here, USAC is more professional than the ALMS when it comes to number of competitors, number of professionals, and number of factories,”
By the definition outlined you CAN say that this makes USAC more professional than the ALMS, though if you want into the intricacies of the various aspects of driving you can come up with a great many reasons to say otherwise(and almost as many to support it).
“which according to your justification makes it superior than ALMS. Just FYI.”
And now I’m done being civil with you. That is not what I said, and YOU SURE AS FUCKING HELLFIRE KNOW IT. Don’t go putting words in my mouth.
I NEVER said that just because one thing is more professional than another, it is automatically superior. That is something YOU came up with, and I will not be associated with such bullshit. And that’s what your claim is: BULLSHIT.
While I have issues with forcing a Pro-Am lineup(as I’ve said before, IMSA would be wise to take their rule-tweaking authority and remove that requirement – replace it with something that encourages it without requiring it, like some extra practice time for pro-am entries), I am in no way opposed to pro-am racing in and of itself, nor do I consider it inferior to full professional racing. It’s what racing, sportscars especially, were built on.
Next time you want to try and skewer someone’s argument, stick to what they said. Don’t make shit up to suit your own viewpoint.
Apologies for the harsh language, Murph, but when I see people try to twist my words like that it pisses me off pretty badly. It took a lot of effort to keep it THAT civil.
“Actually, the Craftsman Series destroyed both sportscar series on Speed with peak numbers at around 1 million, whereas both sportscar series where struggling to get past 500.000 – or for most of the time actually even close to that.”
AND, the truck series’ numbers have steadily gained audience over the last three or four years, even while Sprint Cup numbers were going the other way. It might be hard to swallow, but either sports car series would KILL to have the TV exposure and ratings that the truck series get. Oh by the way, it’s the “Camping World Truck Series” now, and has been for a couple years.
Just to weigh in on the Clay VS Anthony argument, A big point to remember is the internet works OK for “hardcore sportscar fans. The trouble is, I’m the only hardcore sportscar fan I know in my circle of family and friends. I DO know people that will sit down on Saturday afternoon and grab the TV remote and IF they come across a sportscar race, they will watch it. The are not and will not fire up their computer (assuming they even have the hardware capability) and search out a sportscar race. It’s the same hole in the boat as pay per view. It’s fine for the truly dedicated fan, but it totally shuts out the casual fan and makes it hard to promote the sport to new fans. There is a reason that 99% of all NFL games are on network TV, and the other 1% are on major cable networks. For the foreseeable future, that’s where the people are.
@Dieselbob
You have it right. When our major sponsor has 350 dealers across the country try to watch the races and only 13% can do so, that is a HUGE issue for any sponsor.
I live 70 miles from Sebring and cant get ESPN 3. Some on here will just say I am not smart enough and maybe that is the case or I am just one of the 87% that could not get the broadcast.
Did we lose our Christmas Spirit? Our enthusiasm for our points of view may be getting the best of us. Here is my 2 cnets worth:
As for access to the internet, Im not in a rural area, 8 miles from Times Square and I cant get ALMS. Perhaps its because I dont know my way around the internet but I do know my cable provider doesnt have it. However I do have access to 200+ TV stations at the touch of 1-3 buttons. This is an indefensible point and perhaps as Mr. Atherton points out it is the wave of the future, I fear the ALMS wont be a part of that future. For a series that has so much time off in a critical time of the year hiding the sport in the media is ludicrous. While on the “Speed Channel” I have access and more access to such racing as Wrecked, American Trucker, Truck U, Monster Jam and any number of shows sure to cure insomnia including everything a person whouldnt want to know about NASCAR. I do belabor the point tho.
The south the center of support for sportscar racing? Well since NASCAR barrred real sports cars from the 6 hours at the Glen, what have Northern fans had to look forward to? 2:45 min sprint races….and we expect fans who drive up to twice that long to attend tobe excited. Hell, a worl of outlaws event last 3-5 hours of racing for the fans and they go to 35+ states. And I have noticed while attending Petit, Sebring, and Daytona (pre GA) there were more than a few fans attending from remote aras of the country. And while no #’s are ever produced I know the crowds at Lime Rock and Mosport ALMS races Ive attended recently were quite large. Did someone mention Laguan Seca?
Well boys and girls I love the passion Murphy inpsires, and hope that it will sustain us through the season.
Merry Christmas to all, and Ver Happy New Year.
If the ALMS really attracts just a couple hundred thousand viewers for most events, that’s going to be a tough sell on any platform. In the city where I used to live in the States—a city where racing shops routinely prepared cars for the ALMS and other series–I knew exactly one other person who had any interest in sports car racing. That’s the baseline in America. Europe isn’t that much better. To my knowledge, they rarely televise the LMS races live here in France, although you can get replays on Motors TV–sometimes out of synch with the chronology of the racing calender. Meanwhile, GT1 was on Bloomberg for some reason, complete with the distracting financial news crawl beneath it. The ACO has you pay for the full video and audio coverage of the 24 heures du Mans on the Web. Chunks of it are televised live on French TV. And now that the French Grand Prix is long departed and the DTM’s experiment at Dijon is in the past, this is the only major automobile race in France that can expect to attract 100,000+ fans. For example, Paul Ricard attracts maybe 10,000 on a very good weekend. For comparison’s sake, most F1 races are broadcast live on TF1, a major channel akin to CBS, etc. Otherwise ordinary cafes and bars actually have play the race on race day. Let’s get real here. This is a niche sport, even among motor racing enthusiasts. If entire races are available live, you’re very lucky. If replays that show the races in their entirety, you’re still lucky. Back in the 1960s, we had to make do with spotty broadcast schedules and very brief “reports” about races aired on “The Wide World of Sports,” Le Mans included. I am certain that advertisers in the United States never thought of sports car racing as a major cash cow. If a rich guy knew a rich who knew a rich guy who was involved in motor racing, a halfway decent advertising deal got done. The same held for F1 racing in America. That’s the reality. Enjoy the racing. Fact is, it’s always been in danger of going away.
@Murphy and everyone else who posts here:
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
orwhateveryouhappentocelebrateatthistimeofyearonaccountofyourreligiousbeliefsorlackthereof.
200 channels huh? I have modified the channels available on my system via the guide removing channels I simply don’t watch. Most watched comes out to about 20-30 channels at the most and about 10 on a regular basis.
I have another 50-60 channels via Over The Air HD. All PC based Windows Media Center on a AOC 24″ 1080p LED Edge Lit LCD. My system is in a standard PC case though with current hardware can be put into a box the size of decent text book.
Beyond that I have Internet TV in several forms, including Netflix which I don’t watch that much. I do watch Hulu using their Desktop app integrated into Windows Media Center.
WatchESPN is not on every cable internet or ISP either. It is on most however, if you don’t get it, send them an email (1). You can also become an ESPN Insider and access it via their web site directly, I think its $20 a year plus you get all sorts of juicy stuff like Kiper’s NFL Draft Scouting. (3) there’s always torrents, I can see most racing within 24hrs of broadcast anywhere in the world, this including ALMS races streamed on ESPN3.
As I said its choices, I choose to build my entertainment around a PC, you decided to build it around standard off the shelf A/V parts.
It is about access and its not about channel access so much as in how to get it. I’m not concerned about the near future all LCD’s will be connected weather you want it or not, along with the price going down. 32″ was $300 on Black Friday and it wasn’t an off -brand either. Connected is slightly more, Vizio 32″ with Internet Apps run about $350-$400.
I am researching another way, you might be able to do it with a $40 Internet Streamer from RCA from Wal-Mart. There’s no browser on that device but I am keeping track of the hacking community that have installed a version of Linux on it, which if they can get it working correctly you and use Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera browser.
I can’t help people that don’t want to be helped, make an effort and I can get the series on your TV with minimal investment. You may not believe the vast majority are interested in streaming, but that’s only because most people don’t have connected TV’s. But there’s all sorts of boxes you can get for $99 or less to get this content and other content.