between seeing the Formula 5000 cars at the mitty, and conversations about Can Am and Formula 1 with guys on Forza, I have been thinking about what makes the best series.
If you could create a racing series, what would your rules be, would it be relatively spec, would it be wide open, or a combination? Sprint races, or endurance? What tracks?
I think an excellent spec would be Enclosed cockpit, 3.0 liter closed wheel prototypes with a budget kept under, a possibly unrealistic, one million dollars for an entire season (including travel expense, development, construction, and running costs, but not including salaries).
definitely a 2 hour sprint series with one driver per car
Tracks include Road America, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, some sort of street course (I rather liked the course IMSA ran in Ohio, it may have been Cleveland), and Daytona (both the road course, and the oval)
V8Supercars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SOsV5QaSw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XmiSJL1P2A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve0bfMZJznQ&feature=related
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aussiesmg wrote:
V8Supercars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SOsV5QaSw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XmiSJL1P2A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve0bfMZJznQ&feature=related
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V8 Supercars = what racing should be. One day I will either a) watch the Mount Panorama race or b) rent a car and drive it. Every year I stay up obscenely late and watch the race, if you looked up epic racing you'd find V8 Supercars there.
One more video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uja5ZTMFHgA
Greg Murphy's lap in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLPkTzIIY9M
2009 Bathurst: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3Wn55WXiZc
gamby
SuperDork
5/7/10 11:16 p.m.
Spec racing is so damn boring.
Make'em fast--really fast--turbos, big displacement, whatever--run whatcha brung
Race on road courses
Stock bodies/sheetmetal--maybe some flares for t3H seXXin3ZZ
Large variety of makes
This has all happened before and has eventually been regulated into oblivion. 
endurance series with machine gun turrets. think halo meets mad max beyond thunderdome meets spec miata
A new Trans Am series, obviously.
BTCC at Bathurst in the rain
Can-Am, pre 917. Just update it.
a Trans Am series with the rules from 1969.
why pre 917? The 917-30 simply did the formula better than everyone else. If anyone else had wanted to win, they could have put as much money into it as Porsche did.
CanAm began to die when they legislated out the Chapparal...
novaderrik wrote:
a Trans Am series with the rules from 1969.
The original V8 supercars!
paul
Reader
5/8/10 9:52 a.m.
I'll always love the old motorola cup series.
A giant range of lightly modded cars = hugely entertaining.
STS_ZX2
New Reader
5/8/10 7:39 p.m.
World Challenge is my favorite series presently; it employs a rules set that is a modern interpretation of the older T/A series...and the racing is fantastic. The Aussies certainly do it well with the V8 Supercars too...
As for the OPs suggestion, honestly the Rolex DPs are kind of like that--much more budget-conscious than the ALMS Prototypes....but still offer an interesting array of powerplant/chassis choices. While I certainly prefer the (more outrageous) ALMS cars, the Rolex cars usually put on a better show...how can you argue with the finish at 2009's 24 at Daytona?
maroon92 wrote:
why pre 917? The 917-30 simply did the formula better than everyone else. If anyone else had wanted to win, they could have put as much money into it as Porsche did.
CanAm began to die when they legislated out the Chapparal...
Everyone kind of gave up after the 917. It turned into a add hock Porsche spec race.
I absolutely love the 917, but I like race variety even more.
Bring back Formula 5000 with very restrictive rules for wings and the overall budget for chassis/engine construction. Make it a drivers series and not about spending the most, that's F1. Bonus if the cars have to look retro.
I say "Spec Police Interceptor". Everyone's car costs about $1500-2000 (easy/affordable to get into = larger fields), everyone has a V8, RWD and a push bar, what could possibly go wrong?
kazoospec wrote:
I say "Spec Police Interceptor". Everyone's car costs about $1500-2000 (easy/affordable to get into = larger fields), everyone has a V8, RWD and a push bar, what could possibly go wrong?
Up the budget, and open it up to all "persuit rated" cop cars with 4 doors. This opens up FWD, (HEMI and AWD)Chargers, and the 2wd Tahoes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxrLoGJgw10&feature=related
Wally wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxrLoGJgw10&feature=related
That would be so cool with Macks and Petes. I would love to see that at Watkins Glen!
1980-1989 OEM diesel passenger car series run on WVO.
Mods are limited to upgrades from respective OEM's parts bins to '89.
Sort of an ESCORT series on grease...albeit a lot slower....
tr8todd
New Reader
5/9/10 11:21 a.m.
It already exists. It's called improved touring. Stock bodied cars, huge fields, lots of makes, banging around on a road course. I'd rather watch an IT race than a world challenge race. But alas, no sponsorship money- no TV.
only one rule: 25 mpg
Teams gets a set amount of fuel.
Showroom stock with classing based on MSRP (suggested starting classes of $20k, $25k, and $50k).
Cars must be exactly as they rolled off the showroom floor. No changes allowed (including paint/visual), except for addition of specified set of safety equipment. Alignment settings, tire pressures, and fuel grade must be within factory spec. Cars must be 50-state legal, mass-produced (no hyper-limited production models), and sold to the general public.
Goal is "buy it, race it", with ulterior motive to have manufacturers create lower-priced sportier vehicles under classing price points.
Another idea would be a closed-wheel series governed by only three factors: spec fuel (87 octane), spec tires (245/45R17), and a spec shortblock (4.6L Ford maybe, or LS1, or VQ35).
