Interesting, here’s my take on it:
Races 7- A 5 race season is just too short
International races: No
Distance- Stay the same or if they HAVE to shorten it, the 4 hour one.

Please, do not make shorter races!!!!!!

Credits to Mr. Peter… bye bye Mr Ratel. Organisers should listen to and respect the wishes of all competitors.

My $0.02;

Races: 7
International races: No
Distance - 4 hours and a better support race package. E.g. today’s ADAC GT, the Belcar or the FFSA.

Please do not change the format of the races. A maximum of 4 hours wil not increase at all the TV-coverage and the split in a 3 hour race on saterday and one on sunday shall result in no coverage at all on saturday and no increase on sunday (probably a small resumé of the saturday race in the middle of the sunday race coverage).
Europsport will never transmit more time than for the moment and Motors TV covers everything already. So what is the problem?
And for the spectators on place, a 6 hour race is just fantastic, we will not see any extra race with a 4-hour race format and the nomber of spectators that will come two days is limited.
Just organise two races before Le Mans, four after and stay in Europe. We have the ALMS and there is jsut no tradition in Asia and no interest for the sonsors in South-America.

My take:

7 or more races. same as before, 5 races is too short.

Stay in europe for races, its too expensive for teams to go international

Keep 1000km but if need be, have some shorter races like the ALMS

Night races subject to demand

Encourage big name manufacturers. Imagine: Audi, Peugeot, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Lola, Toyota, Honda etc doing battle!

With the influence of the LMS and the announcement of Peugeot going to Petit Le Mans in October, why not have the normal 5 to 7 race schedule in Europe but also allow the flexibility of for teams to contest some of the ALMS rounds as well? Start the season in late April or early May that could allow these teams to run Sebring, St. Pete and Long Beach, then end the season in early September so teams could compete at Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca.

“Please do not change the format of the races. A maximum of 4 hours wil not increase at all the TV-coverage”

Might not increase tv coverage but 4 hours makes better racing. It’s only 1 hour more than ALMS races and see how amazingly close races those are. Shorter race encourages to do less “pacing” and instead go really flat out.

I’m a believer and I want to think there is going to be another great era of sportscar racing. When the series gets better, more manufacturers join and competition gets more fierce, I can’t see why Eurosport could not increase the amount of coverage. Now with 1000km Nring they’re doing already more than 3 hours (altough on Eurosport 2, because of the olympics I guess). Remember this is only the first year of the multiyear deal. At least it shouldn’t get worse.

One way of getting better coverage would be to try to avoid clashes with WTCC races as long as Eurosport shows it…

“Europsport will never transmit more time than for the moment and Motors TV covers everything already. So what is the problem?”

Well, good for you MotorsTV owners. For example I have NO WAY of getting MotorsTV here, ever. Not even satellite.

MotorsTV can only dream of those kind of tv ratings that Eurosport can reach. MotorsTV reaches 15 million households, Eurosport 1 reaches over 100 million and Eurosport 2 over 30 million households.

I agree with the double race format, that is really stupid idea. Gladly only an idea.

“Encourage big name manufacturers. Imagine: Audi, Peugeot, Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Lola, Toyota, Honda etc doing battle!”

That’s happening already. You’re list is quite interesting though, as Mercedes or BMW and I believe not Toyota have no plan to join (P1). Instead Acura (well.. Honda), Aston, Corvette and Jaguar have interest.

To Jameson: That sounds nice but what about encouraging American teams to show in some LMS races? It would be nice to see Acuras or Penske Porsches ran head to head with Peugeots on traditional 1000 kms distance and without that big influence of yellow periods, wouldn’t it?

another thing the ACO/Peter must really work hard with FIA/SRO to avoid clashes in the calendar, what a shame to see Gimmi Bruni unable to won the LMS GT2 title !!

@ Mark K.
Credits to Mr. Peter. Bye bye Mr Ratel????
Don’t you know that SRO is constantly listening ot all their competitors? But you can’t make everybody happy, Van Merksteijn is dropping out, Rollcentre also…
@ everybody
The FIA GT shortened their races too, with succes. But I think that this will not be the case concerning LMES. This is a healthy championship, the ALMS ( shorter and more races ) isn’t.
It’s correct that Patrick Peter and Stephane Ratel should avoid clashes in the calendar. This shouldn’t be a big problem, knowing that they already worked together in the past.

This is an endurance series so keep it at 1000kms.

Six races around Europe during the season with perhaps an inclusion of Brno would be good IMO.

As for TV, the FIA GT cut to two hours to get full live TV so I can’t see cutting from 1000 kms would have any benefit especially as MOTORS TV generally covers the entire race anyway.

Get Peugeot and Audi to sell customer cars.

HD: ALMS not healthy series? Of course if you look at P1 and GT1 grids. P2 is amazing. Quality over quantity for me.

And even P1 situation might change quite soon… (Acura).

Yeah, the ALMS is a far healthier championship in terms of exposure, quality of racing, manufacturer interest, spectator interest etc. The LMS has a tough decision to make. Do they try and become the mirror image of the ALMS and risk losing all of their small independent teams in hopes that more heavily funded works and semi-works teams join? Or do they maintain their place as the series that continues to support the smaller independent teams? As far as I can see the ALMS has established itself as the manufacturer playing ground and on the European racing scene it is far more important to play to the small independent teams anyways. I’d like to see the classic 1000km races be maintained. 1000km Monza, 1000km Spa, 1000km Nurburgring, 1000km Hockenheim, 1000km Silverstone… If you want to attract the American teams you need to keep the championship around five races, play up the historic aspect of the 1000km races, and find ways to really give incentive to the teams making the expensive trip across to Europe.

I’ve always had the dream that the American Le Mans Series would have a more classical schedule incorporating the European races, but the concept is risky. Here is my ideal schedule:

12 Hours of Sebring
1000km Monza
1000km Spa
24 Hours of Le Mans
1000km Watkins Glen
1000km Mosport
500km Lime Rock
500mile Road America
500km Mid-Ohio
1000km Silverstone
500mile Laguna Seca
1000mile Road Atlanta

1,000 km or nothing. Number of tires should not be reduced. I hope Pirelli and Yokohama return to the LMS. The LMS needs to be taken to the next level.

RSC: There’s no way Penske’s Spyders and Acura’s ARX01bs will keep up with Pug’s blistering pace on the flowing road courses of the LMS. I do agree with the idea of having more LMS cars compete at Petit as Creation and Barazi Epzilon have been doing and Pug is planning, but also perhaps a mid-September LMS big race where ALMS teams could go to as well. One motive for LMS teams come to Petit is simple - to gain a chance at automatic entries for LM24.

HD: the ALMS has to compete in a land where NASCAR reigns mightily. Hell, even the single-seaters here race ovals. The coverage and promotion of ALMS has finally come to acceptable levels, and even then only Sebring in Hi-Def. I think Honda’s participation this year has done wonders for the racing as well as the series. Now you can expect any of 8 different cars to win overall, compared to last year’s 4. (Though only the Highcroft Acura has done so, which considering Sharp’s pace is an amazing testament to Brab’s ability) America’s shaky history with road racing doesn’t afford the series with strong private entries and big sponsors, though of Grand AM screws up their GT class as badly as it sounds, we might be seeing more teams come to ALMS which would be great.

2 races before LM, 4 after, a total of 6 weekends. Preferably all in Europe or 1 fly-away at the end of the season (with LM entry for class winners), but I’m sceptical about it.

1000km is traditional and a great format, should be kept at least on some venues. I agree that 4h doesn’t improve the TV coverage. It would save some costs, though. The top teams are already flat out from 1st lap until the end, so effect on racing isn’t much. The idea about two races should be forgotten quickly…

Collision with both FIA and ALMS calendars should be avoided.

What about 1 10h or 12h race in the end of the season and inviting the US teams there?

Restricting the amount of tyres would cut costs. Reducing the number of wheel guns makes the series just look less professional with longer stops. Should the teams sell the existing extra wheelguns to collect the 2009 budget?

1. The LMS shouldn’t have any international races unless A) they get paid A LOT of money to bring the series there, or B) there is an existing xLMS series that they attach a point-paying LMS race too. Of course, the only option for “B” right now is ALMS so if they really want an international event, pay points for the top LMS regulars at the 12 Hours of Sebring or the Petit Le Mans.

2. The longer races are fantastic to me as a spectator, but I’m willing to concede a little bit for TV. Having just been at the Road America 500, 4 hours is still long enough for a great endurance event. Of course, avoid at all costs the 2 hours format that contributed to the disinterest of Group C. I guess not all races have to be 1000K, but for tradition and the fact the tracks can handle it (demand it? :-)) definitly Spa and probably Monza should remain at 1000K. Sorry 1000K at Barcelona just doesn’t stir the soul like those classic circuits.

3) One tire gun per pit stop? Who came up with that one? Reject it, immediately!

“The top teams are already flat out from 1st lap until the end, so effect on racing isn’t much.”

I think it’s childish to think that they run “flat out”, I mean really flat out, even in 6 hour race, not to mention whole 24 hours. There always pacing, unfortunately.