atlantics ratings up

[Trevor Longman]

http://www.champcaratlantic.com/News/Article.asp?ID=2118

:thumbup:

not only up but double!!! :)

[cameraman]

Granted going from .1 to .2 is doubling the ratings.

For a support series 241,000 viewers probably isn't bad especially after a full week tape delay.

Hopefully the ratings will hold.

[Ankf00]

is that "doubling" even worth a damn, statistically speaking?

[cameraman]

Yeah, it is accurate enough. More people watched this year than last year.

Up is good, leave it at that.

[Ankf00]

meh, good for them then :thumbup:

[Easy]

This should be sure to justify those $1,000,000 budgets.

[Dr. Corkski]

It's the track's fault.

[racer2c]

This should be sure to justify those $1,000,000 budgets.

Waddya expect, NASCAR ratings?

[Easy]

I don't care about the Atlantic ratings, I just think it illustrates how out of touch the stewards of open wheel racing are when they commision a new formula which costs as much it does and have exposure like this.

Yeah there are 30 cars now as their was in the mid 90's. That will fall as the new car hype wears off and the $2mil prize is condensed.

[cameraman]

When has a spec open wheel ladder series ever made money via television ratings? They were not even on tv a decade ago. Prior to the advent of 180 channels the ladder series survived on sponsors who were not looking to tv for their return. It is very safe to say that anyone sponsoring a 2006 Atlantics car is not looking to the SpeedTV rating for their roi. They already know it will pull a 0.1 or so and they were probably pleasantly surprised that it got a 0.2. In a country where an F1 race draws a 1.2 on a major network, you can't expect much more than a 0.2 of a week old ladder series race on cable channel that only half the nation even gets.

[Easy]

It also didn't cost $800k-$1,000,000 to run a season of Atlantics back then. My point is that they had a chance to bring costs down and did not.

[cameraman]

So how would you have made the new car significantly faster than a Star Mazda without spending $800K+?

[Easy]

A V-6 that doesn't need rebuilds 4x per season. An F2000 has as good or better cornering than a STAR Mazda (with both on control tires), so all the Atlantics needed to be much faster than a STAR Mazda was more sack but they picked another small engine that is worked too hard.

[cameraman]

You think Mazda is interested in trying to prove the raceworthy cred of its minivan motor?

[Ankf00]

You think Mazda is interested in trying to prove the raceworthy cred of its minivan motor?

You think the masses are interested in buying their next vehicle due to which engine is showcased in a formula car feeder series which is barely even relevent?

[nrc]

Bitch bitch bitch.

A 29 car field with 14 Americans strongly suggests that Champ car is offering good value for the money. This isn't supposed to be SCCA racing, this is a top level feeder series to prepare a driver for the top level of American open wheel racing.

[emjaya]

A V-6 that doesn't need rebuilds 4x per season. An F2000 has as good or better cornering than a STAR Mazda (with both on control tires), so all the Atlantics needed to be much faster than a STAR Mazda was more sack but they picked another small engine that is worked too hard.

I agree,would have been smarter to use a 3lt V6.

:)

[cameraman]

You think the masses are interested in buying their next vehicle due to which engine is showcased in a formula car feeder series which is barely even relevent?Mazda seems to think it is worth their dime.

[Sean O'Gorman]

How much do you think Mazda is actually spending on this deal?

[rjohnson999]

This idea fails the basic smell test. You can't plop a V-6 lump in the back of an existing design and expect anything good and you can't design an entirely new chassis and keep the costs down.


A V-6 that doesn't need rebuilds 4x per season. An F2000 has as good or better cornering than a STAR Mazda (with both on control tires), so all the Atlantics needed to be much faster than a STAR Mazda was more sack but they picked another small engine that is worked too hard.

[extramundane]

How much do you think Mazda is actually spending on this deal?

I hear they sprung for the curtain Vasser drove through at the announcement and a package of Andes mints for Steve Johnson's hotel room.

[Easy]

This idea fails the basic smell test. You can't plop a V-6 lump in the back of an existing design and expect anything good and you can't design an entirely new chassis and keep the costs down.


They designed a new chassis which everyone had to buy, they could've accommodated a slightly larger block in that design. Besides, engine refitments are not uncommon. Plenty of Ralts and Swifts now have Wankel Mazda's.

And Mazda is probably a lot more happy to spend whatever they are spending than most competitors are to spend $100's of k on the engine and multiple rebuilds.

[nrc]

They designed a new chassis which everyone had to buy, they could've accommodated a slightly larger block in that design. Besides, engine refitments are not uncommon. Plenty of Ralts and Swifts now have Wankel Mazda's.

And Mazda is probably a lot more happy to spend whatever they are spending than most competitors are to spend $100's of k on the engine and multiple rebuilds.

There's a huge difference between putting a smaller, lighter engine into a car and putting a bigger, heavier engine in a car.

The engine costs were spelled out when those 29 entries signed up for the program. Evidently they thought it was worthwhile.

Engine rebuilds have always been part of the series. In the previous formula the top teams could rebuild more often and push the specs to the limit to make sure they squeezed ever last bit of power out of the engine. Now every team is on a level playing field.

[rjohnson999]

It's not an entirely new design. The weight of the new engine is much closer to the weight of the previous engine than any V-6. Designing for a V-6 would have probably doubled the cost due to the needed testing and refinement.


They designed a new chassis which everyone had to buy, they could've accommodated a slightly larger block in that design. Besides, engine refitments are not uncommon. Plenty of Ralts and Swifts now have Wankel Mazda's.

And Mazda is probably a lot more happy to spend whatever they are spending than most competitors are to spend $100's of k on the engine and multiple rebuilds.

[Easy]

They were far enough from the .016 not to allow update kits but close enough to not fit a larger engine? So Swift saves a bunch of money in R&D and forces everyone who wants to play to buy an entirely new kit.

I don't want to argue the merits of the Swift design or their self-interest as a for profit venture. I just think the powers that be could've handled the entire scenario with better results for the competitor as opposed to the vendors. With the relevance of Formula Car racing in the US today this series should be a $400,000-$600,000/year proposition.

[rjohnson999]

So, all those buyers are an illusion, then? What part of 29 entries for Long Beach don't you understand?


They were far enough from the .016 not to allow update kits but close enough to not fit a larger engine? So Swift saves a bunch of money in R&D and forces everyone who wants to play to buy an entirely new kit.

I don't want to argue the merits of the Swift design or their self-interest as a for profit venture. I just think the powers that be could've handled the entire scenario with better results for the competitor as opposed to the vendors. With the relevance of Formula Car racing in the US today this series should be a $400,000-$600,000/year proposition.