Two-Way Radio

I grew up in a time and place in which radio was a richly diverse medium. In Southern California in the 1960's and 1970's you could find radio stations playing any genre of music you can think of, plus dedicated sports stations, news stations, religious stations, talk stations etc. The DJ's were for the most part live on the air and controlled their own playlists. Since those times, radio has become a comparatively sterile pre-fabricated experience. The Internet has largely replaced radio with many richly diverse media outlets.

When I followed endurance racing as a kid in the 1960's, it was at a remove; there would be hourly reports during the Daytona 24, Sebring and Le Mans on one of the sports stations, I could read about preparations before the big events and after them in magazines like Road and Track, later there were highlights on ABC's "Wide World of Sports", but that was about it. Today I have many more ways to follow endurance racing.

In 2004 I went searching for ways to re-connect with my youthful enthusiasm for endurance racing and found Radio Le Mans (RLM, www.radiolemans.com) and simultaneously the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). With on-line timing and scoring and the commentary on RLM I had a much richer experience than I had in my youth. John Hindhaugh and his colleagues on RLM didn't just cover the race, they conveyed their knowledge, enthusiasm and humor to the listener. They are experienced fans with microphones and a gift for bringing the races to life for their listeners. In addition to race coverage, RLM has a weekly 2-hour show called "Mid-Week Motorsport" (MWM) on Wednesdays at 8:00PM London time. This "weekly window on motorsport ..." is ostensibly a news show, but it is, to say the least, informal and not like any other such show that I know of. The adjectives that come to mind that describe MWM are "informal", "quirky" and "personal". MWM comes across as a get-together of friends at a pub with a common interest in motor sport. This impression is strengthened by including real-time listener comments from RLM's on-line forum into the show.

The same richly diverse media provided by the Internet that brings me my race coverage allows RLM to become much more than news and commentary, they are interactive. Even before the RLM forum went on line, email from listeners was encouraged and sometimes read out live during race coverage and on MWM. RLM now use Twitter and Facebook along with email and their on-line forum to extend what comes to seem like a conversation with listeners to their coverage. Their audience is International, and thanks to the Internet, available wherever English is understood. We are a community, a "tribe", referred to as the "Mid-Week Motosrport Listeners Collective", or just "the collective".

Elsewhere I have described how I would rather have RLM audio commentary with live timing and scoring of entire races, than mundane commentary of race highlights on TV or video. Up until the 2011 season, RLM covered all the ALMS races live and in their entirety. That year the ALMS decided to take their coverage "in-house" and RLM was no longer permitted to cover their races. At least the ALMS and ESPN kept part of the RLM team (John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw) on as commentators for the International audience, but some of the informal and interactive qualities found in RLM coverage were lost, even as quality video was added. Those qualities are still found in RLM's coverage of the WEC and other series they cover. In my opinion, the ALMS is missing the opportunity to fully connect with the RLM "tribe".

While watching "Top Gear" on BBC America, Clarkson, Hammond and May were participating in an endurance race in a BMW. When they wanted the suggestion of Le Mans conveyed to the audience, they had the Radio Le Mans theme song, the instrumental intro to "She Sells Sanctuary" by The Cult, on the soundtrack. RLM is strongly identified with endurance racing in general and Le Mans in particular. To me and I assume many others, RLM is part of endurance racing in a way that is hard to express.

No time to explain, get in the Llama. Drink! :-}

The Media are the Messengers: Coverage of Endurance Racing

Living on a Caribbean island may seem idyllic, but trust me, not everything is heavenly in "America's Paradise". For one thing this island is isolated from motor sport. The logistics and expense of actually attending a race makes media coverage of vital importance to me.

On paper the ALMS media coverage is impressive: Live video streaming, network TV coverage, and on-line video archives of all the races.  Live timing and scoring completes the coverage. The execution of those coverage options leaves something to be desired however. The TV coverage is not of the entire race; you get edited highlights of some fraction of the race. The video streaming is split into two parts: one for domestic U.S. viewers that happen to be allowed to access the espn3.com website (your ISP has to be on an approved list); the other part is for International viewers (those outside the U.S.). So, even though I am in the U.S. Virgin Islands and my cable TV subscription includes ESPN, my ISP is not on the approved list. Luckily I am considered "International" and can get that coverage from the ALMS web site. As a plus, the International coverage utilizes the talents of John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw, regulars of the Radio Le Mans (RLM) coverage team.

Highlight coverage is a compromise between coverage of the entire race and the difficulty of scheduling a long sporting event in a busy TV schedule. While many anoraks might well prefer to watch the entire 12 hours of Sebring than spend an entire Sunday watching football, we are in the minority and have to accept that a general purpose sports network will not be able to accommodate us. Prior to the start of this season's ALMS coverage, it was suggested that the highlights package would be edited into story lines resembling the documentary "Truth in 24", about Audi's 2008 Le Mans campaign. I was skeptical that such a thing would be possible with such a short space of time between the race and the next week's (let alone the next day's) TV coverage. I was justified in my skepticism, it turned out to be a not-so-exciting highlights package after all. It may be suitable for the casual TV viewer, but for endurance racing enthusiasts it is disappointing.

The streaming video coverage is of the entire race, which is great. Unfortunately there have been some  technical problems with the live delivery of those streams. So far four of this season's races: Lime Rock, Mosport, Mid-Ohio, and Road America had severe problems, at least for the International coverage.

The Lime Rock and Mosport streams had partial live TV coverage of the second half of those 2hr 45min races. The ESPN TV coverage used Brian Till and Johnny O'Connell in the announcer's booth. Those of us following the International video stream were startled and disappointed when halfway through the race the audio went briefly silent, and when it returned we heard, not John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw, but Brian Till and Johnny O'Connell. I don't have anything derogatory to say about Brian and Johnny, but I and many other fans have followed ACO-rules endurance racing for years with Radiolemans.com and other voices are just not the same. I think that the reason for the two announcer teams and with the bifurcated coverage in the first place had to do with broadcast rights. So this faux pas was definitely not intentional. BTW, the archived video stream had the "correct" International audio track for it's entire length. The Mid-Ohio coverage on the International stream was a complete failure. The ALMS web site crashed, and no one could start the coverage thereafter. After that experience, I subscribed to the ESPN Player (www.espnplayer.com): $6.99 for all the ALMS races. This is a great bargain and had none of the problems experienced with the ALMS International stream, according to the participants on the Radiolemans.com forum. I was unable to follow the Road America race due to the fact I was on an airplane much of that day, but according to the RLM forum participants, the International stream was another washout,  a badly buffering, stuttering mess.

Through all of the problems with the ALMS stream, the ESPN stream (both espn3.com and espnplayer.com) were rock solid according to reports on the RLM forum. Those of us that listen to Midweek Motorsport on radiolemans.com were assured that the problems were not at the track and that neither the ALMS personnel nor ESPN personnel were responsible for the problems. The archived videos of the race coverage were immaculate. This places the problems "down stream" from the source.

I was dreading another dismal performance for the Baltimore race, but this time I was prepared, I had an ESPN Player subscription. I was most pleasantly surprised when both qualifying and the race were flawless on the ALMS International stream. In fact, it was better than the ESPN Player (higher sustained bit rate, no buffering at all). I noticed that the ALMS had a new Flash player, and further investigation showed that they apparently changed Content Delivery Network (CDN) providers; they were now using Level 3, the same as ESPN. This last week's race at VIR was also rock-solid and this time they were using Akamai as their CDN. I was so relieved. The ALMS should be congratulated for recognizing the problems and fixing them, but why did they have to punt 40% of their live race coverage (for those of us dependent on the Internet anyway)?

Now I come to the heart of my message: What will happen with coverage of ALMS/Grand-Am in 2014? The timing of the merger of the ALMS and Grand-Am was in part determined by current media coverage contracts, so 2013 will probably be the same as this year. The merged series should be in a better position to negotiate coverage with the various media outlets. My personal fear is that coverage will go to the NASCAR owned Speed TV and Speedtv.com. This is not a bad thing for most fans; for many years the ALMS was covered by Speed TV. For me that would be a big problem. My local cable TV monopoly does not carry Speed TV and I am geoblocked from seeing any video on Speedtv.com. My home is situated such that satellite TV is not possible. Because the only live coverage of the Grand-Am series has been on Speed TV, the only way I can watch those races is after the fact, utilizing the archived video on the Grand-Am web site. Those living in Europe and elsewhere will probably have some International coverage, but I am stuck. Living on this island has it's problems.

For years I followed (audio only) the ALMS, ELMS and Le Mans on radiolemans.com with timing and scoring from the race organizers. With the current ESPN/ABC arrangement, radiolemans.com is no longer permitted to cover the ALMS races. At least ESPN and ALMS put the voices from RLM on their International coverage and on the archived videos.

When the 2014 media contracts are signed, here is what I hope is included in the package, no matter who the TV contract/s is/are with:

- A non-geoblocked, live streaming video feed of the entire race.
- Broadcast Network coverage of at least some of the races
- Solid International TV coverage outside the U.S.
- Radiolemans.com coverage.
- Comprehensive Timing and Scoring over the web.
- On-demand streaming video archives of all races and qualifying

The timing and scoring on the ALMS web site used to have more information, including running pit stop elapsed time and time of last stop. I would also like to see sector times as long as I'm dreaming. In the current coverage arrangement there is no "audio-only" option. When you select live audio, you get another video stream. In low bandwidth situations that won't work. It would also allow an alternate sound track for the video feed. A true "audio-only" option with rich timing and scoring is better, in my opinion, than partial, or broken video coverage. Make the audio-only option Radiolemans.com and I would be happy. I would gladly pay a nominal sum for quality live video streaming, like the ESPN Player's $6.99 per season, if I can't get it for free.

So Many Tracks, So Little Time

As a fan who follows endurance sports car racing almost exclusively on-line, I would like to see as many races as possible. After all if you follow racing on TV or via the Internet, you don't have the expense of travel and your logistics are pretty simple. For the participating race teams, the number of races and where they are held present a much larger budgetary and logistical problem. For teams competing in the proposed ALMS/Grand-Am unified series (it really needs a name, I'll call it ALMS-GA for now), the choices of venue are wide but the constraints of budget, time, and conflicting calendars will limit the number of races that can realistically be run in a season.

At the merger press conference the ALMS-GA folks stated that they are shooting for a 12-race schedule for 2014. They further suggested that championship points would be calculated on the best 11 of the 12 races to allow teams to prepare for Le Mans without penalty if they wished.  In creating a 2014 schedule for the ALMS-GA one would have to be aware of each track's schedule/availability, the weather at the venue for the time of the proposed events, possible conflicting events, and keep in mind the travel and logistical realities of getting the teams to the venues, with breaks for repairs and development taken into consideration. I'm glad it isn't my job to juggle all these factors.

January 2014 is a bit more than 15 months away, so part of the scheduling process is guesswork because many potential conflicting events are yet unknown. Traditionally the ALMS, ELMS, and ACO attempted to avoid overlapping events to allow teams the option of competing in any of the events (except this year, with the WEC). No 2014 series schedule exists yet, we only know that Le Mans is usually held around the summer solstice (third week of June).

So, for the time being let's just concentrate on the "where" first. In 2012, combining the ALMS and Grand-Am, races will take place on 18 different tracks. Additionally there are 4 venues that have either been included by one series of the other, or been considered for inclusion. That is 22 venues. Somehow the ALMS-GA will have to select 12. There are some hard choices to be made. From the 2012 schedules of the ALMS and Grand-Am let's see where they go. First there are 4 tracks that were visited by both series:

I have included the 2012 event dates in the table to show possible openings at each track for scheduling purposes. Since both series chose to run there and these are some of the best natural-terrain road courses on the continent, these would likely be included in the new schedule.

Next, we have the signature events for each series:

In the cases of the Daytona 24hr. and the Sebring 12hr. they have a history in sports car racing that pre-dates both ALMS and Grand-Am; those two events were the traditional beginning of the endurance racing season and previous world championships; Daytona in January and Sebring in March. Those two events are currently also the single largest draw for their respective series. In recent years Watkins Glen has been featured in the Grand-Am's endurance championship (along with Daytona and new this year, Indianapolis), while Petit Le Mans is the traditional season-ending event and one of the largest draws (along with Sebring and Long Beach) in the ALMS.

Then we have what I will call the "market-driven" events:

These events are all street circuits located near large population centers. They are important in raising the profile of their respective series and in attracting new fans, sponsors, and media coverage. They are also nicely spread out geographically.

So, if the ALMS-GA were to include just these 3 categories unchanged, they would already be up to 11 events. If they were adamantly committed to a 12-race schedule, there is only 1 further venue include. Let's look next at the venues that are unique to each series in 2012:

A tough choice isn't it? Personally if I had only 1 choice from this list, I would choose Mosport. But I have a suggestion that would ease the pain somewhat: allow teams to drop 2 races from championship calculations and go with a 14 or 15 race schedule. Some tough choices would still need to be made, but that way both Canadian races (Mosport and Montreal) and Indianapolis could potentially be included (for example).

There is at least one further category of venue to consider when creating a schedule: tracks that have been utilized in the past, or are under consideration for 2013:

The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) is still under construction, but the WEC is likely to hold it's North American round there in 2013, possibly as a double-header with the ALMS. St. Petersberg is a street circuit that the ALMS has run on in the past. Miller Motorsport Park in Utah is the longest natural-terrain road course on the continent (and one of the newest) that has also been used in the past. Sonoma is in an important market area and has recently received some upgrades.

So, here are my picks for the venues for the ALMS-GA 2014 season in chronological order:

1. Daytona 24hr. (late January)
2. Sebring 12hr. (early March)
3. Long Beach (2hrs. early April)
4. Laguna Seca (6hrs. early May)
5. Belle Isle (2hrs. 1st week in June)
6. Watkins Glen (6hrs. early July)
7. Mosport (2:45hrs. mid July)
8. Mid-Ohio (2:45hrs. early August)
9. Road America (4-6hrs. mid August)
10. Lime Rock (2:45hrs. early September)
11. Baltimore (2hrs. late September)
12. Petite Le Mans (10hrs. late October)

In addition, I would add at least 3 more and allow teams to drop 2 races for championship consideration to hold down costs and allow running at Le Mans:

2a. COTA (6hrs. late March when the weather is cool)
3a. Sonoma (2:45hrs. late April)
9a. Montreal (2:45hrs. late August)

The top 12 would include the 11 "core" races described above plus Mosport to keep some International flavor. My 3 added races include a second Canadian race and two western venues to help regionally balance the series. I would also like to add Miller Motorsport Park, but I had to draw the line somewhere. I tried to be realistic in my choices. My unfettered personal choices would not include "rovals", or street circuits (I don't like to see heavily damaged cars). Daytona and the street circuits are too important not to be included, but my list favors natural-terrain permanent road circuits.

My ALMS/Grand-Am Class Structure

The recent announcement of the merger of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) with the Grand American Road Racing Series (Grand-Am ) beginning in 2014 was the event that has moved me to begin this blog. Endurance sports car racing has a long history, dating back to at least the first Le Mans 24-hour race in 1923. The core fan base of the sport (we are commonly known as "anoraks") are aware of this history and are generally quite knowledgeable about the cars, teams, drivers and venues of the sport. So, when a major change to "my" sport occurs, such as this merger, I am concerned that nothing is done to damage it. Since I have no real voice in the matter, I feel the need to put my opinions on the record somehow, hence this blog.

Presently (Sept. 2012) the ALMS has 5 separate classes of cars competing at the same time: LMP1, LMP2, GT (herein referred to as GTE to distinguish it from Grand-Am GT), LMPC, and GTC. Grand-Am has two classes: DP, and GT. In addition, Grand-Am has previously announced a new GX class for next year and at the merger press conference it was stated that the Deltawing was to be included in some way. That is too many classes. Obviously, things will have to change come 2014.

It has been suggested that LMP2 and DP be combined in a single class and that GTE and GT be similarly combined, then the performance be adjusted on the cars within each class. That would be a total mess and not easily done. The reason that different classes of race car exist is to provide rules for a level playing field: cars adhere to a common rule-set guiding their construction. Creating a combined class where the rules guiding construction are bifurcated is unfair and ill-advised. The common methods of “Balance of Performance” (BoP) (weight, intake restrictors, RPM limits) were intended for within-class BoP, not to balance separate classes, which LMP2 and DP certainly are. It would be unfair to have the DP compete against the faster LMP2 cars. An overweight, strangled LMP2 would not be very exciting. A pumped-up DP would still have major aerodynamic disadvantages to overcome. I propose to keep them separated into their own classes and perhaps evolve them into a single class in the future.

At the press conference announcing the merger it was stated that one priority was to keep a relationship to the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO, the sanctioning body of the 24 Hours of Le Mans) and a pathway to the Le Mans 24 open, at least for some classes. Another priority was to leave the highly competitive GTE (and ACO compliant) class largely as it is. If the new combined series organizers are serious about this, then it would not make sense to change the rules that allow that pathway for the LMP2 and GTE cars. This would also argue against combining GTE with GT as any BoP impacting the GTE cars would likely either make them non-compliant with ACO regulations or place and undue burden on the GT cars. The argument for keeping these classes separate is the same as the case for keeping LMP2 and DP separate: classes are there for a reason, you can't just throw BoP at them; it would endanger good-will among the teams and piss off the core fan base. Each class is in it's own race, let it go at that.

LMP1, the top class in the ALMS, WEC and Le Mans, is really only for factory teams. The ACO has deliberately structured it that way. Unless and until things change (factories sponsor multiple teams, rules change etc.) it doesn't seem to make any sense to keep them in this new series. Much as I love these cars, they just don't make much sense for privateers under the rules proposed for 2014, although both Porsche and Honda have expressed interest in producing cars for those rules along with Audi and Toyota. LMP1 car counts in the ALMS have fallen drastically (only two teams, three cars, as of this writing) since the current rules went into effect in 2010. Unless there is sufficient interest by the participating teams, I would eliminate LMP1 from the North American grid; the WEC can remain their playground. My hope is that someday LMP1 will return to North America.

The LMPC and GTC classes in the ALMS are recent additions to boost car counts. Both classes include spec cars and spec tires. They are viewed as developmental classes for prototype and GT class racing respectively. They have provided exciting racing and have served their purposes, but something has to give. To make room on the grid for the expanded North American series (I do wish it had a name), I would eliminate both of these classes or move them into a support series.

Here is my proposed preliminary class structure for 2014:

Le Mans Prototype: This class would track the LMP2 regulations as defined by the ACO to retain eligibility to run in the Le Mans 24 and the World Endurance Championship (WEC). This class would keep its Pro-Am driver restriction and open tire formula.

Daytona Prototype: Since this class is currently only supported in Grand-Am racing, it can evolve any way the sanctioning body wishes. Currently this class utilizes a spec tire from Continental.

Le Mans Grand Touring: This class would track the GTE regulations as defined by the ACO to retain eligibility to run in the Le Mans 24 and WEC. This class would keep an open tire formula.

Daytona Grand Touring: This class would include the current Grand-Am GT cars. While it currently includes both modified production cars and tube-frame silhouette cars, the class is unique to this series and uses a spec tire. It could evolve in any way the sanctioning body chooses.

The Deltawing is a single car and doesn't fit in any existing class. The GX class is currently undefined; the only particular known facts are that Mazda will supply their Skyactiv Diesel engine for it and  that Mazda will also supply that engine for the 2013 ALMS LMP2 campaign with Dempsey Racing. I'll pass on categorizing GX and the Deltawing for now, although I do have some ideas on those subjects.

Tires are often the single most important performance variable on any race car. The suspension and chassis are tuned to work with a particular tire or set of tires. Beyond performance, tire company sponsorship is a very important source of funding. Using a “spec” tire deprives teams of sponsorship opportunities. It can actually increase costs for a team that would otherwise be sponsored by a tire company. If a team aspires to race at Le Mans or in the WEC, they need to be as competitive as possible and car development is greatly dependent on their tires. Cars in development benefit greatly from collaboration with tire engineers that provide feedback to tire manufacture. For these reasons the Le Mans eligible classes should keep their open tire formula.

Beyond 2014 rules can change and the classes could evolve to further simplify the class structure. The GT class could become a more formal FIA GT3 class for example. There is some pull in that direction already. The teams currently running DP cars  may decide that they might be interested in Le Mans and switch to LMP2 machinery. There is some evidence that it costs less to run a cost-capped LMP2 car than a third generation DP car. The classes that run today should change over time; this first cut at merging two different series should take into account that racing is ever evolving, nothing remains static for too long.