Unpopular "Other Motorsport than F1" Opinions

[go_Rubens]

The same as the Unpopular F1 Opinions thread, but with exclusively only other motorsports!

[Alextrax52]

The same as the Unpopular F1 Opinions thread, but with exclusively only other motorsports!

Andy Neate is a better driver than Chris James. That is all

[good_Ralf]

I think GP2 driver Felipe Nasr and GP3 driver Jack Harvey are world champions of the future in F1.
May not be unpopular to all, but some will disagree with me.

[Aerospeed]

I think GP2 driver Felipe Nasr and GP3 driver Jack Harvey are world champions of the future in F1.
May not be unpopular to all, but some will disagree with me.

Nasr is a definite maybe, firstly, he needs to be more competitive given Coletti's currently running away with the championship, so he had better, and secondly, he needs to somehow get out of the "GP2 driver" tag. If he manages to get away from those and manage to find a seat that isn't in Marussia or Caterham, I think he can do something. But who knows.

[Dj_bereta]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

[Salamander]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

I think that's fairly popular, actually. He focuses too much on winning each race.

[eichy]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

I think that's fairly popular, actually. He focuses too much on winning each Nationwide and Truck race.

Fixed.

[Salamander]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

I think that's fairly popular, actually. He focuses too much on winning each Nationwide and Truck race.

Fixed.

Nah, I think he focuses on winning Cup races. He's just incredibly bad at it.

[go_Rubens]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

I think that's fairly popular, actually. He focuses too much on winning each Cup, Nationwide, and Truck race.

Fixed!

Quite honestly, I agree with Kyle Busch never being a champion, because he focuses too much on each race weekend and almost every season he has been in he has had some inconsistent results, which don't do anyone good in the long run.

(Look at Räikkönen's season so far)

[Onxy Wrecked]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

To counter, Clint Bowyer will be a NASCAR champion in Sprint Cup.

[go_Rubens]

Kyle Busch will never be a Nascar champion.

To counter, Clint Bowyer will be a NASCAR champion in Sprint Cup.

This I can agree with. And for Hamlin, for that matter.

[WaffleCat]

Unpopular "Other Motorsport than F1" Opinions,eh?....

...WANT MINI BACK IN WRC. NOW.

... the best non-F1 series right now is the Global RallyCross Championship.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

The same as the Unpopular F1 Opinions thread, but with exclusively only other motorsports!

Andy Neate is a better driver than Chris James. That is all

Agree completely. Neate is a crap driver but James is on another level of awfulness

Anyway, I think the WTCC will die soon

[Salamander]

The same as the Unpopular F1 Opinions thread, but with exclusively only other motorsports!

Andy Neate is a better driver than Chris James. That is all

Agree completely. Neate is a crap driver but James is on another level of awfulness

Anyway, I think the WTCC will die soon

Chris James is a complete and utter moron and slower than Neate. That said, at least he was never a genuine threat to the safety of his competitors. You can't say that about Neate. Which is why Neate is the worse driver, IMO.

[Alextrax52]

Chris James is a complete and utter moron and slower than Neate. That said, at least he was never a genuine threat to the safety of his competitors. You can't say that about Neate. Which is why Neate is the worse driver, IMO.

If you could merge the 2 together you would have a driver perfect for Andrea Moda

[dr-baker]

Unpopular "Other Motorsport than F1" Opinions,eh?....

...WANT MINI BACK IN WRC. NOW.

I wholeheartedly agree with this - as long as it is being properly funded...

Plus, I want to see the return of A1GP. That was a fabulous series with some great racing.

[go_Rubens]

Anyway, I think the WTCC will die soon

What is your reasoning for this? I don't see it happening.

Now for an unpopular opinion. NASCAR is a good series for racing. It just needs more variety in tracks.

Probably not unpopular, though.

[CoopsII]

Indycar is a waste of time and is populated by drivers who would've sold their own grandmothers to have had a career in F1. No matter what they say now.

[Salamander]

IndyCar has the best racing of any motorsport series in 2013.

Indycar is a waste of time and is populated by drivers who would've sold their own grandmothers to have had a career in F1. No matter what they say now.

Takuma Sato doesn't think so.

[CoopsII]

Takuma Sato doesn't think so.

Yeah whatever. The Indycar driver list reads like a soap opera of disappointment, failure and people who competed against Lewis Hamilton Way Back When. They'd all rather win in Indycar then finish 17th in F1, for sure, but dont kid yourself that they're not putting up with second best.

[CoopsII]

I hope nobody takes the time to post any quotes from some Indycar dude along the lines of "I dont want to go into F1 I love this series, its better" or some suchlike because it proves nothing. Only Paul Di Resta would go to that series and tell the truth along the lines of "Well, its not where Id dreamed of racing since I was a kid but its good and competative, the weathers nice and at least its not NASCAR".

[Salamander]

I hope nobody takes the time to post any quotes from some Indycar dude along the lines of "I dont want to go into F1 I love this series, its better" or some suchlike because it proves nothing. Only Paul Di Resta would go to that series and tell the truth along the lines of "Well, its not where Id dreamed of racing since I was a kid but its good and competative, the weathers nice and at least its not NASCAR".

I wasn't going to. Far as I'm concerned, it's your loss.

[CoopsII]

Far as I'm concerned, it's your loss.

Now come on, didnt you read what I said (or rather Di Resta) in that its good and competative? It does produce great racing (as does go-karting) but it will always be considered less than F1. A step down.

[Ferrarist]

The DTM really needs to get its head out of its butt, if it wants to become an internationally significant series. In my opinion, DTM has the potential to become to Europe what NASCAR is to Europe. Especially if F1 takes a slump in the next couple of years. But there are several things the DTM needs to do:

1) Get a solid base in Germany. Some might assume that the solid base is there, but it isn't. Mainstream attention for the DTM is pretty low, and TV numbers are usually around 1 million viewers. Formula One gets six million, on a normal race weekend. So the DTM needs more mainstream attention in Germany, and the basic way is to create a new "German" hero. Pascal Wehrlein has plenty of potential. He's young, wild but needs to get slightly more charismatic. If he starts winning races, maybe the DTM will draw more attention by the mainstream. Timo Glock also doesn't seem to handle DTM too badly, so if he becomes a serious contender for wins, maybe that'll help, too.
Also, it'd help if the DTM got a more committed TV partner in Germany. "Das Erste" (Our equivalent to BBC One) rarely promotes the DTM outside of its usual time slot, and its coverage is quite bland. They also fail to promote any drivers. Well, I don't want the tabloidesque coverage of RTL, but I think that DTM belongs to commercial television. The Sat1 group already shows auto racing (The ADAC GT Masters on their channel "Kabel Eins"), so DTM would fit rather naturally. It'd also give us Jacques Schulz commentating DTM. Unfortunately, the DTM still has a contract until 2014 with Das Erste. Ironically, the old DTM was also on public rights TV, but promoted much better. Drivers like Bernd Schneider, Klaus Ludwig, Manuel Reuter or Hans-Joachim Stuck were very popular, even with most of the F1 crowd.
2) If that solid base in Germany is reached, expansion to the rest of Europe has to follow. The series needs much more international races, and much better TV contracts. In fact, the DTM should try to seek as many contracts with free TV stations in Europe as possible. Like ITV4 in Britain or RaiSport in Italy. The series should also make promotional use of its international drivers. After all, people can rally easier behind their fellow countryman.
3) Change the name of the series! A series can never be European if it still refers to its home country in its name! Something like "EuroCar" (Although there might be trouble with Europcar), or European Racing Series/League/Whatsoever.
4) Replace the old guard in charge of the DTM. Bring in (relatively) young people with fresh ideas such as Bernd Schneider or Manuel Reuter. Besides, retirement age in Germany is 65 (yet), yet Hans-Werner Aufrecht still runs the ITR at the age of 75. Can't someone call the police about it?^^
5) While I normally advocate cars getting as light as possible, such a proposal is almost impossible. Therefore, the DTM cars should become much heavier. They're already at 1100 KG, but I think that they could load an additional 150 KG. The additional weight should make a DTM car feel more like a proper touring car.
6) Make the grids much larger. Up to 40 cars should be possible in a series such as the DTM. Especially if the manufacturers make their cars more attractive to potential customers.

In my opinion, the most urgent step is step 4. Seriously, this series needs some fresh ideas and not some old farts in suits that constantly think that they can run their series the same way they used to run their series in the 1970's.

[mario]

Anyway, I think the WTCC will die soon

What is your reasoning for this? I don't see it happening.

Now for an unpopular opinion. NASCAR is a good series for racing. It just needs more variety in tracks.

Probably not unpopular, though.

I guess that would be a reference to the changes in regulations for 2014 that will see new engines being brought in, and the fact that said changes have already lead to BMW announcing that it will be dropping its support for the privateers in the WTCC that ran customer BMW's because the cost of developing a new engine would be too high.

Ferrarist, on the topic of DTM, it is notable that, in some ways, the ITR is kind of doing some of the steps that you have referred to, albeit not necessarily in the order that you've advocated. They have taken some steps to expand the international presence of the series - they have agreed to a race in Russia this year, arranged a formal tie up with the GT500 series in Japan that should see both series adopt common chassis and engine designs that'll cut costs and could make it possible for Japanese teams to compete in Germany and vice versa and are currently finalising the details of a US version of DTM that would see the Grand-Am series adopt the same regulations as DTM (in other words, permitting Grand Am teams to run in the Us version of DTM and vice versa).

[Gerudo Dragon]

BTCC was better when it had 2 races per meeting over many r oundsinstead of 3 races a meeting over 10 rounds.

If it still used the 2 race system we wouldn't have this ridiculous situation ATM where there's a whole month between the Thruxton and Oulton Park rounds. :/

[go_Rubens]

BTCC was better when it had 2 rounds per meeting over many rounds instead of 3 rounds a meeting over 10 rounds.

If it still used the 2 round system we wouldn't have this ridiculous situation ATM where there's a whole month between the Thruxton and Oulton Park rounds. :/

I don't see why they should have this system. It is just ridiculous.

I agree with the BTCC being better with 2 rounds over a meeting with many races as a whole season than what it is now. The new system I feel is just not right. The BTCC is about who is the best driver/team/manufacturer combination out there in the UK and I think having to deal with logistical nightmares should be one of the aspects of the BTCC, or any championship, for that matter. The F1 teams have to deal with logistical nightmares and so does IndyCar and NASCAR. The fact that a domestic series only has 10 rounds to a season is quite ridiculous too, considering that V8 Supercars has like, 15 or so rounds discounting the separate races per meeting? And they even go to the US and Abu Dhabi, plus other countries like China. Out of all the series with the "TCC" title or domestic touring car series, the BTCC just lacks as much as DTM. And I'm an American saying this crap about a series most Americans have never heard about!

[The Dutch Bear]

The DTM really needs to get its head out of its butt, if it wants to become an internationally significant series. In my opinion, DTM has the potential to become to Europe what NASCAR is to Europe. Especially if F1 takes a slump in the next couple of years. But there are several things the DTM needs to do:

1) Get a solid base in Germany. Some might assume that the solid base is there, but it isn't. Mainstream attention for the DTM is pretty low, and TV numbers are usually around 1 million viewers. Formula One gets six million, on a normal race weekend. So the DTM needs more mainstream attention in Germany, and the basic way is to create a new "German" hero. Pascal Wehrlein has plenty of potential. He's young, wild but needs to get slightly more charismatic. If he starts winning races, maybe the DTM will draw more attention by the mainstream. Timo Glock also doesn't seem to handle DTM too badly, so if he becomes a serious contender for wins, maybe that'll help, too.
Also, it'd help if the DTM got a more committed TV partner in Germany. "Das Erste" (Our equivalent to BBC One) rarely promotes the DTM outside of its usual time slot, and its coverage is quite bland. They also fail to promote any drivers. Well, I don't want the tabloidesque coverage of RTL, but I think that DTM belongs to commercial television. The Sat1 group already shows auto racing (The ADAC GT Masters on their channel "Kabel Eins"), so DTM would fit rather naturally. It'd also give us Jacques Schulz commentating DTM. Unfortunately, the DTM still has a contract until 2014 with Das Erste. Ironically, the old DTM was also on public rights TV, but promoted much better. Drivers like Bernd Schneider, Klaus Ludwig, Manuel Reuter or Hans-Joachim Stuck were very popular, even with most of the F1 crowd.
2) If that solid base in Germany is reached, expansion to the rest of Europe has to follow. The series needs much more international races, and much better TV contracts. In fact, the DTM should try to seek as many contracts with free TV stations in Europe as possible. Like ITV4 in Britain or RaiSport in Italy. The series should also make promotional use of its international drivers. After all, people can rally easier behind their fellow countryman.
3) Change the name of the series! A series can never be European if it still refers to its home country in its name! Something like "EuroCar" (Although there might be trouble with Europcar), or European Racing Series/League/Whatsoever.
4) Replace the old guard in charge of the DTM. Bring in (relatively) young people with fresh ideas such as Bernd Schneider or Manuel Reuter. Besides, retirement age in Germany is 65 (yet), yet Hans-Werner Aufrecht still runs the ITR at the age of 75. Can't someone call the police about it?^^
5) While I normally advocate cars getting as light as possible, such a proposal is almost impossible. Therefore, the DTM cars should become much heavier. They're already at 1100 KG, but I think that they could load an additional 150 KG. The additional weight should make a DTM car feel more like a proper touring car.
6) Make the grids much larger. Up to 40 cars should be possible in a series such as the DTM. Especially if the manufacturers make their cars more attractive to potential customers.

In my opinion, the most urgent step is step 4. Seriously, this series needs some fresh ideas and not some old farts in suits that constantly think that they can run their series the same way they used to run their series in the 1970's.

I really like the idea of Jacques Schulz commentating on DTM, although I personally don't mind DTM being aired on 'Das Erste'. It's free-to-air here and with my German being good enough to understand at least 95% of what the commentators are saying. On the cars: they should look more like their road car counterparts. If that means they must be heavier, that's fine. In my opinion V8 Supercars has a close to perfect amount of difference between the road and race cars. Making the cars cheaper will probably mean larger grids. Promoting the drivers surely would help, DTM was more popular here when Albers did well.

[Londoner]

I cannot watch or support MotoGp without feeling somewhat sick/nervous when a rider comes off his bike.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Indycar is a waste of time and is populated by drivers who would've sold their own grandmothers to have had a career in F1. No matter what they say now.

It's more those drivers who want their face on the Borg-Warner Trophy before taking it to NASCAR. At least that is what would explain the Americans in IndyCar anyways.

[go_Rubens]

I cannot watch or support MotoGp without feeling somewhat sick/nervous when a rider comes off his bike.

I feel the same way about this subject. The riders tend to slip off in slow corners (when I say that, I mean a high percentage of accidents happen in slow corners), which is usually a good thing. The riders are almost always okay in those circumstances, so I don't feel sick when a rider goes down then. But when in a fast corner or straight, I feel like I'm about to vomit. It sickens you when you see a crash of high speed on a motorcycle, especially with MotoGP bikes which do in excess of 210 mph, which is about the same top speed for today's F1 cars.

[takagi_for_the_win]

BTCC was better when it had 2 rounds per meeting over many rounds instead of 3 rounds a meeting over 10 rounds.

If it still used the 2 round system we wouldn't have this ridiculous situation ATM where there's a whole month between the Thruxton and Oulton Park rounds. :/

Nah, I like it as it is. More action for the paying spectator first of all, and more crashy Andy Neate fun on the highlights on ITV4 for us to guffaw at

[dr-baker]

BTCC was better when it had 2 rounds per meeting over many rounds instead of 3 rounds a meeting over 10 rounds.

If it still used the 2 round system we wouldn't have this ridiculous situation ATM where there's a whole month between the Thruxton and Oulton Park rounds. :/

Nah, I like it as it is. More action for the paying spectator first of all, and more crashy Andy Neate fun on the highlights on ITV4 for us to guffaw at

3 races per round over 15 rounds would be even better.

[Ferrarist]

Ferrarist, on the topic of DTM, it is notable that, in some ways, the ITR is kind of doing some of the steps that you have referred to, albeit not necessarily in the order that you've advocated. They have taken some steps to expand the international presence of the series - they have agreed to a race in Russia this year, arranged a formal tie up with the GT500 series in Japan that should see both series adopt common chassis and engine designs that'll cut costs and could make it possible for Japanese teams to compete in Germany and vice versa and are currently finalising the details of a US version of DTM that would see the Grand-Am series adopt the same regulations as DTM (in other words, permitting Grand Am teams to run in the Us version of DTM and vice versa).

Last week, an article about Jerry Hardcastle, head of NISMO's motorsport affair, was published on Motorsport-Total. There, he said that Nissan won't enter DTM because it's too German, too expensive and doesn't have a marketable story to tell (Unlike a victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for example)*. I guess Toyota and Honda have similar feeling about it. Especially the former, since Audi and Mercedes reacted rather reserved, when the rumours about a Lexus entry in 2008 popped up. Then again, it begs the question about why SuperGT accepted the DTM regulations in the first place, if its manufacturers don't seem to be content with them.
As for the American series: They need an American manufacturer. Ford is rather unlikely, because they want to where it's "hip". Hence their rather big involvement with Rallycross and the X-Games. Dodge doesn't seem to want to go any further than GTs at the moment, especially since they bailed out of NASCAR in the 11th hour (And angering Michael Andretti in the process). GM is a rather likely choice, especially if Opel wants to increase its involvement in auto racing over the next years. So, GM could develop one racing car that can be run to promote two brands. Say, Opel in DTM and Buick in the American series.

* Which brings me to another unpopular opinion. The DTM really needs a great race. How about increasing the length of the Norisring race to 200 miles, and hand out a prize of 1.000.000 € to the winning driver? Or how about developing a special aero-kit for ovals and let them run a 500-mile race at the Lausitzring? Or revive the 1000km of the Nürburgring (Although not necessarily on the Nordschleife, because running 20-odd DTM cars at such a long track would be rather boring for spectators and TV viewers).

[go_Rubens]

* Which brings me to another unpopular opinion. The DTM really needs a great race. How about increasing the length of the Norisring race to 200 miles, and hand out a prize of 1.000.000 € to the winning driver? Or how about developing a special aero-kit for ovals and let them run a 500-mile race at the Lausitzring? Or revive the 1000km of the Nürburgring (Although not necessarily on the Nordschleife, because running 20-odd DTM cars at such a long track would be rather boring for spectators and TV viewers).

I totally agree with this. The DTM lacks in good races which I don't really like. The ideas you suggested seem like they can make the sport interesting, which I don't think it is right now. Reviving the Nurburgring 1000 km race would be really cool in my opinion, even if it isn't on the Nordschleife. The DTM needs a jewel race, which I don't think it has. A lot of other series have jewel races, like F1 and Monaco, IndyCar and the Indy 500, NASCAR and the Daytona 500, V8 Supercars and the Bathurst 1000, etc.

I believe that the season opener and the season closer in DTM is at Hockenheim. If this is true, that is rather bland.

[pi314159]

* Which brings me to another unpopular opinion. The DTM really needs a great race. How about increasing the length of the Norisring race to 200 miles, and hand out a prize of 1.000.000 € to the winning driver? Or how about developing a special aero-kit for ovals and let them run a 500-mile race at the Lausitzring? Or revive the 1000km of the Nürburgring (Although not necessarily on the Nordschleife, because running 20-odd DTM cars at such a long track would be rather boring for spectators and TV viewers).

I agree. The DTM doesn't have any really special races. Although Norisring would have the potential to become one. Many other series have one. The IndyCars have Indianapolis, Formula 1 has Monaco, WEC has Le Mans, even WTCC has a great race with Macao.

[mario]

Ferrarist, on the topic of DTM, it is notable that, in some ways, the ITR is kind of doing some of the steps that you have referred to, albeit not necessarily in the order that you've advocated. They have taken some steps to expand the international presence of the series - they have agreed to a race in Russia this year, arranged a formal tie up with the GT500 series in Japan that should see both series adopt common chassis and engine designs that'll cut costs and could make it possible for Japanese teams to compete in Germany and vice versa and are currently finalising the details of a US version of DTM that would see the Grand-Am series adopt the same regulations as DTM (in other words, permitting Grand Am teams to run in the Us version of DTM and vice versa).

Last week, an article about Jerry Hardcastle, head of NISMO's motorsport affair, was published on Motorsport-Total. There, he said that Nissan won't enter DTM because it's too German, too expensive and doesn't have a marketable story to tell (Unlike a victory at the Nürburgring 24 Hours for example)*. I guess Toyota and Honda have similar feeling about it. Especially the former, since Audi and Mercedes reacted rather reserved, when the rumours about a Lexus entry in 2008 popped up. Then again, it begs the question about why SuperGT accepted the DTM regulations in the first place, if its manufacturers don't seem to be content with them.
As for the American series: They need an American manufacturer. Ford is rather unlikely, because they want to where it's "hip". Hence their rather big involvement with Rallycross and the X-Games. Dodge doesn't seem to want to go any further than GTs at the moment, especially since they bailed out of NASCAR in the 11th hour (And angering Michael Andretti in the process). GM is a rather likely choice, especially if Opel wants to increase its involvement in auto racing over the next years. So, GM could develop one racing car that can be run to promote two brands. Say, Opel in DTM and Buick in the American series.

* Which brings me to another unpopular opinion. The DTM really needs a great race. How about increasing the length of the Norisring race to 200 miles, and hand out a prize of 1.000.000 € to the winning driver? Or how about developing a special aero-kit for ovals and let them run a 500-mile race at the Lausitzring? Or revive the 1000km of the Nürburgring (Although not necessarily on the Nordschleife, because running 20-odd DTM cars at such a long track would be rather boring for spectators and TV viewers).

Part of the reason for the adoption of DTM's chassis regulations seems to be the fact that the new chassis that the ITR has commissioned is lighter than the existing GT500 designs but has better impact protection measures, particularly at the sides. They are also adopting a number of aero devices - the front splitter, underfloor and diffusers - from DTM, and possibly the transmission, driveshafts and maybe even the brakes and dampers will also be used, mainly, it seems, as a way of cutting costs in both series by standardising parts.
As for cross competition, perhaps Toyota and Honda might be slightly keener to move to DTM because, to a certain extent, they've already done much of the work to build small capacity turbo engines (the DTM and GT500 cars will use turbocharged two litre I4 engines from 2014 onwards, and those two outfits, have worked on small capacity turbo engines for the Formula Nippon series, probably could transfer some of that knowledge to DTM and super GT). Still, I do agree that it is unlikely that they will compete in DTM.
As for the US, General Motors might be the most likely outfit to join any US DTM series given they have developed a Daytona Prototype in recent years - the DP regulations are probably going to be quite similar to the DTM regulations in the future, so adapting their DP car for DTM would probably be fairly cheap.

You're right about DTM races tending towards sprint racing rather than endurance events - most of the DTM races are 180-190km - and, to a certain extent, it does lack a signature event that would make it stand out. That probably would be a bit harder to address, although they don't seem to lack the infrastructure to do that - it might give BMW more of an edge, though, given that their DTM car was adapted from their GTE racecar and would probably be a bit better suited to a long distance event than the Mercedes or Audi designs, which were designed purely for DTM's shorter races.

[SeedStriker]

* Which brings me to another unpopular opinion. The DTM really needs a great race. How about increasing the length of the Norisring race to 200 miles, and hand out a prize of 1.000.000 € to the winning driver? Or how about developing a special aero-kit for ovals and let them run a 500-mile race at the Lausitzring? Or revive the 1000km of the Nürburgring (Although not necessarily on the Nordschleife, because running 20-odd DTM cars at such a long track would be rather boring for spectators and TV viewers).

I agree. The DTM doesn't have any really special races. Although Norisring would have the potential to become one. Many other series have one. The IndyCars have Indianapolis, Formula 1 has Monaco, WEC has Le Mans, even WTCC has a great race with Macao.

What the DTM needs is the return of the full Nurburgring as it's big race. Made the cars run again in the Nordeschliffe, like the titans of the old Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterchaft did in the 80. That would be the real deal. Just like the V8 Supercars has Mount Panorama Bathurst, the Nurb should be the DTM's banner.

[Onxy Wrecked]

* Which brings me to another unpopular opinion. The DTM really needs a great race. How about increasing the length of the Norisring race to 200 miles, and hand out a prize of 1.000.000 € to the winning driver? Or how about developing a special aero-kit for ovals and let them run a 500-mile race at the Lausitzring? Or revive the 1000km of the Nürburgring (Although not necessarily on the Nordschleife, because running 20-odd DTM cars at such a long track would be rather boring for spectators and TV viewers).

I agree. The DTM doesn't have any really special races. Although Norisring would have the potential to become one. Many other series have one. The IndyCars have Indianapolis, Formula 1 has Monaco, WEC has Le Mans, even WTCC has a great race with Macao.

And NASCAR has Daytona and Talladega. The largest ovals in the world that are acceptable for anything more than speed tests.

[Ferrarist]

I agree. The DTM doesn't have any really special races. Although Norisring would have the potential to become one. Many other series have one. The IndyCars have Indianapolis, Formula 1 has Monaco, WEC has Le Mans, even WTCC has a great race with Macao.

On top of that, rumours of a DTM race on Berlin's Tempelhof airport have heated up recently. The city agrees to allow the DTM to run there, as long it doesn't cause any expenses for Berlin. Maybe a Berlin race could be build up to a signature event, too?

Part of the reason for the adoption of DTM's chassis regulations seems to be the fact that the new chassis that the ITR has commissioned is lighter than the existing GT500 designs but has better impact protection measures, particularly at the sides. They are also adopting a number of aero devices - the front splitter, underfloor and diffusers - from DTM, and possibly the transmission, driveshafts and maybe even the brakes and dampers will also be used, mainly, it seems, as a way of cutting costs in both series by standardising parts.

That makes some sense. Although most of the manufacturers of the standard parts are in Germany, or at least directly involved with DTM. In short, the common regulations might benefit the DTM more than Super GT. But I still think that common regulations are a way to go, as long as both sides make good use of it (Mainly sending their cars the other series).

As for cross competition, perhaps Toyota and Honda might be slightly keener to move to DTM because, to a certain extent, they've already done much of the work to build small capacity turbo engines (the DTM and GT500 cars will use turbocharged two litre I4 engines from 2014 onwards, and those two outfits, have worked on small capacity turbo engines for the Formula Nippon series, probably could transfer some of that knowledge to DTM and super GT). Still, I do agree that it is unlikely that they will compete in DTM.

Honda already does WTCC, who already run a 1.6l turbo. There, they could run against direct competitors suchs as Renault (Heavily rumoured to enter in 2014 with RML) or Citroen (They'll announce their decision this month). So could Toyota, although they seem to be more keen to compete with upmarket brands such as Audi, BMW or Mercedes. Lexus would rather nicely fit in between those brands. The question is, is Toyota willing to pay for a DTM entry? Apparently, their Le Mans operation already runs on a shoestring budget.

As for the US, General Motors might be the most likely outfit to join any US DTM series given they have developed a Daytona Prototype in recent years - the DP regulations are probably going to be quite similar to the DTM regulations in the future, so adapting their DP car for DTM would probably be fairly cheap.

GM just produced the Corvette bodykit for Grand-AM. Underneath the bodykit, the cars are still Dallaras, Rileys or Coyotes. While there are mutterings about changes to the DPs (Changes most team owners are oppposed to), I doubt that they'll use DTM-style cars as a DP-replacement. Even though in my opinion, they should adopt DTM-style cars as their top class from 2016 on. Because let's face it: The USCR needs a new prototype top class pretty soon. The LMP2/DP mix won't last forever, and there is already trouble about balancing those two cars. DTM-style cars could easily be converted for endurance racing, as its structure allows for different types of engines. It should also be possible to run mid-rear engine configurations, as opposed to front engine ones. Adopting DTM-style cars as the top class has two advantages: 1) No need to organize a seperate series and 2) Manufacturers could be attracted by the promise of winning great endurance races such as Daytona, Sebring or Road Atlanta without building an all-new car for such a series.

You're right about DTM races tending towards sprint racing rather than endurance events - most of the DTM races are 180-190km - and, to a certain extent, it does lack a signature event that would make it stand out. That probably would be a bit harder to address, although they don't seem to lack the infrastructure to do that - it might give BMW more of an edge, though, given that their DTM car was adapted from their GTE racecar and would probably be a bit better suited to a long distance event than the Mercedes or Audi designs, which were designed purely for DTM's shorter races.

Even the BMW M3 is an all-new creation. IIRC, no parts were carried over from the M3 GTE. They toyed with the idea of converting the 4l-V8 engine of the M3 GTE, but they quickly realized that such an engine couldn't compete with the purpose-built Audi and Mercedes units. It would still be interesting too see how DTM cars could fare on a much longer distance. Although Opel has already proven that DTM cars can go long distances, as they won the Nürburgring 24 Hour race in 2003. While they had to make modifications to their Astra, it was still a DTM car.

What the DTM needs is the return of the full Nurburgring as it's big race. Made the cars run again in the Nordeschliffe, like the titans of the old Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterchaft did in the 80. That would be the real deal. Just like the V8 Supercars has Mount Panorama Bathurst, the Nurb should be the DTM's banner.

While I'd love to see DTM at the Nordschleife, it would only make sense as a support series to the Nürburgring 24 Hours. On any other weekend, 22 cars on such a long track would be boring for spectators (They cars would fly by just every 7-8 minutes) and maybe even TV viewers.