So the new ''W series Racing'' series Starts next Weekend

AMKC

First round at Hockenheim

Saturday on Channel 4 at 14.45.

What are your thoughts on this and Who's going to give it a watch?

skipper_G

I'll try to stay open minded and will certainly give it a watch. But we won't know if it's a success until some drivers progress into normal racing series. At the very least some TV exposure might help the drivers in the commercial aspect with sponsorship etc

Ghost Train

Good that it's free to air, hopefully live. Will try watch if I can

Vegeta

Hadn't heard about this, will definitely tune in.

OSI wrote: »

What's that even supposed to mean? What's a "normal racing series"? Many of the racers in this series have raced in Formula 3, various GT championships and numerous touring car championships.

Oh come on you know perfectly well what it means. A normal racing series where you don't have half the population excluded and more than half of competitors excluded.

OSI wrote: »

And as I've already pointed out, they all already race in such "normal" racing series.

The word progress was used. I clicked the first 5 or so drivers on the wiki page and most do sportscar racing. One was in Formula 4 10 years ago and there's not many to get excited about that I can see. If the main standard is drivers who do Abarth racing or people who basically haven't gotten a drive since they were in Formula Renault 5 years ago I won't be too interested. This is being treated as a big deal above the level of more advanced and higher quality *ahem* "normal" series.

skipper_G

OSI wrote: »

What's that even supposed to mean? What's a "normal racing series"? Many of the racers in this series have raced in Formula 3, various GT championships and numerous touring car championships.

It means a normal racing series, pick any of the regular feeder series. Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2 for example. Somewhere they can be judged on merit against the best drivers regardless of their gender. I really don't care if they are woman or man, just that they are competitive. In this series I'm very excited to see Jamie Chadwick, heard some positive things about her. She won the MRF series recently which usually has a decent field.

Vic_08

skipper_G wrote: »

It means a normal racing series, pick any of the regular feeder series. Formula 4, Formula 3, Formula 2 for example. Somewhere they can be judged on merit against the best drivers regardless of their gender. I really don't care if they are woman or man, just that they are competitive. In this series I'm very excited to see Jamie Chadwick, heard some positive things about her. She won the MRF series recently which usually has a decent field.

Let's not go overboard with the fallacy that other series are all full of drivers purely there based on merit, there are no shortage of little rich boys playing racing driver with daddy's money in all categories right up to F1. Motorsport may not be as wealth dependent as it once was with more avenues for young talents to get on without personal money/sponsorship but having bags of cash is still a huge aspect of driver advancement.

This series will mainly be mid-talent drivers but hopefully there will be a few decent prospects who can use it to progress to the upper formulas. Having women drivers in the likes of F1 would be a very good thing but only if they are good enough to compete.

skipper_G

Vic_08 wrote: »

Let's not go overboard with the fallacy that other series are all full of drivers purely there based on merit, there are no shortage of little rich boys playing racing driver with daddy's money in all categories right up to F1. Motorsport may not be as wealth dependent as it once was with more avenues for young talents to get on without personal money/sponsorship but having bags of cash is still a huge aspect of driver advancement.

This series will mainly be mid-talent drivers but hopefully there will be a few decent prospects who can use it to progress to the upper formulas. Having women drivers in the likes of F1 would be a very good thing but only if they are good enough to compete.

I never suggested that, there are drivers who bring cash, drivers who bring talent and drivers who bring both. Pay drivers have always been and always will be involved in racing. It's the nature of the beast. Typically these days, the top prospects either have a relationship with a junior team or a commercial sponsorship that allows them to race, they simply cannot do it alone. But the quality usually gets to the front, the most recent round of F2 graduates demonstrate that.

I hope this series identifies the ones who have the talent and gives them a platform for future success.

TheChrisD

AMKC wrote: »

What are your thoughts on this and Who's going to give it a watch?

If the racing proves to be good, then maybe. But ultimately I think that the concept of the series - at least in the sense of it being created base on the argument that "motor sports was never traditionally segregated by gender" - is flawed.

Woodsie1

No offence,but whats the betting the status quo will be maintained.

flazio

Woodsie1 wrote: »

No offence,but whats the betting the status quo will be maintained.

I'm not sure what you mean?

skipper_G

First race is this Saturday at Hockenheim, live on Channel 4 at 2:45pm

AMKC

Feck it. Going to have to record it now. Not going to be able to watch it live now as something has come up.

Ghost Train

Bump

Race Starts at 3.10pm

Ghost Train

Strange, looked like she didnt brake at all

Burkie1203

Car colours are a disaster. Need to individualise each driver to a car colour

Ghost Train

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Car colours are a disaster. Need to individualise each driver to a car colour

Will they be changing car colours each race, since they get allocated a random car

Rossi IRL

Compared to other cars what sort of level are these cars?

GP3?

First impression is not a fan of the graphics, little hard to read.

Ghost Train

They are Formula 3 cars I think

So has Ted Kravitz moved from sky to channel 4... or will he be back on sky
Coulthard having a bit of trouble identifying the drivers

skipper_G

Ghost Train wrote: »

They are Formula 3 cars I think

So has Ted Kravitz moved from sky to channel 4... or will he be back on sky
Coulthard having a bit of trouble identifying the drivers

They are Formula 3 cars yep. Ted was on Sky last week, he's doing both.

The drivers are a little difficult to distinguish, maybe they can make the personalised elements a bit bigger

skipper_G

Wasn't a bad race, bit of action throughout the field. Despite the mistake Chadwick looks the pick of the bunch, pole and win is a nice way to start.

Ghost Train

Short race, first few laps were okay

Drying track probably didnt help things
Not much of a crowd
5/10

Joeface

Not bad really , drive of the race probably Koyama 19th to 7 and all on track over takes.

AMKC

Jamie Chadwick certainly seemed like the best racer this weekend on this track. It will be interesting to see if she can stay ahead for every race or if it might be a different driver each time.
I agree Koyama was driver of the day. The on screen graphics seemed fine to me very easy to read. Compare that to Formula e or F1 on Sky. Both there graphics are far too small and very hard to read.

Had to laugh when Garcia put on Jamie's cap and then it was quickly noticed and caps changed around.

Ghost Train

AMKC wrote: »

Had to laugh when Garcia put on Jamie's cap and then it was quickly noticed and caps changed around.

The cap was yanked off her head pretty roughly

rock22

Joeface wrote: »

Not bad really , drive of the race probably Koyama 19th to 7 and all on track over takes.

And. possibly Garcia? She made some good progress earlier but then seemed to stalled in third.

Charlie-Bravo

I watched the race. Half decent like any Motorsport race of that level. I'm wondering was Chadwick's car just really well setup, or if she's on another level?!

Vegeta

Watched race, enjoyed it but wish it was longer. What is limiting factor right now, TV slots? Surely not tyres or fuel.

Will watch again this weekend

AMKC

Vegeta wrote: »

Watched race, enjoyed it but wish it was longer. What is limiting factor right now, TV slots? Surely not tyres or fuel.

Will watch again this weekend

I agree. I think it should be an hour long. They are only just getting started and into it and then its over. Maybe its funding that's stopping it being longer

skipper_G

AMKC wrote: »

I agree. I think it should be an hour long. They are only just getting started and into it and then its over. Maybe its funding that's stopping it being longer

I don't think it's a funding issue, it's just that it's a support series for DTM and typically support categories have short races.