Like most fans, I am weary of the current political storm over F1 and wish that it would be resolved quickly, whatever the outcome. Max Mosley is not one to tire of such shenanigans, however, and yesterday he responded to FOTA's offer of a compromise with yet another missive that changes almost nothing. Fortunately, Duncan Stephen of Vee8 has posted a couple of articles, FIA outlines its vision for Formula None (love that description) and The FIA shuts its ears, that deal with this very well and I feel I can studiously ignore this latest exchange therefore.
Le Mans racing
Instead, I want to look at one of the options that has been suggested for the FOTA teams. Recently, the organization that controls Le Mans racing, Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), made it clear that refugees from F1 are welcome to enter their series and even to suggest new technical regulations. This followed Luca di Montezemolo's mention of the series as an option available and, at first sight, it looks quite tempting.
Le Mans already has a dedicated following of fans and is one of the three most important motor racing events of the year. Many F1 fans take time out from their obsession to watch the 24-hour race and it would seem a viable alternative for the F1 manufacturer teams at least. I am not so sure that it would compensate us for the loss of F1 however.
For a start, Le Mans is more than a two-tier racing series; it has no less than four categories, two for Le Mans Prototypes (LMP1 and LMP2), two for Grand Touring cars (GT1 and GT2). Usually the victor is provided by the top class of prototypes but sometimes reliability can dictate that a lower class entrant wins. It is four races in one as a result, there being awards for each of the categories; the prototypes are the stars of the show but the slower cars have their chance for glory too.
The series is further complicated by the engine regulations being much more complex than in F1 - at present both gasoline and diesel engines are allowed and there is even provision for alternative fuels. No doubt any manufacturer teams that entered would go for the LMP1 category as the one offering the greatest chance of overall victory but there are many choices that would still have to be made within that description.
We are talking a lot of money being spent on engine design and development therefore, and that is before we consider the chassis. To some extent, experience of F1 construction would assist in the production of a Le Mans prototype but it would inevitably require the investment of large sums of money to put a serious contender on the road. Since I believe that the FOTA teams are genuine in their desire to reduce costs, this must be a considerable argument against their participation in the series.
Of all the manufacturers, I think only Ferrari would take on a Le Mans project to replace their F1 operation. Although the other manufacturers have all tried their hands at the series before, the present economic climate would make it easier for them to just give up on motor racing for the moment and wait for sunnier times.
For the F1 fans, too, there are disadvantages. We are fans of open wheel racing, after all, and know that GTs and prototypes are very different beasts to those we are used to. It is inevitable that we would find the cars less exciting than the glorious and dangerous creatures of F1 - those open wheels demand a precision unknown in the world of sportscars and sedans.
Remember also that Le Mans is an endurance series and that reliability and perseverance are far more important to it than speed and handling. We could say goodbye to the wheel-to-wheel racing that we expect and demand from F1 and would have to adjust our expectations to appreciate the slow unfolding of strategies in races that last much longer than GPs. And who has the time and opportunity to sit down for 24 hours to watch a race?
In F1 we are used to seeing every moment of the race - indeed we complain when the demands of advertising rob us of chunks of our favorite sport. Watching an endurance race, however, is much more a matter of checking in every now and then to see how things are going. Endurance racing is a matter of endurance for the spectators just as much as it is for the cars and teams.
I am not knocking Le Mans racing; I followed it quite avidly (although not as fanatically as I did F1) in the sixties and even now will watch it when the chance arises. But I do not see it as a suitable substitute for F1. It is a pleasant diversion when no GP is taking place but it can never take the place of those intense two-hour battles that feed our addiction every two weeks in the season.
Oh, you can laugh and say that F1 racing is processional and boring these days and so it might be. We live in hope that it will get better, however, whereas Le Mans racing will always be a matter of the leading car or two being several laps, not seconds, ahead of the next cars. There is brief excitement in the early laps but gaps soon stretch to minutes and then it becomes a matter of lasting the distance. Compared to that, F1 is hectic in the extreme.
Open wheel racing and endurance racing are two different creatures and attract two different fanbases. Some F1 fans might make the conversion but I doubt that they would be in the majority. I think we must hope for an alternative open wheel series resembling F1 more closely than Max Mosley's vision of the future. There will be a lot of lives left empty and bereft of passion otherwise.