QUOTE(horizontally-opposed @ May 18 2022, 08:08 PM)
QUOTE(beech4rd @ May 18 2022, 08:32 AM)
I went to the first one at Lime Rock park. Spoke at length to Derek Bell about his Le Mans experiences. Won't forget that.
How many of you Californians attended?
Chris
I was at Lime Rock for the first one, and it was
great.
Also traveled to Daytona for RR2 and RR3, which was cool—but I suspect it's difficult for PCNA to ignore past attendance numbers. Even if some of these are off, the pattern is obvious.
RR1 @ Lime Rock: 1,500 (?) attendees
RR2 @ Daytona: 3,000~
RR3 @ Daytona: 3,500~
RR4 @ Laguna: 30,000+
RR5 @ Laguna: 57,300
RR6 @ Laguna: 81,550
I'd love to see Rennsport at Road America, Road Atlanta, or Watkins Glen—but Laguna is alone (?) among North American tracks in having hotels and services for huge crowds nearby, international tourism pull, and a
lot of attractions for family members who don't want to go to the track. It's also a great track to drive.
Sears Point comes (sort of…) close with the wine country, and is also great to drive (if riskier), but doesn't have the name recognition and is a longer haul for the LA crowd where Laguna can pull from north and south. As much as I'd like to see it move around, I can't say I blame the people who had to make it work for choosing Laguna again.
Pete you hit the nail on the head! I see three factors involved in the decision
1 Amenities - hotels, restaurants and tourist activities.
2 Attendance – if the above cannot support large crowds attendance will be diminished.
3 Race Cars – the event is about Porsche's race history and some of the best example live out west.
I love Road America (my local track) but the hotels and restaurants could not support the event. IMHO Daytona was the roomiest track with the best hotel and restaurant situation and many great cars attended.
Lime Rock was the worst no hotels, restaurants and no racing on Sunday
I will be there again because there is nothing like it!