Motegi date wise?

[German oval fan]

According to motorsport-aktuell.de 35 cars are on their way to Motegi at present. However, wouldn't it be wiser to schedule Motegi after the Indy 500, i.e. later in the season? I mean....what would happen if the airplane(s) with the cars crashed or something?

[Corvette Jack]

that is a terrible way think..... But, my guess would be some type of open formula that they could regulate with older cars and dp01

[Mack Too]

It is what it is, weather-wise it would be much better, right now, if they went strictly by the Motegi ten-day forecast, they wouldn't even load the planes. They are always pushing the weather envelope in Japan, and it is rarely warm and sunny. Remember, after Indy the schedule is nearly full and there is hardly room for the nearly two weeks it takes to get the cars there and back. I think a better idea would be to stop in Japan on the way Australia in October, they couldn't do that this year, perhaps next year they can work it out. Climate wise, as a guess from looking at a world map I would think it like New Jersey/Delaware/Maryland, except Japan is surrounded by very cold water.

[Jim Wilke]

Since this track is on top of a mountain, I would bet they have crappy weather quite a bit. We'll just deal with it.

[Z28]

From a travel standpoint linking Motegi and Australia makes sense. What it also does is take the series off the sports radar for at least three weeks with races happening at midnight eastern. I saw Curt Cavin at the Star say he wasn't going to Japan, costs too much for the paper to send him and doesn't fit well into the news time cycle here. In the past ESPN only flew Jack Arute out there and Reid and Goodyear broadcast from here like the F-1 races on Speed.

Even one of those races during the summer would cut at least two prime weekends out of the heart of the schedule. While prominent in their countries apparently, they're both a tough sell to me. The best case scenario for those two races would honestly be this weekend and last. So much of the USA was focused on the NCAA Final Four last weekend and The Masters this weekend along with baseball getting started and of course NASCAR.

Start the ICS season earlier, late February, get at least four races in the books WDW, Phoenix, LBGP, St. Pete, Homestead and then these two weeks to be out of the country across the Pacific and out of touch with the sports media when they're really fixated on two big events. Come back to a Kansas race with tickets sold and move into May.

[boomer]

What they really need to fix is talking off two weeks when there is no Cup race on Sunday to race halfway around the world on a Friday at 11pm when nobody in the US is watching except a few TFers.

[Ren Butler]

I mean....what would happen if the airplane(s) with the cars crashed or something?

They would wash up on the shore of some uncharted desert island, and Sawyer and Jack would run a race to the death to see who gets Kate.

[jandj]

They'd need the professor to rebuild the cars with coconuts and palm fronds....but Gilligan would probably screw it up.

[Gomer Simpson]

They would wash up on the shore of some uncharted desert island, and Sawyer and Jack would run a race to the death to see who gets Kate.

Been a long couple of weeks, eh Ren?