Breaking News | Audi Announce DTM Exit

[manu68]

Bad news.
But I hope it will be "just" DTM, and that we are not at the beginning of the end for the all automotive industrie in germany and in europe.
Of course it is exagerated, but it seems that all is made by the governments and the radical green lobbies to make every single car driver feel as he is a criminal.
The pressure is so strong, that in some years the cars that we all know will not exist anymore, so as maybe racing cars.
And I am not sure that we could drive by ourselves, or drivbe into towns.

I personally have decided to keep my old mercedes until it dies (it is in a perfect condition and inspected regularly), instead of purchasing a brand new car (which i could pretty easily afford).
I have about NO pleasure to drive on the road anymore.

this has also influence on the racing series, , because I used to go every year on big eventslike Le mans, formula one, WRC, ....
And I don't go anymore. Same for Pay per view, not for me.

Today audi , tomorrow maybe ferrari with formula one, yesterday aston with le mans or peugeot with WRC, .....beginning of the end ???

 

[FinFan]

Maybe we can now go back to a national series with privateers and a wider selection of cars.

Until the manufactures come in again and the circle repeats itself.

Then again, maybe the next series will be DTM-E in which case I'm already not interested.

 

[M-Bimmer]

Silent DTM kill

 

[Gregoryleo]

In a few years all our favorite sim race cars will be in the legends class because nobody makes them anymore

 

[justfdl]

You're correct there will be less and less motorsport as no one is watching and blowing stuff up to move forward is a 20th century blip. No amount of whinging and refusing to buy X Y or Z will change this.

Sadly I think that's the way it'll go. At least I was able to buy a motorcycle just old enough to be registered as historic and noise emission exempt but high revving and fast as hell, I'll keep that for my personal enjoyment, even if I have to tow it with an EV to historic events in the future.

 

[justfdl]

ITR need to adopt the NGTC regs there is plenty of chassis available. No it wont be DTM anymore but what other tintop category does Germany have?

ADAC GT3 Masters, it had a way bigger field already anyway. I think if you want big fields making the cars more expensive doesn't really work well. GT3 with it's different classes is accessible to privateers which is key to keep a series alive.

 

[DrRob]

ADAC GT3 Masters, it had a way bigger field already anyway. I think if you want big fields making the cars more expensive doesn't really work well. GT3 with it's different classes is accessible to privateers which is key to keep a series alive.

I fully agree, however even in GT3 the professionalism and backing of manufacturers increase. So even there the smaller teams struggle to be competetive.

 

[fl0wf1r3]

DTM is probably only the beginning ...

 

[BrunoBæ]

Sort of predictable I must say, most car manufacturers are going to focus mostly on Electric engines which perhaps is probably going to be the future of racing in the long run, just look at the state of F1.

Maybe it is time to look again as this Panoz idea for endurance races like 25H LeMans.
And eventhough I agree that the sound of low powered E-cars are meh meh - then I wonder if extremely high powered E-cars in the future mandatory will sound that way.

Panoz Scraps Plan to Race an Electric Car at Le Mans

The "Green4U Panoz Racing GT-EV" was a plan for a battery-swapping electric endurance racer. Now, it's not going to happen.

www.roadandtrack.com

 

[TheGrunt]

In the long run, I don't think that electric cars replacing ICE-powered ones mean much to the popularity of racing. In the end and in the big picture, it is only the sound that is different and although many people find it lacking, I think it is not the end. Especially when electric vehicles in general get more common and people get used to it. So, I believe that electric racing series can thrive, although ICEs with both fossil and bio fuels will continue to exist for many years to come.
The way I see it, the problem for racing are changing attitudes towards cars in general and people getting disconnected from them through automated vehicles and cars-as-service solutions. It is already obvious that cars don't mean that much to many younger people anymore and that also affects how people view motorsports. Inevitable automation where people are more like just passengers at some point distances people from driving in general. Just looking at current Ferrari fans and it is clear, that it is not just for the love of sport, but the brand and product behind the name have much deeper meaning to them. And the fact that you at least theoretically can have and own a product that carries the same name and drive it on public roads. When people literally stop driving cars, motorsports' possibilites for marketing diminishes greatly from manufacturers stand point of view, when many things associated with it (performance, vehicle dynamics etc.) become more or less moot at this point.
Even after this, motorsports won't disappear like horse races haven't disappeared since people generally stopped owning them. It just isn't that mainstream anymore.

 

[BrunoBæ]

Good post @Grunt
Just saw this.
Maybe some of the blaze F1 drivers and other pro drivers could learn something by these tennis players.
And maybe the organizers of F1 and other racing events will get sidestepped and discarded if they dont understand the change of time - in time

Wozniacki, Vekic complete virtual Madrid lineup

Caroline Wozniacki and Donna Vekic have been announced as the final two participants in next week's 16-player Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro event.

www.wtatennis.com

 

[DrRob]

@TheGrunt :
I see your point....from a competitive point of view.
The thing is, that from an engineering point of view I am attracted to the sights and sounds of these ICE cars. I enjoy the audio-visual experience. For me this is equally important as the competition between drivers.

Take away the racing / competition part and I can still enjoy the cars. I am an engineer. I go to motor shows, read books and magazines about them.

Take away the ICE cars leaves me "only" with the competition of the drivers. I still enjoy this as I did with Formula E for the first 4 seasons. But in the long run I find it lacking. Also because of the "tracks" they race on.
And it is certainly not helping if they want to desperately differentiate from ICE motorsport by making it look like an arcade game in a Circus.

So yes, non-ICE motorsport has a future. The question for me is, if I will enjoy this future.

Or if I will stick to historic motorsport which I am also enjoying very much and is growing in events and participants by the year. There I can get my ICE fix. The competion there is mostly very high as well, see Goodwood Members Meeting & the Revival, Hockenheim Historic, AvD Oltimer Grand Prix, etc. Some of them are even broadcasted live.

 

[TheGrunt]

@TheGrunt :
I see your point....from a competitive point of view.
The thing is, that from an engineering point of view I am attracted to the sights and sounds of these ICE cars. I enjoy the audio-visual experience. For me this is equally important as the competition between drivers.

Take away the racing / competition part and I can still enjoy the cars. I am an engineer. I go to motor shows, read books and magazines about them.

Take away the ICE cars leaves me "only" with the competition of the drivers. I still enjoy this as I did with Formula E for the first 4 seasons. But in the long run I find it lacking. Also because of the "tracks" they race on.
And it is certainly not helping if they want to desperately differentiate from ICE motorsport by making it look like an arcade game in a Circus.

So yes, non-ICE motorsport has a future. The question for me is, if I will enjoy this future.

Or if I will stick to historic motorsport which I am also enjoying very much and is growing in events and participants by the year. There I can get my ICE fix. The competion there is mostly very high as well, see Goodwood Members Meeting & the Revival, Hockenheim Historic, AvD Oltimer Grand Prix, etc. Some of them are even broadcasted live.

I fully agree with you and I like ICE in racing as much as anyone here. I was talking about the big audiences, let's call them as casual fans, which for the largest series in the world are still most likely the majority of the fans. For example my wife likes to watch every F1 practice, qualify and race, but I can guarantee that she doesn't give one solitary f*** what powers those cars. It is the racing and spectacle that she loves and all the circus revolving around the series. EVs have no impact how they will enjoy racing.

But the inevitable change I mentioned will. Motorsports needs people who feel connected to cars and driving and at that point when driving starts to feel totally alien procedure to people, racing will inevitably lose interest of big crowds and become more or less a niche. It is a process, which is already underway.

 

[Rob Every]

Let's face it, DTM has been dying a slow death for a while.

Now what annoys me? Palmer ruining Brands GP track to install features required by bloody DTM to race there.

I never really got into it, cars are nice but all sort of looked and sounded the same and were boring to watch after the initial speed, like most modern touring car racing sadly, it leaves me fairly cold.

All the team orders stuff was awful too, some of the team racing was borderline illegal at times, and these guys were well paid, supposed professionals and I saw better driving in club racing.

A vastly over-rated series for 15 or so years, be glad it is gone when it goes, as it will.

 

[Dargon212]

They must team up with japanese Super GT cars. They all are basically the same already anyway. They even had a test race last year together.

 

[mister dog]

Let's hope viewing figures drop drastically when all manufacturers have jumped on the electrical bandwagon solely because it benefits their in house development of road cars. Motorsport is about smells and sounds as much as it is about what happens on the track, who knows they might return to good old combustion engines or hybrids when they notice people don't care about mute motorsports.

 

[EmiliaHude]

@TheGrunt :
I see your point....from a competitive point of view.
The thing is, that from an engineering point of view I am attracted to the sights and sounds of these ICE cars. I enjoy the audio-visual experience. For me this is equally important as the competition between drivers.

Take away the racing / competition part and I can still enjoy the cars. I am an engineer. I go to motor shows, read books and magazines about them.

Take away the ICE cars leaves me "only" with the competition of the drivers. I still enjoy this as I did with Formula E for the first 4 seasons. But in the long run I find it lacking. Also because of the "tracks" they race on.
And it is certainly not helping if they want to desperately differentiate from automaty online bonus motorsport by making it look like an arcade game in a Circus.

So yes, non-ICE motorsport has a future. The question for me is, if I will enjoy this future.

Or if I will stick to historic motorsport which I am also enjoying very much and is growing in events and participants by the year. There I can get my ICE fix. The competion there is mostly very high as well, see Goodwood Members Meeting & the Revival, Hockenheim Historic, AvD Oltimer Grand Prix, etc. Some of them are even broadcasted live.

Speaking honestly, this is a personal matter for everyone. The characteristics of any car may be liked by someone, but by someone. I think that the driver chooses a car for himself.

 

[justfdl]

I fully agree with you and I like ICE in racing as much as anyone here. I was talking about the big audiences, let's call them as casual fans, which for the largest series in the world are still most likely the majority of the fans. For example my wife likes to watch every F1 practice, qualify and race, but I can guarantee that she doesn't give one solitary f*** what powers those cars. It is the racing and spectacle that she loves and all the circus revolving around the series. EVs have no impact how they will enjoy racing.

But the inevitable change I mentioned will. Motorsports needs people who feel connected to cars and driving and at that point when driving starts to feel totally alien procedure to people, racing will inevitably lose interest of big crowds and become more or less a niche. It is a process, which is already underway.

I'm totally with you on the second paragraph. Over time people will be more and more disconnected from driving by using assistance systems or maybe in the future even self driving cars, at that point motorsport is going to be a niche of some die hards but nothing more.

But that's kind of contradicting your point about the casuals. They are jumping the waggon as soon as the next big thing is coming their way and before you know the crowd is gone. Who knows, next thing will be sailing for example, it's environment friendly, you can race it, there's lots of strategy involved, or it may be water gymnastics for a reason I can't come up with nor will ever understand.

 

[maelstrom]

TLDR but what is the problem with on-board electronics (ABS, TC) in racing? As long as everyone in a race has it, it makes the skill of the driver the most important factor again. I'd agree if half the field in a race had assists and the other half didn't - you'd then be potentially be winning because of the tech. For a series like GT3, because the assists are there for everyone, they effectively cancel out any advantage and it's then back to the engine, car design and driving skill. It will never be easy to drive at the top level as long as the driver has input into the system.

 

[DrRob]

GT3 were developed to specifically suit also non-PRO drivers. And all the evo kits released recently from the manufacturers will have at least one improvement regarding driver comfort and ease of use for AM drivers.