I'm sitting here watching Formula D and wondering why there are no televised Time Attack. I would love to see some great cars trying to go around amazing tracks as fast as they can.

Anyone work for the Speed channel?

 

TA is great because its another way to get people interested in motorsports. But...its lame to watch.

 

I think that would all depend on editing, sound, quality, and commentary. I believe if it was done right it could be very entertaining.

 

Agree with Bueller

 

How many laps do you get in Time Attack to set a record? I don't think it'd be very fun to watch either.

 

Not enough car on car competition for Time Attack to hold our American Interests. Like golf, it's fun to play... lame to watch

 

GOLF is lame to watch. I could watch TA all day



lol didnt notice post above

 

I'll toss in another problem - since the cars are racing against the clock, its not visually easy to see who's winning...the car that crosses the finish line first isn't necessarily the winner.

I suspect this is another reason that we don't see stage rally in the US, while Euro style rallycross does get coverage (think x-games). Its not "real rally" but its easily packaged for us to get excited about sitting in a stadium or watching our TVs.

Dave

 

True, yet tons of people watch golf all summer long.

Anyone tell me that if they were flipping through channels and found coverage of a TA event you wouldn't watch the entire thing?

 

Very true - but I suspect your average "motorsports consumer" much prefers action packed racing (read: crashes). That could explain why stage rally internationally has great tv audiences...lots of wrecks.

I'd imagine its not much more exciting to watch than NASCRAP qualifying.

That said:

- TA being fun to participate in, sure.
- Being a fan in the stands and/or paddock, yep I'd get that too.
- Fun to watch on tv...meh.

I think TA at a very high level, like the event in Austrailia with the top teams from around the world could be workable and I'd probably sit down and watch it. But your average TA event probably doesn't have enough high end stuff to really grab big audiences. That's not to say there isn't great driving talent and/or cool cars at the US events, but half a dozen high-end cars and 50 run of the mill cars probably won't fill out a half hour or hour tv show.

Dave

 

I would watch it for a few minutes...but that's about it unless it really went deep into the behind the scenes stuff around the build, the teams, the driver etc. (kind of like the Breeder's Cup does for horse racing)

TA by itself would only be interesting from an in-car perspective...ever watch a w2w race when the leader was all by him/her self; not too interesting. At least good w2w there are always battles going around on other areas of the track that the broadcast can focus on...

 

The NASA wheel to wheel for super touring in our region is just like the time trials to watch. they start grouped up but within a lap they are already spread out pretty good.

 

No different than qualifying laps in NASCAR (which dominates an absurd amount of Speed channel air time) or F1 qualifying. They do sector times and light up a map a section at a time for pace.

The real problem is Americans have **** taste for motorsports and Speed channel blows. Every time I turn it on it's Barret Jackson or NASCAR, both of which bore me to tears.

I would watch hill climbs, time attack even the arena stuff... Hell I watch monster trucks, I just cant stand spec series like NASCAR where your supposed to car about the dumb drivers and team drama. I'd cancel my subscription if I didn't have better things to do and want to watch Le Mans once a year. F- Speed Channel!

 

+1

 

Meh it is fun to watch in person but I dont think I would watch it on tv.

I will stick to my WRC coverage on Velocity TV