With the Atlantic Series now in its 2nd half in the 2008 season, will by any chance
there be a future in the series?

Will the Atlantic series continue?

i hope the cars continue, they're in my opinion the best looking of any current open wheel cars anywhere in the world. and the formula makes for some great racing...

I hope they continue, they have a long and storied history in open wheel. The series has created countless great drivers in the US and world wide. The cars are great, the fields are strong, and the schedule is one of the best for road racing fans.

I think if the Atlantics continue it will be with IMSA sactioning, unfortunetly I don't think that the IRL wants to go near the series. If it doesn't become a viable option for Indycar teams it may become a feeder series to the ALMS or other forms of sports car racing. Lets just hope it can stay apart of Open Wheel.

I wish we could watch them on tv...waaay better than Indy lights in my opinion..

marshallbanana - 09 August 2008 09:04 PM

i hope the cars continue, they're in my opinion the best looking of any current open wheel cars anywhere in the world. and the formula makes for some great racing...

I personally like the Indy Lights: they're like the early-2000's Indycars and then run so well together in packs.

I hope the Atlantics Series continue. I would bet that the IRL purchases it somehow, but who knows what will happen.

I think Tony George would like the Atlantics to discontinue just like Champ Car so he can call it a total victory. I personally think there is more talent in the Atlantic Series then Indy Lights but it doesn't matter if the graduate series doesn't take the lower ladder levels seriously.

I wonder if the Atlantic Series would negotiate with a GP2 team by offering a
test drive to a rating Atlantic champion.

I think the Atlantics will struggle to have a field in 2009 and it's unfortunate. Lots of European drivers brought money to the Atlantics in order to compete for the 2m of in kind support for a CC ride. With that gone and no clear upwards mobility I think much of the European money will dry up and Atlantics will struggle to fill any kind of a field. I also think many of the Atlantics teams will go elsewhere. Many of the connected teams like Walker will turn their interest to FIL because it will be more relevant and some of the privateers will wind up in Grand AM.

If I were guessing I would say that the FIL will have a much stronger field in 2009 and you will see many of the Atlantics drivers in FIL bringing money. Atlantics may truly be the odd man out.

Placid - 10 August 2008 10:54 PM

I wonder if the Atlantic Series would negotiate with a GP2 team by offering a
test drive to a rating Atlantic champion.

Doubt it. GP2 would never allow this since it is the "premier" feeder series to F1 and to possibly have someone from an AOW series come and compete (or win....) a GP2 championship would be a disgrace in GP2 eyes I feel.

Is there room for both series? They both coexisted together in the CART years. If not, why not combine the two together into the Firestone Atlantic Indy Lights powered by Mazda? The old Infiniti Pro Series cars are getting a little long in the tooth, and they make the ugliest sound that I've ever heard come out of a race car. The Mazda Atlantics look and sound dead sexy, and I suspect that even though they give up 100 hp to the IPS cars, they can cut a pretty similar lap time.

Crewguy Dan - 12 August 2008 07:00 PM

The Mazda Atlantics look and sound dead sexy, and I suspect that even though they give up 100 hp to the IPS cars, they can cut a pretty similar lap time.

Considering that they were nipping at the heels of the indycars at Edmonton and faster than the slowest cars, i bet they would be faster at almost all venues except ovals.




Atlantic
300 hp
1415 lbs with driver and all fluids including fuel
corner speeds the same as IRL cars in edmonton and lola champ cars. Dp01s were a bit faster in turns.
braking rate the same as irl/dp01/lola champ cars


IPS
450 hp ?
1,430 minus driver and fuel
Unknown cornering grip levels or rates of deceleration