Welcome to Wall Sports Management
A Consultancy to Motor Racing
Welcome to Wall Sports Management
A Consultancy to Motor Racing
Our Mission
"Solve problems, develope sponsorships and build businesses in auto racing"
"Counsel Electrification and Sustainability in the sport of racing"
Electrified Auto Racing - The Future
FIA is Generating Electrified Auto Racing Excitement
If you have any doubts about the performance and power of electric cars and want to feel zero to 60 in 2.5 to 3.5 seconds, make an appointment at your Tesla Gallery and test drive a “Performance” or “Plaid” model . All-electric race cars are on the rise.
FIA Formula E World Championship
The idea for an all-electric World Championship racing series started back in March 2011, when FIA President Jean Todt and Spanish businessman and current Formula E Chairman Alejandro Agag, met in a Paris restaurant and created what has become a World Championship. Formula E’s mission is to show just what sustainable mobility through auto racing is capable of. Although Audi, BMW and Mercedes have left for 2022, eleven teams and 22 drivers are on the including two from the USA are on the grid. (Avalanche-Andretti and Dragon-Penske).
FIA Electric GT Championship
Shortly after the advent of Formula E, “Electric GT” formed as a new all-electric global sports car championship platform to race production based high performance battery electric sedans. There was little manufacturer interest at that time. Then, FIA’s Jean Todt announced in May 2021, the Electric GT Championship for battery electric powered sports cars (production based two or four seat full bodied sports cars). Six race meetings are planned in European beginning in 2023, then USA races added during 2024. (April 2023 - This schedule has been set back one year as a consequence of the Russo-Ukrainian War.) The mission of the Championship is Todt’s vision to “make motorsport a laboratory for sustainable mobility." The FIA says, “there will be two races over the course of each two-day meeting held on permanent circuits for the cars built to regulations framed to enable them to run in the same performance window as conventionally-powered GT3 machinery.” There will be pitstops with fast recharging. The big news is that global media group Discovery Inc. has been awarded a long-term contract to promote and televise the series through its Eurosport Events subsidiary. The FIA and Discovery plan to stage net zero-carbon races from the outset of the championship, "using renewable energy sources and reforming every step of its organization standards to meet that objective."
Shortly after the advent of Formula E, “Electric GT” formed as a new all-electric global sports car championship platform to race production based high performance battery electric sedans. There was little manufacturer interest at that time. Then, FIA’s Jean Todt announced in May 2021, the Electric GT Championship for battery electric powered sports cars (production based two or four seat full bodied sports cars). Six race meetings are planned in European beginning in 2023, then USA races added during 2024. (April 2023 - This schedule has been set back one year as a c of the Russo-Ukrainian War.) The mission of the Championship is Todt’s vision to “make motorsport a laboratory for sustainable mobility." The FIA says, “there will be two races over the course of each two-day meeting held on permanent circuits for the cars built to regulations framed to enable them to run in the same performance window as conventionally-powered GT3 machinery.” There will be pitstops with fast recharging. The big news is that global media group Discovery Inc. has been awarded a long-term contract to promote and televise the series through its Eurosport Events subsidiary. The FIA and Discovery plan to stage net zero-carbon races from the outset of the championship, "using renewable energy sources and reforming every step of its organization standards to meet that objective."
FIA World Rallycross Championship
Launched in 2014, the FIA World Rallycross Championship represents the pinnacle of the dual-surface discipline – originally created back in 1967 – and in 2022, the series embarked upon a new electric era in which all entrants compete with identical powertrains, supplied by Austrian manufacturer Kreisel.
With 500kW delivered to the twin motors – equivalent to 680bhp – and 880Nm of instant torque at the touch of a pedal, these are the most powerful World Rallycross cars ever produced, boasting eye-watering acceleration faster even than Formula 1 while retaining the easily recognisable production car bodyshells synonymous with the sport.
The World Championship is supported at selected events by the FIA RX2e Championship and FIA European Rallycross Championship for RX1 and RX3 cars.
With all-electric power units, it’s an exciting time in World RX – but there are also challenges.
“Technically the World RX cars are very fast and produce great racing, while the grid is full of star drivers – but for sure we have many challenges ahead of us. We want more cars competing at the top level, we want more teams and more drivers, and we want to host races in new territories. With all-electric cars we can race at both traditional rallycross tracks and at major city centre locations like Hong Kong – allowing the sport to appeal to loyal rallycross fans and to also attract a new audience. It is a very exciting time, and I am looking forward to working together with all stakeholders to find solutions, and to do our very best to grow the championship and rallycross as a sport.” (Emil Axelsson FIA World Rallycross Championship Sporting Manager
Nitro Rallycross Group “E” is now Nitrocross Group “E”
Originally launched in 2018 by global icon Travis Pastrana and the limit-pushers of Nitro Circus as Nitro Rallycross, this disruptive motorsport property – home of cars that fly and tracks that thrill - is now Nitrocross.
Nitrocross has revolutionized racing by featuring innovative purpose-built courses packed with huge jumps and banked turns. Each event is part of a full standalone series headlined by Group E and the groundbreaking FC1-X, the most explosive electric race car ever built. At every round, drivers are put to the test in a variety of environments as they battle for the prized Ken Block Championship Trophy.
The electric-powered FC1-X rallycross racer made its Nitrocross race debut in 2022. With peak power of 787kW (1055bhp), torque of 811lb ft, coupled with the FC1-X’s four motor four-wheel drive system and relatively light weight of 1245kg, it can launch from 0-60mph in 1.4sec - more than half a second quicker than a Formula 1 car.
“Astute Engineering Is Required To Build NASCAR EVs"
Our thoughts on an EV in NASCAR
NASCAR racing dates back to 1948 with its premier Daytona 500 coming to the 65th edition. NASCAR's continued success has been built on their outstanding relationship with domestic automakers and the marketing premise, “Win on Sunday -Sell on Monday!” Soon hybrid and battery electric examples from those OEM’s will find their way to the high banks.
As an affirmation of these points, we can assume that NASCAR will field a hybrid assisted version of the current internal combustion powered Cup Series NexGen car and a full battery electric race vehicles sometime soon.
Considering the numerous issues that plagued NASCAR’s NexGen race car during its first season, developing a new EV generation race car will be an even more daunting task. Just to start, a NASCAR EV must weigh about 3,600 lbs. because of the functionality constraints of the soft wall (SAFER Barrier) systems used at all NASCAR tracks. “Lift-off” speed at Daytona and Talladega and wake turbulence on 1.5 mile and longer tracks are aerodynamic issues for consideration. Minimizing the amount of energy transferred to the driver during a crash is the most essential engineering element followed by driver protection from intrusion and fire.
Using the FIA’s launch plan for the Electric GT Championship as the guide, a NASCAR EV series for production-based battery electric trucks with four doors is a likely starting point. Spending 2023 to design, develop, and test, there could be up to ten 2-day race weekends in 2024 with a dozen or more participants. With comparable performance to the trucks in the NASCAR Truck Series, these EV Trucks would practice, qualify and race each weekend day on permanent Truck Series tracks. Using 18” single lug wheels and tires, there would be pitstops with fast recharging.
"It will be about batteries"
The DNA of any OE manufacturer racing program is in its engine technology. In this era of Net-Zero Carbon, the DNA of an OEM’s EV is in its battery technology - the key element in these vehicles. EV Performance hot buttons are now about “range”, reducing range anxiety, charging time and battery life.
A NASCAR EV Truck
The mission is to provide the current eight domestic EV pickup truck makers and their battery suppliers with a “Championship” that is a true proving ground for battery technologies and a marketing platform for their retail models.
Using the recently announced “American eMuscle” Stellantis" Ram 1500 shortened to a 114” wheelbase as a template, the NASCAR Truck EV would include these key features:
- As in the current Truck Series, a single spec chassis design with the battery placed below the floor, front and rear independent suspension, five lug wheels, balance of performance matched front silhouette composite body with a driver’s safety capsule.
- A “spec” all-wheel drive battery electric propulsion system sized to provide comparable performance to the current Truck Series 700hp Ilmor NT1 (ICE) internal combustion engine. Drive motors, rectifies, and other “spec” electrical components (less the battery) would be rebuilt or replaced every 5,000 miles.
- Batteries provided by each participating OEM using their proprietary technology fitted into a “spec” FIA approved container mounted below the floor. A common operating voltage and output capacity would be agreed upon by the OEMs. The 114” wheelbase, common amongst current EV car makers provides opportunity to use current battery designs (not necessarily current chemistries).
“NASCAR leaked document describe plans for EV racing series"
Our thoughts on the Autoblog.com's "Rumor Mill Story"
For the third year, longtime champion road racer, Randy Probst drove an exhibition class Tesla Model S Plaid prepared and entered by Ben Schaffer’s Unplugged Performance in the 12.42-mile, 156 turns Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. The Model S Plaid features Tesla's triple-motor system, producing 1,020 horsepower and 1,050 lb-ft of torque. The traction motors feature novel carbon-fiber sleeves that allow the motor rotors to spin at 20,000 rpm to achieve the car's claimed 200-mph top speed without punching through the stator. Tesla says, this makes a more complex two-speed transmission like the one seen on the Porsche Taycan unnecessary. Probst’s “S” is a product of Schaffer’s very successful Tesla EV racing car construction and performance components supply businesses in Hawthorne, CA.
“We’ve extensively modified the Model S Plaid, created a unique and custom-engineered aero package, designed to improve our times at Pikes Peak, and fitted along with numerous Unplugged Performance modifications for the Model S Plaid.” https://unpluggedperformance.com/2022-pikes-peak/
Last summer, Autoblog.com and other digital racing media outlets reported NASCAR’s interest in developing a new stockcar racing series for battery electric automobile manufacturers. It went so far as predicting an exhibition event at the Loc Angeles Coliseum last January, just miles from Unplugged Performance and Tesla’s Hawthorne R&D operations. In the Autoblog.com article posted July 30th, 2022, author Jonathon Ramsey made several very interesting points about NASCAR’s rumored thoughts:
- “Series leaders want the EVs to demonstrate the segment's technology and match lap times of the current ICE cars. The cars envisioned now would run common powertrains built with 900-volt architectures, utilizing three ultra-high-power motors to turn both axles with more than 1,000 total horsepower. That's right, 1,000-hp all-wheel-drive battery-powered NASCAR rides.”
- “NASCAR's been working its way to this future for more than 10 years, and the regulations guiding the New Generation (NG) race car introduced this year had electric powertrains in mind. Swapping the NG front and rear clips would make room for the EV powertrain, with no need to change the current suspension and brakes. The current rear transaxle area was designed to accommodate an electric motor.”
- “Going all-in with the experimental phase, in fact, the documents indicate NASCAR will be open to manufacturers — Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota at the moment — running with bodies that mimic their EV offerings. This is 100% speculation, but instead of silhouettes of the Camaro, Mustang, and Camry, we could see the lines of the Blazer EV, Mustang Mach-E and bZ4X running hot laps.”
- Speaking of manufacturers, Dodge back in the NASCAR field has been rumored for sometime. It's possible that the Dodge electric muscle car that we saw in prototype form at SEMA 2022 will be part of future demonstrations.
Developing a new NASCAR Series is very complicated and investment intensive for NASCAR, its team and participating manufacturers. A handful of EV versions would cost 50% - 75% more than the current “NG” rumored to cost $350,000 -$400,000 each.
The auto industry is in a different time than when Dodge rejoined to race the NASCAR Truck Series in 1995 and when Toyota joined nine years later. Today, Environmental Sustainability and Net Zero Carbon are in NASCAR OEMs’ missions. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environment Social Governance (ESG) are top considerations. On August 15th, 2022, Dodge announced the “Last Call” for V8 internal combustion engine powered Challengers and Chargers and their Dodge Daytona EV replacement platform coming after December 2023.
The DNA of an OE manufacturer’s racing program is in its engine technology. The Dodge Hemi was immortalized by racing in NASCAR fifty years ago. The switch in the NASCAR Truck Series to a spec engine in 2019 was a successful effort to reduce teams’ operating cost, but at the expense of OEM branding and marketing opportunities. In this era of Net-Zero Carbon, the DNA of an OEM’s EV is in its battery technology - the most important element of these vehicles. EV Performance hot buttons are now about “range”, reducing range anxiety, charging time and battery life.
NASCAR enjoyed its greatest attendance and Daytona TV ratings during the years it raced stock body configurations using aerodynamic “balance of performance” rules to equalize competition between makes. Tesla Model S Plaid and Porsche Taycan are the two currently available (with Dodge soon behind) examples of traditional NASCAR “streel bodied passenger car production sedans.” Station wagons/sport utility vehicles are a totally new challenge for balance of performance aerodynamic matching between makes. This category of vehicle typically isn’t one considered that would “win on Sunday and sell on Monday,” but we can look to Jaguar who joined the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship as a participating OEM in 2016. They made history with the Jaguar I‑PACE eTROPHY series, the world’s first all‐electric production based race series which was the main support series to Formula E in its 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons. Jaguar terminated the eTRophy Series when COVID caused sponsors to withdraw their support.
https://www.jaguar.com/jaguar-racing/i-pace-etrophy.html
Given the current economic situation and obvious green political pressures on the participating OEM’s, NASCAR is challenged by their sudden movement away from the internal combustion engine. Parnelli Jones failed to finish the 1967 Indy 500 when a bearing gave out on his Ferguson four-wheel drive system, 1000+ horsepower turbine propelled entry. Little oval track chassis dynamic work has been done on four-wheel handling since then, and the NexGen center section doesn’t lend itself well underfloor pan battery placement. More than a few months work will be involved in creating a suitable and safe EV chassis design. Then there are the three participating OEM’s and aligning their product plans and marketing strategies to justify the significant financial investment required to support EV stockcar racing – just as Jaguar did with the I‑PACE eTROPHY series. Maintaining OEM participation at current levels across Cup, Xfinity and Trucks will require imaginative thinking and a great selling initiative by NASCAR on the OEM’s and their customers.
As for Dodge, they’re phasing out internal combustion engines and their V8 “streel bodied passenger car production sedans.”
"About our NASCAR expertise"
Beginning in 1997, Wall Sports Management, LLC counseled DaimlerChrysler and the Dodge Dealer Council on expanding their NASCAR sponsorship into the Cup Series Championship. Subsequent to that engagement, Wall Sports advised and directed Toyota Racing Development (TRD) and Toyota Motor Sales, USA (TMS) on their 2003 NASCAR enlistment. The author also served as TRD Vice President of Competition-NASCAR for the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons with responsibilities for Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series vehicle design and construction during Toyota’s entry into those Series.
Wall Sports has also managed NASCAR drivers, assisted NASCAR teams, and advised NASCAR sponsors.
Let us help
Plan your Work - Work your Plan
Plan your Work - Work your Plan
Plan your Work - Work your Plan
Like every successful program or project in business, those in auto racing require well developed business plans. In the context of the racing industry, there are known factors that fluctuate and cannot be controlled, but must be considered. Assessing the opportunity, establishing a risk and reward model and assembling key people are the
Like every successful program or project in business, those in auto racing require well developed business plans. In the context of the racing industry, there are known factors that fluctuate and cannot be controlled, but must be considered. Assessing the opportunity, establishing a risk and reward model and assembling key people are the components we specialize in.
We will work with you to solve those tough and complex problems presented by your motor racing project or program. Our consultancy has decades of experience in motor racing establishing workable strategies, business plans and efficient operations. It has achieved recognition for its work developing corporate strategies, marketing strategies, acquisitions and divestitures, related manufacturing operations and technology specific services. We have developed drivers and teams. launched new sponsors and manufactures into NASCAR, and assisted track facilities with sponsors and sanctioning bodies.
Make the Deal
Plan your Work - Work your Plan
Plan your Work - Work your Plan
In the thirty plus years since the family business was sold, Patrick Wall has applied many lessons learned as CEO of a Tier One automotive supplier to solve problems, developed sponsorships and build businesses in auto racing. His association with automobile manufacturers dates back to the late 1970’s as a supplier of plastic and steel bo
In the thirty plus years since the family business was sold, Patrick Wall has applied many lessons learned as CEO of a Tier One automotive supplier to solve problems, developed sponsorships and build businesses in auto racing. His association with automobile manufacturers dates back to the late 1970’s as a supplier of plastic and steel body components, complete component and exterior styling designs, and special vehicle designs and assembly. He has consulted to Dodge Motorsports and several of its NASCAR and Viper racing teams, to Toyota Motor Sales USA and Toyota Racing Development USA for their entry into NASCAR racing. He also severed as TRD Vice President – NASCAR Competition Director establishing their presence and operations in North Carolina.
Wall has represented major sponsors and racetracks in IndyCar, IMSA, ARCA and NASCAR racing series. He has negotiated team buy-sell agreements, sponsor contracts and driver agreements. Wall Sports Management can shorten the execution time and improve the results of your project or program.
Put it all Together
Plan your Work - Work your Plan
Put it all Together
Motor racing programs today must have the ultimate objective of reaching a consumer. Whether building driver, team or sponsor brand, it’s all about engagement. Wall Sports Management can provide activation promotion concepts and programs, then assist in their implementation. We are experienced in tying elements of a “racing” program toget
Motor racing programs today must have the ultimate objective of reaching a consumer. Whether building driver, team or sponsor brand, it’s all about engagement. Wall Sports Management can provide activation promotion concepts and programs, then assist in their implementation. We are experienced in tying elements of a “racing” program together and presenting it using traditional public relations, social media channels, traditional media and advertising, and very important retail promotions.
Our “turn-key” programs have driven consumer awareness to motor racing programs and sponsorships.