It also isn't NASCAR or the Indy Racing League. You probably need some sort of reasonable, limited invert for the fans.

I'll be honest: as a fan , I won't hesitate to say that I HATE time trials. But I know we've all seen countless instances where a driver who is 2-3 seconds off the pace draws up near the front of their heat, and if they don't elect to go to the tail, they sometimes proceed to hold up an entire line of the cars on the initial start. Now unless the yellow comes out, every driver behind the off the pace car is doomed to finish outside the top 3 or 4.

And passing points really aren't the panacea they're cracked up to be, but that's another topic for another time.

Bottom line: Man will find intelligent life on distant planets before he'll find the "perfect" race format. It just doesn't exist.