|
A manufacturer with a prestigious name will sometimes be able to launch a race car for the road and sell enough to customers/get it homologated for GT racing because of the badge on it. Now as to whether it's a GT or a prototype, there's always a gray zone that keeps moving as time makes advanced technology more common. Examples:
-the Dauer 962 raced in a road car class because Porsche was behind it. It was a lightly modified Group C prototype car, but when compared to the GT1s that followed (911 GT1, CLK-GTR, GT-One, Saleen, Maserati MC12) it was not that high-tech
-the Maserati MC12 was an extreme Enzo built around a carbon tub and it had little to envy to previous all-out GT1s and Group Cs. It was not supposed to be legal for GT racing but the Maserati name meant it got to play with more conventional GT1s
-the Pagani Zonda R is not even road-legal, it's not legal in GT racing and it has nothing to envy to previous all-out GT1s and Group Cs. Also, just like the Maserati, its body has overhangs and general dimensions that you don't see on proper road cars because they're in no way practical for the road but rather meant to generate downforce
-and nowadays you have the 458 Italia and the MP4-12C that have equal tech (and pace) to the late 1990s GT1s and are real road cars at the same time. They can outpace a McLaren F1 - the car that was so fast in GT racing that everyone else had to show up with prototypes to stand a chance
GT or a prototype: there's always a gray zone that keeps moving as time makes advanced technology more common. In 15 years time we might see a road Audi R18...
|