FIA GT1 World Championship is go

[pkollo]

Here is an article about the 2010 project on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FI...ionship_season

[Gingers4Justice]

"The thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history" Freidrich Hegel.

IRL and CART. Didn't work.

World GT1 and WLMS. Won't work either.

They won't survive together, FIA GTs and Le Mans, and Le Mans, I'm afraid, will win the day.

Le Mans has the crown jewell of sportscar, endurance, and even motorsport in the Le Mans 24 hours. It will have faster cars, some of which have close links with road cars. Not only that, we will have battles between works teams - something any petrol head wants to see.

The FIA GT1s will be great to watch, but it worries me that they don't have production engines, and that it's only for private tuners. And not only that, Stephane Ratel is letting them race at Le Mans! This series, the most prestigious event it races at, it won't even be the focus of the race and the cars will be the 3rd slowest catergory!

Perhaps the ACO should consider slowing down the prototypes and giving them smaller fuel tanks - then, it could be like the mid-ninetees where the GTs could be competitive by running longer with more fuel.

But until those GT1s are competitve at Le Mans, it won't work.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by pkollo

Here is an article about the 2010 project on wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FI...ionship_season

Hmm, I thought there would be a North American round

[porsche91722]

With the Australian round shown as being the 2nd event on the calender, and the venue "to be announced" they are cutting things a bit fine if it is actually going to happen. I would have thought all the circuits and dates would have to be confirmed by the time they made their annoucement for the next year. It would be a lot easier to make travel/accomadation plans if we knew where and when etc. It would be the same for any of the following rounds as well.

[johntt]

So what have we got?

2x 1 hour races (of which only one counts for points) - which is rubbish, thats not a proper distance for these cars with two drivers. Make it 500km, 8 races in Europe, 4 overseas.

Cars which are upgraded GT2/3 cars - not a bad idea, but why not just use GT2 cars? And please do away with SRO's anal performance balancing it eliminates all the work the engineers do at a stroke, ACO performance balancing is much better and a bit more subtle.

Three confirmed manufacturers
Nissan - the car looks nice
Ford - using a car which is out of production
Lambo - using a car which will soon be out of production

Two possible manufacturers
Aston Martin and Ferrari have expressed an interest.

And a couple of glaring omissions
Porsche and Corvette are committed to GT2 and a single GT2 class. Porsche have completely ruled out a car for the FIA World GT1 championship and Corvette are a bit busy with a GT2 car of their own at the minute.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by johntt

So what have we got?

2x 1 hour races (of which only one counts for points) - which is rubbish, thats not a proper distance for these cars with two drivers. Make it 500km, 8 races in Europe, 4 overseas.

Cars which are upgraded GT2/3 cars - not a bad idea, but why not just use GT2 cars? And please do away with SRO's anal performance balancing it eliminates all the work the engineers do at a stroke, ACO performance balancing is much better and a bit more subtle.

Three confirmed manufacturers
Nissan - the car looks nice
Ford - using a car which is out of production
Lambo - using a car which will soon be out of production

Two possible manufacturers
Aston Martin and Ferrari have expressed an interest.

And a couple of glaring omissions
Porsche and Corvette are committed to GT2 and a single GT2 class. Porsche have completely ruled out a car for the FIA World GT1 championship and Corvette are a bit busy with a GT2 car of their own at the minute.

Not only that, I'm absolutley flabbergasted that the premier catergory for GT racing is designed specifically so that manufacturers don't enter. But that's what we want to see.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Not only that, I'm absolutley flabbergasted that the premier catergory for GT racing is designed specifically so that manufacturers don't enter. But that's what we want to see.

That's what almost killed Ratel's series in 1998.

[HORNDAWG]

Hmm, and now it looks like no Russian round in '10, is a distinct possibility. Here






L.P.

[ls2_297]

So the pinnacle of World GT racing in the Premier GT1 class is a competition between privateers?

Are these people retarded?






Seriously, are they?

[KSM86]

there was also a rumour about the australian round struggeling to find someone to back them as the goverment doesnt want to.

i guess ratel picked a bad time to start up a new championship, of course if it comes to Australia ill go watch it, but i think im going to be far more interested in gt2 and gt3.

[Purist]

What's the big deal if they're tuner cars? So what if they aren't manufacturer-built, what is this, F1? We know how insane budgets are there, and how restrictive that has been on entries both in F1 and in current GT1.

As for factories in GT, how well has that worked? With GTS/GT1, we've largely had a situation where Chrysler or Chevrolet walked away with things. Prodrive had one really good year with the Ferrari 550 (2003), and Aston Martin finally got its act together, but only in Europe, for two seasons (2007-08), and then moved to LMP1.

For the GT1 category, as blasphemous as it sounds, the FIA GT model delivered better competition far more consistently. We've seen wins, or at least competitive drives, in the last few seasons by Corvette, Saleen, Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Aston Martin.

I believe full factory teams are not allowed in GT2 for one, and honestly, how long is it going to be before someone actually wins against Ferrari and Porsche in that class? David Murry is fast in the Ford, but the Robertsons aren't able to keep up the pace. The LG Corvette just isn't quite there, and then had that fire at Long Beach. The Aston Martin V8 Vantage isn't up to pace yet. The BMWs keep breaking. Spyker just kind of keeps plodding along with the occasional noteworthy result. And Panoz needs to put more resources behind the Esperante to keep it up near the sharp end of things.

BTW, the Matech Ford GTs are already quite quick, among current GT1s, on tighter circuits and in wet conditions.

If you want safety assurances at Le Mans, set your crash test standards, and look at how the cars fare on pace at a wide variety of circuits, to make sure they aren't hazardously slow.

Finally, on the schedule, if Eurasia Autodrome isn't ready in time, Moscow Raceway should be. I sure as hell hope the Italian round is at Monza. I'd love to see these guys flying around Brands Hatch, though I'm guessing the TT will be at Silverstone as per usual. If they want a shorter track in Germany, why not the Sachsenring? Kyalami would be the top choice for South Africa. I do hope they go to Dubai in the UAE, unless they're planning to be F1 support at Abu Dhabi. We know that Romania will have to change; Brno would be a nice replacement in Eastern Europe. They really should have Argentina at the end so they can do the Lil Milhas down there as well. Being completely selfsih, the GTs should come bolster the field at the Road America 500, though seriously, Laguna Seca would work well at the beginning or end of the season.

[tux1234]

It seems that Aston martin racing and Pratt & Miller are taking serious looks at reengineering their current GT1 cars to comply with the new regs ratel has come up with.

As for it being a world championship it surely cant be a world championship without a round in the north America ( Sebring Please!!) and a round in the south america.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by tux1234

It seems that Aston martin racing and Pratt & Miller are taking serious looks at reengineering their current GT1 cars to comply with the new regs ratel has come up with.

As for it being a world championship it surely cant be a world championship without a round in the north America ( Sebring Please!!) and a round in the south america.

And just where is it that P&M (Corvette Racing) or Doug Fehan have stated, any, affirmative thoughts on re-homologating the Z06 (C6.R) to/for Ratel's new series rules?



L.P.

[Marcel ten Caat]

Nowhere...as far as I know this is a plan from someone in Europe

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Stranger

Nowhere...as far as I know this is a plan from someone in Europe

Hmm, from my understanding, that is not possible without the homologation holder's (Mfg) blessing by FIA homologation rules/restrictions!






L.P.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by tux1234

It seems that Aston martin racing and Pratt & Miller are taking serious looks at reengineering their current GT1 cars to comply with the new regs ratel has come up with.

As for it being a world championship it surely cant be a world championship without a round in the north America ( Sebring Please!!) and a round in the south america.

I'm not convince that the Pinnacle of GT racing will have no Manufacturer teams, and the fact that they will be uncompetitive at Le Mans, their biggest event of they year, still. It won't work unless they are fighting for victory at Le Mans. And you're right, it MUST have a round in America.

[Purist]

Pratt & Miller is capable of running programs independent of Doug Fehan and Corvette Racing.

There is a South American round on that proposed calendar: Potrero de los Funes, Argentina. Has FIA GT even been in North America since 1997? I mean, it would be nice, and would make some marketing sense, but it doesn't look to be on the cards at this time. I suppose it could work to have them come up for the Sebring 12 Hours; I would NOT have them do a stand alone sprint event there in Florida.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Purist

Pratt & Miller is capable of running programs independent of Doug Fehan and Corvette Racing.

There is a South American round on that proposed calendar: Potrero de los Funes, Argentina. Has FIA GT even been in North America since 1997? I mean, it would be nice, and would make some marketing sense, but it doesn't look to be on the cards at this time. I suppose it could work to have them come up for the Sebring 12 Hours; I would NOT have them do a stand alone sprint event there in Florida.

You actually think that Pratt & Miller would go against the wishes of Doug Fehan and GM as it concerns the C6.Rs? Hmm, biting the hand that feeds you, not to smart nor very good for business as a mfg's 'works' builder!





L.P.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

You actually think that Pratt & Miller would go against the wishes of Doug Fehan and GM as it concerns the C6.Rs? Hmm, biting the hand that feeds you, not to smart nor very good for business as a mfg's 'works' builder!





L.P.

But, GM isn't as it was and I doubt they are too fussed about spending money on motorsport too much art the moment? Surely P&M or any car builder would look at whatever options are out there for them to try and make a bit of money. If 're-engineering' C6R's is that option I can't see why they wouldn't do it?

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by chunterer

But, GM isn't as it was and I doubt they are too fussed about spending money on motorsport too much art the moment? Surely P&M or any car builder would look at whatever options are out there for them to try and make a bit of money. If 're-engineering' C6R's is that option I can't see why they wouldn't do it?

Because P&M build the Corvettes at the behest of GM!




L.P.

[chunterer]

Er, obviously!!

But GM haven't got any money anyore so P&M could quite feasibly re-develop or build cars that they know very well with money sourced elsewhere?

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by chunterer

But, GM isn't as it was and I doubt they are too fussed about spending money on motorsport too much art the moment? Surely P&M or any car builder would look at whatever options are out there for them to try and make a bit of money. If 're-engineering' C6R's is that option I can't see why they wouldn't do it?

From what I've heard, if C6.Rs are to be developed for the new GT1 class, it'll be under the direction of Toine Hezemans, not Pratt & Miller.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Er, obviously!!

But GM haven't got any money anyore so P&M could quite feasibly re-develop or build cars that they know very well with money sourced elsewhere?

I believe your assumptions to be incorrect!





L.P.

[Speed-King]

Aston Martin more than just a rumor now!

Customers asked them for up(down??)grade kits for the DBR9 and they'll supply them if the FIA agrees.

[JAG]

Your going to end up with a situation were factory developed GT2's are snapping at the heal's of performance balanced GT1's, without even taking into account the quality of team's and driving squad's, if they end up on the same track together.

It's not really an issue in sprint event's, but over 24hr's we've seen factory GT1's beating plenty of LMP2's, even LMP1's. It's not a stretch to imagine facory Corvette, Porsche, BMW and Ferrari GT2's topping privateer GT1's.