[LM24] Le Mans and No GT1s - Opinions?

[MrWinkyHead]

I was and still am a huge fan of GT1. I think it is what made Le Mans Series, ALMS and the 24 hour race. I love the GT1 World Championship, very close, very competitive and becoming very successful.
Still, the GT1 World Championship races are only one hour, and especially now that they won't be involved in the Spa 24 hours.
Corvettes, Astons, Lambo's, in GT1 spec. will never be shown for another 24 hour race. What are your opinions?

[Victor_RO]

Probably for the better, the last couple of years in GT1 at Le Mans and in ACO racing were nothing home to write about to be honest. After the pinnacle of GT1 at Le Mans, which was probably '06 or '07, everyone involved seemed to start to move on, Corvette towards GT2, Aston/Prodrive towards the prototype ranks.

[courageous]

it was more a case of GT1 dropping Le Mans - the ACO were more than happy to have a GT1 class if there was a decent number of serious entries.

A couple of almost historic Saleens run by teams of dubious quality for carbon graded drivers was the sum total of GT1 entries in general Le Mans racing last year.
Even at Le Mans itself, the field didn't exactly cover itself in glory.

[Simmi]

It was time.

[MrWinkyHead]

In fairness, GT1 was just beginning to 'get back on it's feet' from 6 entries in 2009 (2x Corvette racing cars 2x Luc Alphand 1x Jet Alliance Aston and 1x JLOC lambo) to 9 cars in 2010, its not a bad effort... Thats almost a fifth of the field, although you could argue that JLOC is always a waisted entry

[Deleted]

It used to be my favourite ACO category, however after the downfall of recent years the decision was correct - there were simply too many issues and serious lack of entries. The massively downgraded performance level didn't help either.

2008 was the last really competitive outing for the category, 2009 more or less a farewell for Corvette and 2010 just a survival of the fittest.

[I Rosputnik]

I'm on the fence. While it does allow for the FIA to shape GT1 in anyway it wants to suit the WC better, it does restrict what you can do with the cars. I support the GT1WC, but if it wants to survive they need to go to either LMGT or GT3 regulations with smaller restictor plates and more advanced aero.

As for Le Mans, it makes more sense to have a single class as it keeps things simple. GT2 is the stronger class so it makes more sense to use it as the base for the new LMGT regulations.

[Simmi]

And you can't really use the good racing in the GT1 WC as an argument for keeping them as that is simply a product of sprint racing and relentless performance balancing.

[I Rosputnik]

I see GT1 filling a nice niche with GT sprint races. If they do go with LMGT regulations and used smaller restrictor plates then we could see the full potential of the cars with the sprint format preventing them from wearing out towards the end of the race while Le Mans allows them to focus on the endurance of the cars.

I like to think of things like this. GT1 is for your sprint runners while Le Mans is for your marathon runners.

[AGD]

Technically, GT1 cars could have entered this year's Le Mans 24 Hours through the GTE-Am class. As far as I know, nobody tried to enter a GT1 that way.

[Aysedasi]

I'm a prototype man through and through. Losing the GT1s means little to me - even the name troubles me as I think of very different machines when I read the words 'GT1'.....

But welcome to the forum Mr. WinkyHead! I hope you don't mind that I've trimmed your rather long thread title down a little......

[Koppie]

As much as I enjoy the close racing that GTE brings I don't really agree that it should become the one and only GT class at LM.

There is currently a real lack of track based supercars and as each year passes another poor old GT1 is retired and gets put aside to collect dust with next to no new cars coming in to replace them.

So in the next few years I'd like to see a reintroduction of the LMGTP class to take GT racing onto the next level, plus with this manufacturers could be given free reign to experiment with hybrid technologies, alternative fuels and use the worlds biggest motor race to showcase their work against rival companies...

But before I wander into the depths of being off topic, I'd sum up by saying the current generation of GT1's need replacing but it needs something revolutionary with a clean sheet of paper and not just picking cars at random to fill empty grid slots.

For the time being I'm prepared to put up with 'GT2' for a couple of years.

[GT6]

I will miss the GT1 class but lets give the two new GT classes a chance and comment after this years race, they could produce some good racing and hopefully a close finish with the majority reaching the 24 hour mark with serious laps rather than just coming out again after just before the end.

[JAG]

Much like WRC's are S2000's with an upgrade kit, GTE Pro cars could be allowed more technical freedom without burdoning privateers in AM with the extra cost.

Mass produced supercars is the way go, GT racing should be about 911's and 458's not cars produced in a handful of numbers, not least because such manufactuers rarely have the funds to develop and support a racing program.