Is GTC (GT3.5) a thing and if not should it be one?

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Actually, the Aston story kyoung just talked about was in ALMS... so his post really covers both arenas.

Wrote that before I saw his post.

Regarding that Aston-Corvette 06 IMSA fiasco - that really was uncommon at the time, as you can see here
http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....&postcount=424 (and http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....&postcount=426)

Now, mr Gavin earlier this year on DSC
http://www.dailysportscar.com/2014/0...is-sights.html

Originally Posted by Oliver Gavin

“I think the debate about Balance of Performance is a symptom of the way that sportscar racing has gone over the last several years. The governing bodies of the different series around the world are very mindful of the fact that want to try and keep the big names in the sport, to keep the manufacturers happy and motivated to stay.

“That’s a perfectly valid aim. But the problem with Balance of Performance is that as soon as you start it you have to absolutely embrace it. You can’t just dabble with it, it’s all or nothing!

“Sportscar racing has gone through a number of evolutions over the years whether it’s fuel rules or weight limits or the size of cars.

“What happened in the days of GT1 was a case in point. It was a fantastic formula for manufacturers to come and race in, certainly Corvette thought so, and for a time we had great competition out there, but then many dropped out, saying it was too expensive, so we were racing ourselves for a while. It became unsustainable.

“GTLM though has struck a pretty good formula and there is certainly a lot of manufacturer interest in it. Now it’s a case of making sure that the boat isn’t rocked too much an that those cool manufacturers are kept happy. I think that’s sensible.

Keeping everybody happy, trophies for all, yes... pleasing sure has become the ultimate norm of annoyance now

[FIRE]

Porsche has ambitions to build an entry-level GT racer that could result in a GT4 contender based on its Cayman model.
Outing-going Porsche Motorsport boss Hartmut Kristen has revealed that the German manufacturer has tested a racing version of its Cayman coupe.
Kristen revealed that this was part of plans to produce a car below its existing range of GTE, GT3 and one-make cup racers based on the 911.
Sources suggest that such a car would be produced to fit the GT4 regulations.

...

"Whatever it is, it has to be more affordable, less sophisticated and probably more fun," he continued.
Kristen insisted that any plans for such a car were at an early stage.
"We built a concept car to see what it was would take, but there was no significant testing," he explained.

...

BMW has also indicated interest in GT4, a market in which is was formerly represented with the E92-shape M3 GT4.
BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt said that he was looking "at where exactly GT4 is heading".
He explained that BMW could produce a GT4 car out of its new-for-2014 M235i Racing one-make endurance racer or potentially the M3 or M4.
Stephane Ratel, the originator of the GT4 concept, welcomed the interest of Porsche and BMW in the category.
"We are suffering a little bit from a lack of new machinery, so when I have the GT3 manufacturers around the table I am always pushing a little bit for them to build GT4 cars," he said.
News of Porsche and BMW's interest in the GT4 category comes at a time when Ratel has working on the idea of separate GT3 and GT4 races for the British GT Championship at selected rounds.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116144

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by FIRE

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116144

Interesting, thanks for posting...

Turning the 235M into a GT4 car would take some work... reportedly they are doing 2.44s around Spa....GT4s can go 10+ seconds faster.

BTW, for those that are saying that GT3 isn't too expensive for some series: Looks like the Belgian GT-series is a goner for next year and GT-Open and French GT-Tour will have shared fields at numerous events

[Rodger Davies]

Good to see some more interest in new GT4 cars, much prefer those as a 'second' category (perfectly capable of headlining on their own though).

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Interesting, thanks for posting...

Turning the 235M into a GT4 car would take some work... reportedly they are doing 2.44s around Spa....GT4s can go 10+ seconds faster.

I was wondering about that. Big gap between the 235M and M3 GT4.

[andy97]

Personally, I think they should keep it simple. No GTE. Stick to GT3 and GT4 with the various one make Cup, Challenge and Trofeo one make series built to GT4 type reg so that they can be raced in multi make GT racing as well, as as required.

Yes there would need to be some BoP but there is already in GT3 so the motorsport works is already used to it.

[Speed-King]

French GT is exploring the possibility of adding a secondary category for Solution-F-built tubeframe coupes for next year. These cars would run in the same field as the GT3 cars.

Link (En francaise)

With only 16 GT3-cars showing up for the most recent round at Nogaro, such a move seems pretty understandable, but I think most fans would have preferred proper GT-cars for the secondary division.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

French GT is exploring the possibility of adding a secondary category for Solution-F-built tubeframe coupes for next year. These cars would run in the same field as the GT3 cars.

Link (En francaise)

With only 16 GT3-cars showing up for the most recent round at Nogaro, such a move seems pretty understandable, but I think most fans would have preferred proper GT-cars for the secondary division.

To be honest what's wrong with 16 GT3 cars for a national championship?

Add a GT4 class or similar cheaper GT class to bring grid to 24 to 28 cars.

[tux]

If GT3.5 or similar were to happen it would be great if they could find a way of getting 458 challenge, Porsche cup, Lamborghini super trofeo, maserati trofeo and similar cars to run together without huge discrepancies in performance.

However if you were to do this you would basically end up with what GT3 was originally designed to be.

[Deleted]

Behind the business-as-usual GT3s the Italian GT has GTC1 class for Cup cars

GT vehicles in the Cup configuration (*) and in full compliance with the Technical Regulations of the Italian Grand Touring Championship.
(*) listed below are the vehicles admitted and the year of validity of the Technical Regulations of their trophy of classification:

Ferrari 458 Challenge
(up to the year 2013)

Lamborghini Gallardo
(up to the year 2013)

Porsche 997 GT3 Cup My2010
(up to the year 2013)

And also GTC2, but looking at some of the result sheets I don't think anyone competes there

GT vehicles in the Cup configuration (*) and in full compliance with the Technical Regulations of the Italian Grand Touring Championship.
(*) listed below are the vehicles admitted and the year of validity of the Technical Regulations of their trophy of classification:

Ferrari 430 Challenge
(up to the year 2011)

Porsche 997 GT3 Cup
(up to the year 2009)

Maserati MC Trophy
(up to the year 2013)

All of these Challenge car are bopped together (what would you expect...) but I don't think it's race-by-race adjusting as in GT3. Maybe. Perhaps.