British GT to ban Porsche 997 GT3 for 2006

[SALEEN S7R]

Was just reading this weeks Autosport Magazine And in the club Autosport section there is a story about the Possiblity of the Porsche 997 GT3 cup car not being allowed to race in British GT, at least for 2006 and the car only being seen here in the UK on a regular basis in the Porsche Carerra cup GB. Why? Because of costs, apparntly. And because only a maxiumum of 2 cars would be entered anyway and the horsepower advantage it has over the 996 would be taken away due to the power to weight ratio rules in British GT, that said it would still have a distinct areodynamic advantage over the 996. A bit of a shame IMO if this happens.

We will of course see this car in the new Euro GT3 championship.

[lj79]

Ah, BGT continues to go from strength to strength. Bring on the GT3 class Morgans

[TheNewBob]

Most of the 996 teams seem to be happy with it. I think they mainly said it's so the Porsche Cup can be the first to show off it's own cars in Britain rather than seeing them first in a championship which caters for other cars too. Guess it's more to do with image. Oh well, gives them time to fine tune the car for GT racing!

[SALEEN S7R]

Most of the 996 teams seem to be happy about it? Ive not heard any team manager comment on this matter either positively or negatively. IMO it is a blow to the series, I was looking forward to seeing the 997 in British GT in 2006, instead I will have to follow it via TOCA. Shame, IMO.

[Svierge]

Not allowing the 997 is a logical decision. It would render the various generations of 996 instantly obselete and upset a large number of people. A very wise decision from all involved.

[SALEEN S7R]

When then, if at all, would you suggest allowing the 997 to race in the British GT championship? Keep the 996's forever? They have to go sometime, just like the GT3-R was replaced by the RS and the RS replaced by the RSR...

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Most of the 996 teams seem to be happy about it? Ive not heard any team manager comment on this matter either positively or negatively. IMO it is a blow to the series, I was looking forward to seeing the 997 in British GT in 2006, instead I will have to follow it via TOCA. Shame, IMO.

If you read the Autosport article then you will have read that some teams welcome the series sticking with the 996

[SALEEN S7R]

Thats what the article says yes Martyn, but what teams think that banning the car is a good idea? They didnt specify who. Ferrari and Morgan teams I wonder? Good to see im not the only one who thinks its a bad idea banning the car though, in the same article points leading GT3 championship team Tech 9 boss Phill Hindley, has said that he wants to run the latest model. And if the latest model is banned from British GT then he will have to question his entry. I hope he sticks to his guns if the ban is imposed and he buys the 997's anyway and enters them in the Euro GT3 championship.

[Svierge]

Saleen,

So you'd allow two cars in that you know will simply walk away with the Championship? What about the other teams that can't afford/haven't managed to get one yet? They will go to every race knowing that they can't win, no matter how hard they try. You expect them just to go and spend a lot of money to make up the numbers? There are a lot of guys doing it for pleasure, yes, but there are also a lot who want to fight for the title. Far better to wait until a large number of 997s are available for the masses to buy.

Incidentally, the 997 wouldn't really be pegged back by the power to weight rules. If a car has a better chassis it's always going to be faster.

Sorry if my tone is a touch harsh there (I've had a rather trying day at Silverstone), but there needs to be a little common sense brought into play here...

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by Svierge

Saleen,

So you'd allow two cars in that you know will simply walk away with the Championship? What about the other teams that can't afford/haven't managed to get one yet?

In case you havent noticed, Tech 9 are walking away with the GT3 championship anyway, they are arguably the best team in the GT3 class and have the best drivers, just like Scuderia Ecosse are walking away with the GT2 title for the same reasons. The reasons for disallowing the 997 into the championship IMO are ridiculous, if the reason for not allowing the 997 into the championship is because it is superior to the 996 why does this not apply to the other classes? Why was the 360 GTC allowed in GT2 instead of the standard 360? Why in 2004 was the RSR allowed in by Gruppe M in place of the RS? Nobody in 2004 ran a RSR apart from Gruppe M, did this kill the championship? No. The same applies for the 360 GTC in 2004 and 2005, nobody else has run the car apart from Scuderia Ecosse. Why then were these cars not banned from British GT?

[Svierge]

As you pointed out earlier, a maximum of two 997s could enter next year. We can all go out and buy a 996RSR or a 360 Ferrari in GT2 (or a Mosler...), but if six teams wanted to run 997s next year four would be unlucky. That is the point.

[SALEEN S7R]

But 6 teams dont want to go out and buy 997's next year, that is my point. Therefore the ammount of teams disadvantaged would be much less than the scenario you suggest. The same could be said of GT2 for example say 6 teams went out and bought 911 RSR's and 360 GTC's there would be a few unlucky teams running 2003 spec RS's and Mosler's, but realistically it isnt going to happen and several teams in GT2 are at a disadvantage as it is anyway. Has this made the racing any worse however? Judge for yourself.

So really IMO it is a mute point, there will always be teams with the latest specifcation car's and there will always be teams with cars that are slightly older and less competitve, thats racing. If you want a series where everything is equal then IMO you should run in the Porsche Carerra cup or 360 challenge series, I didnt think the British GT championship was like that, looks like I was wrong. That said, the rule hasnt been passed, and it might not be. I for one hope it isnt.

[KA]

If you read that article carefully, you'll see that this doesn't seem to be a unilateral decision by the BGT organisers, but one that has been reached in agreement with Porsche and that plans are being drawn up for extra support from Porsche as an incentive for teams running the 996.

I think this is a sensible move- if allowing the 997 in makes the 996 uncompetitive (to say nothing of the 360 or other GT3 cars), then there will probably only be one result- an exodus of 996 teams, probably in the direction of Britcar.

I'm not sure the comparison with the RSR or 360GTC holds water- I could well be wrong, but to me the way that article is written suggests that if the 997 was allowed, there would only be two of them because that's all that might be available for BGT next year (Porsche would obviously want to give priority to supplying the car for the Carrera Cup. When the RSR first appeared in 04 with Gruppe M, there was nothing (apart from budget) to stop Eurotech or anyone else going out and upgrading to the new car- the same with the 360GTC. If there are only a couple of 997's available for BGT, then that option to upgrade isn't there.
If this is the case are you seriously suggesting that allowing the class to potentially be dominated by a car that would only available to one or two teams would be good for the championship?

[Graham Goodwin]

FWIW There was a unanimous vote amongst current teams this weekend NOT to allow the 997 into GT3 next year

[ss_collins]

GG - I was listening in to that meeting and there was a lot of talk of a new class for the 997 and something else (DBRS9?) in fact I'm pretty sure that all got approved though could be wrong.

[Svierge]

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

The same could be said of GT2 for example say 6 teams went out and bought 911 RSR's and 360 GTC's there would be a few unlucky teams running 2003 spec RS's and Moslers...

Thanks, but we count ourselves very fortunate to be running a Mosler MT900R. It is a bloody fantastic machine and allows a tiny team like us to outrun the Porsches and get very close to the 360s on a much smaller budget.

We may be unlucky on the track sometimes, but our choice of car certainly isn't.

[SALEEN S7R]

Time to dust this thread off once again I think. Has anyone got a update on the Porsche 997 issue? Will the car be allowed into British GT GT3 next year, or has it been banned for 2006?

[ss_collins]

At a drivers meeting in the summer I think it was agreed thaty the 430, 997 and another car should go into a seperate class

[rdjones]

The way I understand thing are going to work as follows:-

GT2 – the same as this year
GT3 – Will only run if there are six or more entries and will be open to the cars that are eligible for the FIA GT3 class.
Cup Class – This is what has run as GT3 Class this year
Invitation Class – Again the same as this year and will be run when required.