GT3 manufactures...

[TheNo1F1Fan]

Originally Posted by TheDude

All we need is an F-type jag

That's very good.

[JoestForEver]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Regarding GT3 power levels?
I'd say they have more than enough right now, with the low drag aero spec, they were damn near to being the quickest thing round the TriOval at Daytona?
Then bear in mind how hard LMP2s have to work to pass GTE at Le Mans, and I'd say things are looking worryingly too far down that road. Either make GTE/GT+ a LOT more roadcar, which kills GT3, or in future you'll see LMP1s being passed in a straight line!
I'm glad I don;t have THAT dilemma.

Compared with power, I'm rather more worried about aero. The dive planes and diffusers are already more sophisticated than GT1/2 cars and too much downforce means hard to overtake, which ruins a race.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Tim the Grey

Judging by some of the noises drifting out of JLR at Gaydon, you may just get one. There is SOMETHING tearing up and down that runway with a V8 ad sequential shift...
And no, it's not a Vantage, we cannot use the runway!

Probably some OTT Evoke?

Seriously, though wouldn't the car you've been hearing be that XK GTR-S-GT3-RS-LM-i'm the last one of this model range honest guv'na, or whatever it's called?

[Tim the Grey]

Could be ANY of whatever those codes were!
Meantime, press release here gives some info on Aston 2014 plans.
2014 marks ten years of Aston Martin Racing - the luxury sportcar maker’s most extensive motorsport campaign in its 101-year history - and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) will once again be the highlight of the calendar, as the team fields four V8 Vantage GTEs in the full season, and as many as seven cars at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This campaign will be complimented by some of the toughest endurance races in the world; Nürburgring 24 Hours (N24) and Spa 24 Hours in the V12 Vantage GT3.

The success of the Vantage GT3, launched at the start of 2012, has encouraged Aston Martin to increase its factory team’s focus on GT3 racing. Now in its third year of a five-year plan to win the ADAC Nürburgring 24, the works team will once again field its Bilstein-liveried Vantage GT3. The V12 charger will be piloted by long-standing works drivers Darren Turner (GB) and Stefan Mücke (DE), who will be joined by five-times N24-winner Pedro Lamy (PT).

David King, Head of Motorsport at Aston Martin comments: “We are ramping up our focus on our GT3 activities as this enables us to compete for outright victory in some of the world’s toughest endurance races, such as N24, but the WEC campaign with the V8-powered Vantage GTE will once again be the backbone of our motorsport activity in 2014.”

Returning to make a full-season assault on the WEC, after narrowly missing out on the world championship title in 2013, is the #97 Gulf-liveried Vantage GTE of Turner and Mücke. Having been with Aston Martin Racing since its inception in 2004, Turner joins the team in celebrating the tenth anniversary.

The second of the two GTE-Pro cars, the #99 Bamboo Engineering Vantage GTE, will be piloted by Aston Martin Racing’s newest signings, 2012 WEC GTE-AM World Champion Fernando Rees (BR), WTCC driver Alex MacDowall (GB) and Craft Racing AMR’s Darryl O’Young (HK), who all tested the car at the official Aston Martin Racing test session in Portimao last week.

“The test went really well in Portimao, and we have another test planned soon,” said Rees. “The team is working really hard and I am really happy to continue in the WEC and be part of the Aston Martin Racing family.”

In the third WEC entry, the all-Danish #95 Young Driver car, David Heinemeier-Hansson will join last year’s drivers Kristian Poulsen, Christoffer Nygaard and Nicki Thiim, who will compete at selected rounds due to clashes with other commitments. Also in the GTE-Am class, a fourth Vantage GTE will compete, with the team driving alongside experienced Canadian Paul Dalla Lana to be confirmed at a later date.

The drivers for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the fourth round of the WEC and the highest profile endurance race in the world, will also be confirmed nearer the time, but the team has announced that Bruno Senna (BR) will make his return following a successful race in 2013.

“This year marks the tenth anniversary for Aston Martin Racing and we can celebrate a decade of modern sportscar racing with our largest campaign yet,” said John Gaw, Team Principal at Aston Martin Racing.

The team also plans to enter a V12 Vantage GT3 in the Silverstone round of the Blancpain Endurance Series (BES) as well as having a works team entry in the championship’s toughest endurance round, Spa 24 Hours.

“Our GT3 has been extremely successful,” comments Gaw. “We launched it back in early 2012 as a well-developed machine and this allowed customer teams to win races from the off-set and meant that they were spared costly upgrades at the end of the year. Last year, the GT3’s performance in the Asian Le Mans Series granted Craft Racing a 24 Hours of Le Mans entry and it won the British GT Championship with Beechdean AMR. It also led N24 for 13 hours and set pole at Spa 24 Hours. We hope to build on this success in 2014.”

Increased support will also be offered to GT3 customers competing in the British GT Championship, including last year’s winners Beechdean AMR; championship contenders MP Motorsport; new partner team TF Sport, which will increase its entry from one car to two; and Motorbase Performance, which will enter a pair of new GT3s. Aston Martin Racing will also assist Beechdean AMR’s title challenge for the GT4 class with its new V8-powered Vantage GT4 – the 100th off the production line.

Further adding to the Aston Martin presence at British GT Championship rounds, the popular GT4 challenge, now in its fourth year, becomes a support race to the Britain’s premier GT championship. Not only that, but the enduring popularity of the Vantage GT4 is further underlined by the launch of a GT4 Challenge in North America with the support of TRG-AMR.

[Speed-King]

Well, between the info from RLM's "Inside McLaren GT" and this article it begins to look like if GT3 and the future GTbase cars will actually have quite a lot in common and be kit-able from one spec to the other...

[urdragon]

Lamborghini motorsports plans for the Huracan GT3:

http://sportscar365.com/gt/lamborghi...f-huracan-gt3/




So a Supertrofeo version will be available winter 2014-2015 and the GT3/GT+ is scheduled for the next year but without a concret date.

[NaBUru38]

I'm hoping for a Le Mans GT+ entry by Reiter...

[wallie]

Now that we have a clear view on regulations (cancellation of merger gte/gt3) do you think we'll get a flux of manufactures now deciding their next project announcements soon? Anyone heard of anything yet, or still too early

[TF110]

Japanese Samurai linked to this story, Autosport japan has exclusive photos of the RC F GT3 in its first test at Okayama. It will run again next month it seems

[Simmi]

Must be a renewed vigour in that programme given the convergence talk has fallen apart and they've been vindicated building a GT3.

[TF110]

GT3 was their plan all along. If the rules allowed them to enter LM with it that would be a bonus. Maybe theyll still build a GTE car with the same basis, like the Viper? They obviously are targeting Super GT GT300 class with it.

[dbagtbag]

Originally Posted by TF110

GT3 was their plan all along. If the rules allowed them to enter LM with it that would be a bonus. Maybe theyll still build a GTE car with the same basis, like the Viper? They obviously are targeting Super GT GT300 class with it.

The viper targeting Super GT? Can you enlighten me on this?

[MitchZ06]

He's talking about the Lexus, not the Viper. The Viper was a GTE car first and that same chassis with mods can be made into the GT3-R so maybe Lexus will do the same.

[TF110]

^What he said. The Racecar Engineering story on the RC F says something along those lines.

[dbagtbag]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

He's talking about the Lexus, not the Viper. The Viper was a GTE car first and that same chassis with mods can be made into the GT3-R so maybe Lexus will do the same.

Originally Posted by TF110

^What he said. The Racecar Engineering story on the RC F says something along those lines.

Lol doh should have read a little bit further back. Was a late night last night haha

Rumors are there are three teams looking to adopt it for the next season.

[hondafan37]

This could be the look of a GT3 Aventador.
http://www.speedhunters.com/2014/06/...or-works-sema/

[carbon_titanium]

a road aventador is more expensive than a gt3 reiter gallardo... just image the price of a possible racing aventador... >500.000€. With the merge surely we will se a racing version of the huracan

[hondafan37]

Vitaphone Alfa Romeo 4C GT3?
http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/pau...pplementaires/

[BullMan]

Originally Posted by hondafan37

Vitaphone Alfa Romeo 4C GT3?
http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/pau...pplementaires/

That seems a little odd to me. They're going to turn a 237-hp roadster into a GT3 car? I don't see how.

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by BullMan

That seems a little odd to me. They're going to turn a 237-hp roadster into a GT3 car? I don't see how.

Your weight is only 895 Kg. In WTCC using engines with 1.6L turbo with 380 HP. Your engine is 1.750 L turbo.
Ratio weight/power in a GT3 is more or less 1250/550= 2.72
In this car could be 895/380= 2.35

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by hondafan37

Vitaphone Alfa Romeo 4C GT3?
http://www.endurance-info.com/fr/pau...pplementaires/

I think it's just a fan made rendering, mainly because Vitaphone hasn't been sponsoring the team since the end of the Maserati days.
Getting the car competitive would probably be less of a problem.

[carbon_titanium]

street Z4 is far to be an high performance car or a true GT... but anyway bmw turned it in a great GT3! like mp4-12c, alfa romeo 4c has a carbon open monocoque that fits better for racing. Of course they need to swap the engine with another one, maybe the 4.5 V8 from 458 GT3. But anyway I don't think that will never happen.

[Rodger Davies]

Alfa 4C isn't worth discussing, but this one is:

Some actually confirmed rumours for once, McLaren have unveiled the 650S GT3.

Nice to have a car that's easier to say but also a sign of McLaren's ongoing commitment to GT racing, especially after the difficult start they endured.

With this and the Lexus, could be at least two more new cars on the grid for next year. GT3 continues to rise; your loss ACO.

[MitchZ06]

[divxx]

From the SRO conference:

"...the interest of a yet to be confirmed new major manufacturer on its way, and with three existing models being replaced by new ones in 2015."

I don't read too much into unconfirmed new manufacturer talks, but the second point was interesting: I know the Mclaren and Audi are being updated, which is the third new model?