Quote:
Originally Posted by hondafan37
I have understood that the GTE was more expensive than the GT3, I remember reading that the main differences are the engines much closer to road car in GT3 and much more development of the GTE.
At least it is what I know until now, so could you give me more details of why GT3 is more expensive than GTE?
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Well, for one thing, the claim that the engines are much closer to the road cars in GT3 is complete bunk. In GT3 you're not even required to use an engine that has any connection to the model being used - the only reason manufacturers do so is because they ARE required to base the engine on something from their road car lineup, and quite often the engine from the road car is the best base. GTE's displacement limit often causes the engine to be more different than in GT3, but said limit also ultimately puts a cap on what they can squeeze out of things, keeping the costs there in (relative) check.
Quick aside, that "relative" portion is important - I am not arguing, and nor should anyone with a brain, that anything about this stuff is cheap by the basic definition. We're talking cheap relative to each other.
The other reason GT3 has gotten so maddeningly expensive is because they have next to no restrictions regarding development of aerodynamics. Compare for example, the Corvette C7.R GTE:
To the Corvette C7 GT3-R GT3 car:
Right away you should be able to see how much crazier the rear wing is on the GT3. If you look more you'll notice a lot more crazy details in the aero around the wheel arches, and while those photos don't illustrate it very clearly the front splitter is a lot more developed on the GT3 version(I'd post photos to show that, but this post is bloated enough, so look it up yourself).
In the same vein, GT3 is far looser about suspension development than GTE.
So, to summarize, GT3 can do more with the engine, aero, and suspension than GTE can. This is why many cars are more expensive than GTE cars can tend to be.
This is not universal, of course - From what I've heard the Porsche GT3 is a fair bit cheaper than their GTE, and despite the craziness the above exampled Corvette apparently costs about the same as what Labre pays for theirs. But then you have the Ferrari, the GT3 version of which evidently costs more than the LMP2 chassis AND engine cost cap(and bear in mind that not all LMP2s are actually sold at the capped price), far more than teams get their GTE models for. The McLarens are up there in price as well, but they don't have a GTE car to compare to, and they're a company I imagine would build a GTE with a sky-high pricetag as well.
But by and large, GT3 cars are a fair bit pricier than GTE due to a far more open development allowance. The entire concept of the class was built around balancing cars of vastly different design, so it's frankly no surprise it's gone to such levels.
Performance-wise, the FIA GT3 BoP, used by Pirelli World Challenge, has been ~2 seconds slower than GTE at most US tracks. Both classes are restricted down from their full potential, but left unleashed most believe that GT3 cars would decimate the majority of GTE cars(the Ford GT is one of the few believed to be able to beat GT3 cars if all ran unrestricted). This is why not that long ago, a "Super GT3" idea was floated(during a rumored split from Class One regs by Super GT that ended up being completely baseless), and why the idea continues to be talked about by some engineers who like the idea of an enhanced version of an existing class.