Quote:
Originally Posted by joeb
Is there actually anything you can do to reduce costs other than reduce the number of races or move away from GT3 machinery?
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GT3 has jumped the shark and there's no turning back. We have repeated history yet again. Here's the issue. Rich guys that fund these teams through rentals, exist on different tiers when it comes to spending. They are rich by not spending the principal. That means a certain budget each year to throw at racing. So, if you have $2M per year to spend and if it costs $2.8M to run GTD, you obviously can't run a full season in GTD. So you move to GS and rent a seat for Daytona and Sebring in GTD. It's that simple.
The manufacturers that make GT3 cars and the sanctioning bodies that promote driver rankings along with BoP never listen to the renters and as IMSA calls them "stakeholders". In the end, they move to GS or GTS. Now the manufacturers and sanctioning bodies all walk around patting themselves on the back because of this new global cost effective class. Problem is, they just watched GT3 start to dwindle.
If you notice, PWC had a massive celebration with a big number of GTS cars for COTA yet the total number of entries has not changed over the last few years (it's still running around 100). All of the big changes they mads has resulted in a net zero change. Same for IMSA.
GT3 needs to be dropped and GT4 needs to take it's place. Put a freeze on all GT4 development and put a max price on the class for the purchase price. Also, no more special factory teams that run a year all by themselves then run the following season with no customers. If you can't sell a customer car, then you just don't run. No evo or update kits and make manufacturers support the previous model for at least 3 years. Then to replace GT4 make GT5 and then revert to the old GS rules. No aero, actual legit cars (no Panoz, KTM, SIN...), no carbon bodywork, stock suspension components and no 50K gearboxes. Literally what GS was 5 years ago.
For the sanctioning bodies, limit tires per event and make one that is harder, slower and you can double stint. Change the fuel supplier where everyone has to run 93 octane unleaded and thus the price is less than half of what it is now. Prize money, right now it's either the top 3-5 get anything. Make it the top 15 at a minimum. Stop the different tiers of entrants. Go back to the GA and old IMSA days where you pay a set entry fee and it can be done up until 5 days before the first practice session. After that, a 10% penalty. Stop charging for T&S and make it a basic service. That way every team is equal and can use their brain for strategy. Reduce the rulebook by 50% so teams are not getting dinged for frivolous violations that ruin your race.