GTE Speculation

[Pandamasque]

Originally Posted by rich07

Now these exciting plans with McLaren must be in GT-E/GT-Am next year, I cant see them pulling out of Spa if they were only running GT3 spec cars next year, if anything Spa would be a good test session for their current cars if the plan was to stay in GT3 next year.

True, unless you consider the marketing side of things which would most likely take another hard hit, given their results in longer races. Simply translated as: "We'd rather develop the car further for 2013, than test in public and embarrass ourselves (again)".
But I do hope they are prepping a GTE.

[DeathOrGlory]

Originally Posted by I Rosputnik

Seeing Godzilla return to Le Mans would be great. Like Toyota I know there's unfinished business there.

Unfinished business? Not in GTE for Nissan. LMP1 is where they have unfinished business.

[Deleted]

Nissan could've easily entered Le Mans 2010 with the brand new GT1 Nissans, but didn't. IMO that showed their interest level well enough.

And while you can argue that the two privateer teams were busy enough with world champ back then, well fine, but they could've organized a full manufacturer entry for the race - being the only factory effort in the class could've made some headlines, and at least they could've beaten their 'arch rival' JLOC, lol works Nismo already did some running with GT-R development car in the 2009 FIA GT, although they only did selected events and weren't eglible for points

[Pandamasque]

Leo's interview with Alex Job on the Evora.
At Mosport I couldn't help but notice that the Lotus' engine sounds a lot beefier. Earlier it sounded V12-ish, a bit like AMR-One, and now it sounds like 996 RSR.

It seems the Evora is the new Spyker C8 of GT racing. But I do wonder how much of that gap could be pulled back by signing with a more competitive tire brand.

Originally Posted by Chiana

Nissan could've easily entered Le Mans 2010 with the brand new GT1 Nissans, but didn't. IMO that showed their interest level well enough.

Maybe their assessment of chances to finish 24h with a sprint car was better that those of Matech.

[rich07]

So I guessed wrong in regards to United Autosports. Not knocking British GT (great championship and all-be great to see the McLarens there) but doesnt sound like a step up in my books so not the exciting news it sounded like. And going by the year they've had so far its a pretty good excuse to pull out for the rest of the year and concentrate on next year.

Hopefully we still see McLaren in GT-E next year.

[MitchZ06]

British GT isn't so flat out tho is it? Always a chance we haven't been told everything!

[Simmi]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

British GT isn't so flat out tho is it? Always a chance we haven't been told everything!

Hoping there is more to it than Brit GT. At the end of the day they can't announce a GTE programme until McLaren themselves announce they are building the car.

[MitchZ06]

Pretty much what I was going for, UA has ambitions to race at Le Mans, with a GTE McLaren they'd be in for next year and then GTE-Am in 2014 with the same cars.

[Koenigsegg]

Originally Posted by MitchZ06

Pretty much what I was going for, UA has ambitions to race at Le Mans, with a GTE McLaren they'd be in for next year and then GTE-Am in 2014 with the same cars.

Or they'll stay in GT3 for 2013 and will directly go to GTE-Am in 2014.

[kober]

Originally Posted by Koenigsegg

Or they'll stay in GT3 for 2013 and will directly go to GTE-Am in 2014.

They would need to have a one-year old car to be eligible for GTE-Am. Why not buy it and race it in GTE-Pro in 2013 then?

[Koenigsegg]

Originally Posted by kober

They would need to have a one-year old car to be eligible for GTE-Am. Why not buy it and race it in GTE-Pro in 2013 then?

Because they won't be competitive in the GTE-Pro field. They'll only be competitive if all their drivers are Pro drivers, but they're not.

They can probably upgrade their GT3 McLaren to GTE-Am regs for 2014.

[busdegnao]

ACO must change the rules about carbon tubs to let mp4-12c to run. Hard to believe that mclaren automotive will increase the production of street mp4-12c just to obtain the homologation for a GTE.

[MitchZ06]

Originally Posted by busdegnao

ACO must change the rules about carbon tubs to let mp4-12c to run. Hard to believe that mclaren automotive will increase the production of street mp4-12c just to obtain the homologation for a GTE.

They already have allowed carbon tubs just to allow McLaren to enter...

[busdegnao]

carbon tubs were allowed also in the past, but only if the manufacter respects an annual production of units decided by ACO.

[GT3.14]

Article 2.1.4 (on the second page) addresses the use of carbon chassis. http://www.europeanlemansseries.com/...2-06.12.11.pdf

[busdegnao]

homologation for carbon tubs is given only if:
• It is made in a quantity of at least 300 units.
• Only the cockpit is made with carbon elements,
• No suspension element is fixed on this carbon structure.

In recent past a manufacter had to produce a min. units per year to receive the homologation, it isn't specified if 300 units as total production or annual. It's not a problem, because I think that rules will be changed again letting manufacter enter with 50 or less units produced. Same regulamentation change that let run the MC12 in fia gt, while in ACO competition wasn't allowed because there weren't enough mc12 road cars and because of extreme width.
I don't know if like the aventador, also the mp4-12c has rear suspensions elements directly fixed to the tub.

[MitchZ06]

MP4-12C would have atleast 300 units produced already. So no problem there. The MonoCell in the 12C also has subframes attached and it's to these subframes the suspension is attached. No worries on it getting homologation...

[busdegnao]

300 produce already? not so sure

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...quality-issues

in late 2011 mclaren decided to slow down the production because of quality issues, since then, 179 models had to be delivered to customers, in the article isn't specified how many cars were ready and how many cars would be delayed. I think that maybe 300 units will be built only in late 2012 or not before 2013.

[MitchZ06]

Being that that article is now 9 months old and considering they opened the actual production facility earlier in the year I'd bet the house they've produce 300 by now.

[busdegnao]

produced or not, is not a problem; fia and aco are always ready to break some rule when a manufacter knocks to the door... trust in future that 300 will become 50.

[Deleted]

They don't need to change the rules, ACO can just issue a waiver if/when they're desperate enough

[MitchZ06]

Ticking Viper reference off my bingo card...

[Deleted]

Perhaps but the same applies for every GTE car on the grid (exept maybe 911 and (2012) 458))

Of course 458 was the car that brought out the new width rule after their 2011 waiver, so that can happen too if the others get too annoyed

[MitchZ06]

I think we'll see an opening up of GTE engine sizes in 2014 simply because everyone will whinge about the Viper thru 2013 (and would have started already).

On the MP4-12C and that magic 300 number....
"Mine was #1427, delivery end of June."

From here: http://www.mclarenlife.com/forums/mc...ion-count.html

[busdegnao]

corvette expressed the intention to come back to a 7.0 istead of actual 5.5, to give more freedom for engines is the key to attract more manufacters.

About mp4-12c, sincerly i think that #1427 is not the serial number of the chassis, because is hard to believe that a small manufacter like mclaren has been able to build almost 1300 cars since late 2011 after all problems and delays. Not even an expert a supercar manufacter like lamborghini has been able to build more than 1025 units of gallardo in a whole financial year.