[FIA GT] The Future of GT1 World Championship

[gustavobamba]

Hello, i think in 2011 or 2012 the Maserati, Corvette and Aston Martin will not be allowed and Mr. Stéphane Ratel said that new brands will come along.

My question is which bands? and models?

Ferrari 599?
Maserati Grand Turismo?
Mercedes SLS?
Porsche 918?

[juicy sushi]

I think the reality is that no one will be coming in and the whole thing will collapse like a house of cards. The numbers just don't make sense for a manufacturer, and I don't think private teams have the resources to develop cars under the rules Ratel created, given the costs of the series...

[Birddog07]

This new GT1 WC sounds good on paper, but I think that GT1 should have been made for manufactuer (and backed) teams with pro drivers, I also don't like homoligated cars with no updates in GT1, but I can see it's use from the cost perspective. However, success ballast needs to go.

Current GT3 should be the new GT2 for privateers and pro-am drivers (or all pro with ballast), GT4 to be the new GT3. This is how it should have been done many years ago I think. GT3 and GT2 are so close now, the only difference really is driver lineups and manufactuer involvment with teams. Bring back a GT1 for pros and manufactuers to contest in. The worlds best super/hypercars, cars which aren't very road practical and were developed with the track in mind, not 'mere' high performance sportscars. I want to see those racing with pro drivers and big teams in GT1.

[Speed-King]

Seeing how close GT1/2/3-cars are nowadays in terms of performance, I think it will be no problem to find "new" cars for the GT1-series. A relatively mild update kit (new engine mapping for bigger restrictors, double tire rear wing) should be enough to turn a frontrunning GT2 car into a perfectly fine GT1-competitor - they are all running at GT1-weights and on GT1-tires already, anyway. The same goes for some of the more extreme GT3-cars like the Audi or the new Merc.

[mirkob]

From DSC article:

"Perhaps more interesting for dsc readers is Veritas's assertion that they have "the ambition of entering the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2011 with the Veritas RSIII Coupé, which will be launched at the Nürburgring July 9-11"

A BMW power GT1

[Birddog07]

But all GT and, LMP's aswell, need room for two people. Otherwise that's pretty good looking. Pretty good looking, not really many open top GT cars around.

[mirkob]

This car has two seats (in the image one is covered)
and they are talking about a Coupe (closed) version

[Birddog07]

You sure? Two seats on a roadster like that usually means two roll hoops.

[Dead-Eye]

They say it's a "1+1" - but as the coupe will almost certainly have two proper seats it's a moot point anyway...

[Birddog07]

1+1? I don't get it, ohwell. I'd like to see that car ran as an open top, really reminds me of the good old days with the massive front engined Panoz LMP. Car with a seat that far back must be really hard to place on the apexes.

[Bentley03]

Here's the press release (in English), courtesy of Endurance-Info.com.

[Birddog07]

Hmm, well good luck to them. Certainly welcome on the GT1WC grid in my eyes.

[gustavobamba]

Hello to everyone!!!

Some say that Mercedes SLS, Audi R8 and Mclaren MP4-12 will be in a near future the top of GT category!!! (With all the others »Porshe, Ferrari, Aston Martin, etc.)

Should he expect a new GT1 Championship from ACO??????????



Only one category in GT Cars?!?!?! in the future

[joeb]

Are the Corvette, Aston, and Maserati going to be allowed to race next season? and if so, how could this new Veritas team be expecting to gain a spot in the championship in its current format of 6 brands - 4 cars each?

[Victor_RO]

Maybe they have word from the FIA that the grid is going to be increased if... there's a couple of favourable factors towards that.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

Maybe they have word from the FIA that the grid is going to be increased if... there's a couple of favourable factors towards that.

Could be, or maybe they will drop the 4 cars rule. Or maybe the FIA knows somebody currently in the series wants out.

[Purist]

Is it just the F1 World Championship that has the 26-car limit?

[Fogelhund]

The ACO will run with GT2 as their GT platform. This Veritas contraption is likely what SRO will get, as the main manufacturers are unlikely to have much interest.

[JAG]

I think GT2 and the revised DTM will serve manufactuers needs for high performance production based sports/touring cars.

Manufactuers will increasingly wish to run hybrid systems, which the above series will likley accomodate, whereas the FIA GT1 series is all about keeping manufactuers out, and technology and costs down.

[JAG]

Originally Posted by Fogelhund

The ACO will run with GT2 as their GT platform. This Veritas contraption is likely what SRO will get, as the main manufacturers are unlikely to have much interest.

Given this, it will be interesting to see what performance envelope the ACO want for their top/only GT class.

ATM GT2's are obviously specced to be slower than GT1, but if they are the only GT show in town, and given many of the GT2 models already produce over 500bhp in road going form, it will be interesting to see if the ACO give GT2's a better power/weight ratio.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by JAG

Given this, it will be interesting to see what performance envelope the ACO want for their top/only GT class.

ATM GT2's are obviously specced to be slower than GT1, but if they are the only GT show in town, and given many of the GT2 models already produce over 500bhp in road going form, it will be interesting to see if the ACO give GT2's a better power/weight ratio.

I do not think there will be any change in the current GT-2 (future GT-?) performance envelope, and that it will not be the only ACO GT class in the future. The LMPC/FLM (2011 P-2) class may get a little more power combined with the pulling back of P-1 though.



L.P.

[Birddog07]

I forget where I read it, probalbly Planet Le Mans or Autosport, but there can be more cars than 4 per make in the GT1WC aslong as the teams run a single car only. And when this championship was being created, I read that Ratel wants to expand it (in cars/makes and races).

I think that right now we are in a period of change for top class GT racing. This new GT1WC is trying to keep the old supercar monsters, and seems to be doing well so far. But, GT1 is supposed to be the top class and it needs professional drivers racing for top manufactuer teams.

This doesn't look to be happening with the GT1WC and sadly may be it's demise. Porsche and Ferrari have both said that they don't want to develop cars when they as manufactuers are involved in GT2 and a GT1 car would only realistically get 4 buyers. Corvette is now a manufactuer GT2 team. BMW is GT2. Audi is concerned with their prototypes and customer GT3 cars.

Now you have GT2 as a top class. Very healthy (well, not in the FIA series), pro drivers, manufactuer teams. ACO has said that they want this the top GT class, but they want it slowed down even more? What is going to be under it? Current GT3 cars run by privateer pro-am drivers sounds the best choice, but with GT3 cars already pushing GT2 times, how would GT2 being slowed help any? If the ACO wants to keep GT2 the top GT class, then in needs sped up and appropreatley named GT1. These cars can go way faster with their current engines (and can possibly go alittle lighter).

So then current GT3 to fill the gap of GT2, sounds like a good plan to me. GT3 is a healthy format in Europe, however costs do need to get under control. Shurely the teams wouldn't mind the new ACO GT2 designation and a chance at Le Mans.

So what becomes the new GT3? GT4. GT3 how it should have been from the start I think. Ametuer drivers in alittle slower, but cheaper cars. Also much better for national series than a costly GT3 program I think. However, if the ACO isn't stupid and adopts GT3 as GT2 and lets them run Le Mans, then current GT3 does have a nice place in National Championships (which would be two class format like current Brit GT) I think. Yes, alittle more expensive to run, but win the championship and it gets you invited to Le Mans, and possibly interest from sponsors or other GT2 teams for your drivers to move up to intercontinential racing, or maybe even pro ranks.

We'll have to see what happens, right now all we can really do is sit back and enjoy the good racing while it lasts and 'hope' that the right decisions are made (when have they ever been?)

[rich07]

I know the car limit has something to do with budgeting for moving the cars from track to track but that aside, SRO cannot be realistically limiting the number of cars next year especially if one or two of the older cars arent there.

Isnt Spyker building a GT1 version of the Alieron?

[Birddog07]

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/07/03/s...ec-c8-aileron/

http://www.topspeed.com/cars/car-new...n-ar76178.html

The econd link sugguests that they may even be GT1 at this years Le Mans, although I seriously doubt that since it was posted end of last June.

[Speed-King]

Now you have GT2 as a top class. Very healthy (well, not in the FIA series), pro drivers, manufactuer teams.

I'd argue, that GT2 isn't as stable as it appears to be. The number of series you can run these cars in is getting smaller all the time*, whereas developement costs are on the rise with the arrival of full fledged factory efforts from BMW and Corvette. The customer programs of Porsche and Ferrari might soon come to a point, where it becomes difficult to recoup developement costs by car sales, and what happens then is anyone's guess...

I think GT2 is today about where GT1 was in 2005 or 2006...

*Right now, it's pretty much the two LM-series, GT-Open (with a smaller than expected GT2-field) and the Spanish and Italian Championship. Taking into account that many of the GT-Open teams also compete in the various national Southern European series, I'd argue that there are perhaps no more than 50 active, current-spec GT2-cars out there.