GT 90's Revival - What happened?

[hurstg01]

Great photo!! Any more?

[Truckosaurus]

If we are being nostalgic for the recent past, here's a YouTube clip of the opening lap of the '95 LM from a Macca F1, with musical accompaniment from "The King of British Blues" John Mayall.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jBEngMWNZe4

[benjabulle]

Just add 2 Ferrari, a 355 and a 550, to the entries and you got them all ! I was very impressed by the GT-TC serie, many interesting cars, from the Porsche 917 Can Am to the Corvette.

[hurstg01]

Perhaps they meant it was Mclaren chassis #21R (owned by Glasel) not Mclaren chassis #12R (driven by Glasel) -

[The359]

Nice to see the old Viper GTS-R.

[rich07]

Great pics of the FINA McLaren!

[hurstg01]

Originally Posted by rich07

Great pics of the FINA McLaren!

Pics courtesy of PatrickT82

[ascarracinguk]

my go i forgot how awesome that car looks, personally i think the mclaren longtail is teh greatest gt car of all time. i remember been a lil lad at silverstone in 97 in the rain watching these beasts going around and loved every second of it eventhough i was soaked through and freezing cold

[hurstg01]

only 5 cars racing though - does anyone know the results?

[cmk]

What a stunning car - one of the true beauties of the late 90s, and a lovely livery at that. Pity these cars are not run more often, especially here in North America. The only GT1 of that era I've seen run is a Porsche 911 GT1 Evo and I would desperately love to see some of its contemporaries in the flesh.

[Zurbert82]

Turner Motorsport bring their F1 GTR to Lime Rock every year for the vintage races in September. I've never heard a sweeter sounding race car.

[hurstg01]

Turner Motorsport don't own an F1. They look after Frank Selldorffs F1 road car, and the LM that was Franks now belongs to Ralph Lauren. The F1 GTR often seen at Lime Rock is owned by BMW USA. You are right in saying It's a great sounding car.

I had the pleasure of getting up close and personal with the Harrods F1 car last year at the Goodwood FOS, and even had a brief chat with the owner, Dave Clark. I took about 200 pics of it, got to scramble inside and heard it fire up and leave the paddock

[chunterer]

The no8 Fina car is one of my all time favourite's. JJ Lehto did some amazing things against the CLK's back in '97 - wasn't he something like 8 seconds quicker than anyone else at Spa in wet qualifying or something??!!!

I'm sure this series will gather momentum again but I guess these things are still pretty costly to own and run.

What's the difference between running costs of a GTR or Porsche GT1 compared with say a 962 or Jag XJR9 or Mclaren M8?

[hurstg01]

The newer cars will cost more due to their construction and their electronics but will have lots of spares, but the older cars may need specially-fabricated pieces pushing up their cost. I suppose its all relative, if you can afford the car you can afford the running costs. I'd like to be in the position to find out one day

[vorsprung]

Originally Posted by chunterer

The no8 Fina car is one of my all time favourite's. JJ Lehto did some amazing things against the CLK's back in '97 - wasn't he something like 8 seconds quicker than anyone else at Spa in wet qualifying or something??!!!

Watching JJ win the Helsinki race was great, although my strongest memory is the miserably cold and windy weather.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I'm sure this series will gather momentum again but I guess these things are still pretty costly to own and run.

Removing it from the FIA GT weekend lineup was probably not a good idea, however!

[canam]

Originally Posted by chunterer

What's the difference between running costs of a GTR or Porsche GT1 compared with say a 962 or Jag XJR9 or Mclaren M8?

Compared to the others, the M8 is as cheap as chips--if you don't mind driving a roller skate with 800bhp behind you while you sit between two hefty (much needed) fuel tanks. I would say the following equations are probably close to the mark:

To buy (in M8 money): 1 X GTR/GT1 = 4 X M8
1 X XJR = 2.5 X M8
1 X 962 = 2 X M8

To run: probably the same ratio although the Jag may not be that much different from the Porker.

Bang for buck: the M8 probably offer the most but...is probably the most lethal as well!!

[Zurbert82]

I just assumed it was Turners F1 - my bad.

[geeteeone]

Originally Posted by canam

To run: probably the same ratio although the Jag may not be that much different from the Porker.

The F1 GTR is cost effective to run relative to other GT1 cars - the engine, being very close to the road version and relatively unstressed, requires comparatively few rebuilds. Back in 1996, the BBA McLaren team went through the entire BPR season without ever rebuilding their V12! The only time they had any problem with it was when an Oxygen sensor failed.

The EMKA McLaren team, when they ran an F1 GTR in British GT, only needed one spare engine.

[canam]

Have a minor crash/contact in the F1 and the bills will come rolling in like no one's business.

[minimangler]

yep. mind you, a service from mclaren includes a polished floor, useful if you intend to do a clk gtr in it, i guess.

[canam]

Originally Posted by minimangler

yep. mind you, a service from mclaren includes a polished floor, useful if you intend to do a clk gtr in it, i guess.

You also would get 18ct gold taps for post-race ablutions.

[minimangler]

haha, nice! And a marble floor, if the F1 team has been in the garage.

Whoever said there was too much cash at the top of motorsport?

[FLORENT MOULIN]

Originally Posted by The359

Nice to see the old Viper GTS-R.

thanks for the Viper, this is my car !

GT90s Revival should be fantastic series, a unique opportunity to see the nicest GTs raced in GT1/GT2/GT3 in the 90s and that's a shame this historic serial doesn't take off.

Imagine on a starting grid some 911GT1/F40GTE/McLaren F1/Lotus/Viper/Lister/Lambo Diablo/Porsche GT2/Venturi/Marcos/ ...

The organiser SRO promoted a lot the serial over the last year and the web site is not too bad www.http://www.gt90s-revival.com/

Last year's Silverstone event was nice with about 17/18 entries but 911GT1 and McLaren F1 didn't start.

What's happening this year ? 5 / 6 cars on the grid the last races ...

Maybe it's too early but I don't think, see the values GT1s are already classic cars. There are a lot of cars raced here and there in various series and championships which are elligible ( Porsches - Venturis - etc... ), and some cars can only be entered in such events ( GT1s ).

The tyres are a problem as only hard tyres from FIA GT are available for cars using large ones as the McLaren F1 and my Viper has. But this car be solved if everyone uses the same quality thread.

The entry fees are a bit high compared with the ones used in historic racing but much less than in modern GT races. SRO is very professional and it's well organised anyway on great tracks and during interesting meetings.

The organiser want to continue but if for the next races there are again a few cars the serie will be compromised. We have to encourage him.

I think the McLaren and Viper had a great success at Hockenheim, public loves them.

Let's hope the serial will be better soon and allow us to race and the public to see these legends at tracks again.

Passionately,


Florent


PS : if someone has pictures from the Viper at Magny Cours last year or Hockenheim this year, that would make my day!

[courageous]

I would love this championship to work, but for some reason it isn't catching on, might be worth trying to bump the entry numbers by allowing semi-historic prototypes in (Ferrari 333, R&S mkIII, Courage C65 etc...)