GM to grand am

[slicktsax]

www.lmsr.net is reporting that GM will expand into the grand am series with a pair of pontiac gto's for the GT class. they will be called GTO-R's. GM is really expanding their racing in GT and touring cars. first the announcement they will compete in the WTCC and now grand am with GTO's. don't forget they will have the cadilac's back in speed GT, the vaxhauls in the BTCC, the holden racing team in the aussie V8's. the Corvette team in ALMS. and for one more year opel in the DTM.

[Edmonton]

A bit of old news. The cars are being done by prattand miller.

[GT1]

I thought Opel was done in DTM.

GM has a long way to go to get any sort of international motorsports record that people will reconize.

Most people come in, they win, and they advertise whatever they win. With Cadillac, particurally in the first year, we got lots of TV and mag ads like they had just won everything and they achieved nothing.

I think they were under the impression that just being in the show was enough to impress. It doesn't impress when you get your but kicked. Ask Jaguar or Peugeot in F1.

I think their moto is still:

Golf More, Race Less

[ghinzani]

Originally posted by slicktsax
www.lmsr.net is reporting that GM will expand into the grand am series with a pair of pontiac gto's for the GT class. they will be called GTO-R's.

Yes they are, cant find much about it on the web but I know one of the drivers will be a californian with a lot of european single seater experience, some of you can probably guess who I mean. Thats if its not been announced already?? Think its being unveiled at the Sema show in vegas. I'l keep quiet until I see something official tho. But he will kick some ass, thats for sure!

[tblincoe]

although i agree with your statement of GM's overall racing past (best exemplified by the Cadillac debacle in the ALMS), the one thing that has thoroughly impressed me from GM is the Corvette program. they brought down the DaimlerChrysler juggernaut, beat Ferrari, and they did it though persistance and hard work. and they are going to try and do it all over again with the C6-R. because of this my image of Corvette has totally changed and i would now definitely consider a Z06 just as sporting as a ferrari, but at a much smaller cost.

[ghinzani]

wWhat a beauty! http://www.lmsr.net/gtorpics.html

[Edmonton]

Nice,I hope we see this car in the ALMS aswell.

[tblincoe]

wont race in the ALMS unfortunately... its OK, we have the Panoz to cheer for!

[jhansen]

This car has already raced in SWC GT correct? I'm fairly sure I saw one when I was at Laguna. Although I do not believe it was factory supported.

[Edmonton]

Originally posted by tblincoe
wont race in the ALMS unfortunately... its OK, we have the Panoz to cheer for!

Well lets just hope that a car similar comes to the ALMS GT class. I think one could give the Porsches a real go.

[tblincoe]

hahaha i HIGHLY doubt that a GTO-R could give AJR and the others a go in the ALMS

[GT1]

I don't think GM could build an answer to the GT3RSR and moreso, I don't think they could give the support to private entries that Porsche does.

Strength in numbers. Porsche have taken been given a lot of credit for supporting private entries but its their backup plan and they make $$$ of it.

1970,1984-1985,1979 (though 84 was factory boycott) and 1996-1997 Le Mans were won by what were essentially private entires. Theres always a backup.

[vwpilot]

The car will not be ALMS legal because it is a tubed framed chassis. Doug Fehan will begin the development of the team and will turn it over to someone else when it gets going because there will be schedule conflicts with GA and the ALMS and he will continue to work with the C6R team.

Here is more info on the news.

http://www.speedarena.com/news/publi...cle_5292.shtml

Pontiac will become the first manufacturer to produce cars to meet the new GT regulations in 2005. The GTO race cars will have production-based LS2 small-block V-8 engines and retain the stock body design. They will incorporate safety features developed by GM Racing in the Corvette C5-R and Cadillac CTS-V racing programs. Teams and drivers will be announced at a future date.

[GT1]

Is this the Horizon "Generic" chassis that Grand Am has been talking about that Horizon ran this year in GT?

[billnchristy]

No this is a GM chassis, and the Corvettes are Tube Frame chassis too, so why wont the GTOs be legal?

I agree they wouldnt be competitive in ALMS (a little bulky) but not legal doesnt make sense...its a "production based" race car like the C5R

[Sebring2000]

Originally posted by jhansen
This car has already raced in SWC GT correct? I'm fairly sure I saw one when I was at Laguna. Although I do not believe it was factory supported.

Stu Hayner has been running one all year in the SPEED WC.



More Here

[gttouring]

slick car
and why would pontiac take on the Corvettes? in ALMS
no let them fight in Speed GT and Grand Am....

[tblincoe]

wow, the Speed WC car looks much better than the proposed GARRA version...

[vwpilot]

Originally posted by billnchristy
No this is a GM chassis, and the Corvettes are Tube Frame chassis too, so why wont the GTOs be legal?

This car is designed for the GT series, to go against the Porsches, and in that class the car must be of unibody construction, not a tubed frame.

[Patrick B]

Actually tube frame GT's are legal in the 2004 and 2005 Rolex GT class- http://www.grandamerican.com/CONTENT...0GT%209-14.pdf
Much like the JGTC GT300 class. Stock dimension bodys on unitbody or tube chassis. Can't wait to see the RX8's coming to the GT class

[Hugewally]

Originally posted by Patrick B
Actually tube frame GT's are legal in the 2004 and 2005 Rolex GT class- http://www.grandamerican.com/CONTENT...0GT%209-14.pdf
Much like the JGTC GT300 class. Stock dimension bodys on unitbody or tube chassis. Can't wait to see the RX8's coming to the GT class

My understanding is that stock chassis and semi-tube frames are allowed. Full tube frames are not...

:confused:

Martin

[FIRE]

Wow what a beautiful car!

[slicktsax]

although i agree with your statement of GM's overall racing past (best exemplified by the Cadillac debacle in the ALMS), the one thing that has thoroughly impressed me from GM is the Corvette program. they brought down the DaimlerChrysler juggernaut

actually the corvettes only beat the vipers twice back in 2000. texas and petit. every other race they were beaten by the vipers. the vipers kicked their butts in daytona 24 hours in 2000 and won outright and then the vipers soundly beat the vettes at lemans. then chrysler pulled the factory vipers out to go prototype racing in 2001. quite a shame really as the vettes really became strong in 2001. after 2001 chrylser pulled out it's factory team. so the vettes didn't take down the vipers. the vipers still won the 2000 ALMS championship.

[vwpilot]

I should have said in the ALMS GT class they must be unibody so the car isnt legal for ALMS GT.

[Edmonton]

Originally posted by billnchristy
No this is a GM chassis, and the Corvettes are Tube Frame chassis too, so why wont the GTOs be legal?

I agree they wouldnt be competitive in ALMS (a little bulky) but not legal doesnt make sense...its a "production based" race car like the C5R

The C5R uses a production frame. It just happens that the street car uses hydorformed steel rails. Street corvettes do not use a unibody-they are body on frame construction.