FIA/ACO to create universal GT class

[Kid Roberts]

Somewhat related question: Do the new 911's still come with the h-patterns or have they gone to paddles?

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by Livininthinair

Thanks for the real world perspective Mike. I have always been a manual transmission guy but realize the race track is much different than the rat race of everyday driving. Before too much longer we will all be telling our grandchildren about the days when you had to shift the gears yourself. I work for Audi/Porsche/VW and was not happy to see the last of the manual transmission "S" cars from Audi - robotized transmissions are not my cup of tea, the PDK is nice but still not my thing...

Totally with you on that! All my street cars over the last few years have been H-pattern manuals (F430, ZR1, CTS-V, 997 Turbo) except for 1 (C63 Black Series). I definitely prefer an H-pattern for the street...

Now we should talk about ABS and traction control in racing.... lol!

-mike

[GT3.14]

Originally Posted by Kid Roberts

Somewhat related question: Do the new 911's still come with the h-patterns or have they gone to paddles?

H with 7 forward gears and a reverse

[Livininthinair]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Totally with you on that! All my street cars over the last few years have been H-pattern manuals (F430, ZR1, CTS-V, 997 Turbo) except for 1 (C63 Black Series). I definitely prefer an H-pattern for the street...

Now we should talk about ABS and traction control in racing.... lol!

-mike

ABS and traction control in racing = driver input only

[Kid Roberts]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

Totally with you on that! All my street cars over the last few years have been H-pattern manuals (F430, ZR1, CTS-V, 997 Turbo) except for 1 (C63 Black Series). I definitely prefer an H-pattern for the street...

Now we should talk about ABS and traction control in racing.... lol!

-mike

...Or DRS/KERS.

[Spyderman]

Originally Posted by GT3.14

H with 7 forward gears and a reverse

Not for the GT3

[Racenut]

I haven't heard anything recently about the future of GT racing. I hope that's a good thing.

I would like to see the future generation of GT include a class for small capacity cars. The Subaru BRZ and Lotus Exige size would be good, the smaller capacity engine is more in line with what is produced in road cars so might produce more interest from fans and manufacturers.

Don't get me wrong, the sound of a V8/10/12 GT car roaring past is good... but is that the future?

[vincegail]

When the future of Le Mans is cars like the Subaru and Lotus, I'll be staying at home.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by vincegail

When the future of Le Mans is cars like the Subaru and Lotus, I'll be staying at home.

I see your point with Subaru, but Lotus is part of Le Mans' history!

[zanfo zanfagni]

Originally Posted by Racenut

I haven't heard anything recently about the future of GT racing. I hope that's a good thing.

I would like to see the future generation of GT include a class for small capacity cars. The Subaru BRZ and Lotus Exige size would be good, the smaller capacity engine is more in line with what is produced in road cars so might produce more interest from fans and manufacturers.

Don't get me wrong, the sound of a V8/10/12 GT car roaring past is good... but is that the future?

smaller capacity engine in produced road cars = tourism car.

[GT6]

Vince you must remember that before even I started to go to le mans there were always classes for small engined cars, that is why there are so many of them in the classic races

[Simmi]

I'd be happy to see this version of the BRZ at Le Mans. But the race should remain the pinnacle.

[zanfo zanfagni]

Subaru brz gt300 is a silhouette prototype. Will be hard to see this kind of cars at le mans.

[gustavobamba]

Originally Posted by zanfo zanfagni

Subaru brz gt300 is a silhouette prototype. Will be hard to see this kind of cars at le mans.

But they should be allowed IMO. They are awesome cars, and fast

[Pandamasque]

Judging by what I see more and more on the roads, the future of sporty cars is all about turbocharged V8s and 2.5-ton bodies on oversized wheels...

[lms]

Originally Posted by zanfo zanfagni

Subaru brz gt300 is a silhouette prototype. Will be hard to see this kind of cars at le mans.

on the outside it looks like a gt3 car.

[NaBUru38]

I wouldn't mind a Hachiroku or BRZ, they can always swap the engine for a turbo V6.

[vincegail]

Originally Posted by Pandamasque

Judging by what I see more and more on the roads, the future of sporty cars is all about turbocharged V8s and 2.5-ton bodies on oversized wheels...

Bentley GT3 soon to hit the circuits....

[trickyd]

Originally Posted by Racenut

I haven't heard anything recently about the future of GT racing. I hope that's a good thing.

I would like to see the future generation of GT include a class for small capacity cars. The Subaru BRZ and Lotus Exige size would be good, the smaller capacity engine is more in line with what is produced in road cars so might produce more interest from fans and manufacturers.

Don't get me wrong, the sound of a V8/10/12 GT car roaring past is good... but is that the future?

I agree that there should be a place for 'small' displacement GT cars. I'd have 3 classes of GT cars; up to 3 lites, up to 5 litres and 5 litres +. So in the smallest class you'd have Exiges and Caymans, the next one 458's and 911's and ideally in the larger class Ferrari 599/F12's, Corvette's, Vipers, DB9's, Lambo's etc. Not nessasarily at Le Mans, maybe just the 2 larger classes there, but in GT races.

People saying if small engined cars were the future of Le Mans they wouldn't go, there used to be a upto 750cc class! It was pretty popular too, Panard's, OSCA's and Lotuses. In the 1950's granted. I wouldn't want to be pottering down Mulsanne in one of them when a Testa Rossa came screaming past!

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by trickyd

I agree that there should be a place for 'small' displacement GT cars. I'd have 3 classes of GT cars; up to 3 lites, up to 5 litres and 5 litres +. So in the smallest class you'd have Exiges and Caymans, the next one 458's and 911's and ideally in the larger class Ferrari 599/F12's, Corvette's, Vipers, DB9's, Lambo's etc. Not nessasarily at Le Mans, maybe just the 2 larger classes there, but in GT races.

People saying if small engined cars were the future of Le Mans they wouldn't go, there used to be a upto 750cc class! It was pretty popular too, Panard's, OSCA's and Lotuses. In the 1950's granted. I wouldn't want to be pottering down Mulsanne in one of them when a Testa Rossa came screaming past!

In a perfect world, I think we'd all love to see GT1s, GT2s, GT3s, and GT4s competing in one big race. But the exclusivity is what makes the WEC and Le Mans... well, the WEC and Le Mans!!!

I think the WEC needs more cars, though. GT1 is just impossible now - it has been discussed many times on this thread and I took great interest in following it. We can only dream...

But the "universal" GT class is an extraordinary idea. Just think of the diversity we'd have in the WEC!

Porsche
Ferrari
Lamborghini
McLaren
Mercedes-Benz
Aston Martin
Audi
BMW
Chevrolet
Ford
Jaguar (hopefully the F-Type in future years)
Bentley
Nissan
Honda (Super GT)
Acura (2014 plans)
Lexus (Super GT)
etc...

I wish they'd double the grid space at Le Mans for all of this. Maybe they will. The WEC would be about full with 55-60 per race... just like the old days!

Does anyone know when this idea will be implemented and come into action for real?

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by Beetle

In a perfect world, I think we'd all love to see GT1s, GT2s, GT3s, and GT4s competing in one big race. But the exclusivity is what makes the WEC and Le Mans... well, the WEC and Le Mans!!!

I think the WEC needs more cars, though. GT1 is just impossible now - it has been discussed many times on this thread and I took great interest in following it. We can only dream...

But the "universal" GT class is an extraordinary idea. Just think of the diversity we'd have in the WEC!

Porsche
Ferrari
Lamborghini
McLaren
Mercedes-Benz
Aston Martin
Audi
BMW
Chevrolet
Ford
Jaguar (hopefully the F-Type in future years)
Bentley
Nissan
Honda (Super GT)
Acura (2014 plans)
Lexus (Super GT)
etc...

I wish they'd double the grid space at Le Mans for all of this. Maybe they will. The WEC would be about full with 55-60 per race... just like the old days!

Does anyone know when this idea will be implemented and come into action for real?

I agree with you, the "universal" GT class is an extraordinary idea!!

[hondafan37]

Originally Posted by Simmi

I'd be happy to see this version of the BRZ at Le Mans. But the race should remain the pinnacle.

I also would be happy to see this version of the BRZ at Le Mans and I would like to see a GT3 version in FIA GT, BES, VLN and 24 hours of Nurburgring

[urdragon]

Originally Posted by Beetle

In a perfect world, I think we'd all love to see GT1s, GT2s, GT3s, and GT4s competing in one big race. But the exclusivity is what makes the WEC and Le Mans... well, the WEC and Le Mans!!!

What I don't understand of current WEC is why such a top exclusive race has to have an PRO-AM class, I can stand there is a bunch of championships in the world that can mold young drivers in GTs, and it is harder to train in LMPs so a LMP2 AM class is more logical, and the laptimes are higher so they would affect less to the race.

With the supression of the GT's AM class or a limitation of the cars per brand that diversity is perfectly achievable with 26-30 GTs (With tight cost controls, because a international champ is highly expensive, without it weaker brands will drop).

[Simmi]

If you switched out all the AM cars (with gentleman racers/budget) where does the money come from to run the Pro stuff?

[GT6]

Le mans has survived for a long time now it has history and included within that is the chance for drivers with money to race at the top level and in the process fund teams that would otherwise not be there. Look at the GT class winners and you will see that they sometimes do very well. The structure of the pro am division allows for this and should be kept IMHO