GT90 -Revival series

[John Turner]

As some of you may know, Stephane Ratel has added a new 'historic' series to the FIA GT package and it kicked off at Silverstone at the weekend. Unfortunately, due to some non arrivals the grid was not as inspiring as it could have been. However, I am aware that a number of owners/entrants of these cars have a genuine interest in becoming involved, but the relatively short time in which this has been put together precluded their participation. It has plenty of potential, I'm sure.

Now, I realise that for many, these cars are too recent to be regarded as historic. However, they are mostly obsolete for contemporary racing and this series is effectively being promoted as a historic series. Indeed, I can see no other way in which to do so. I'm therefore happy to post some pics up here of the cars that did manage to get out onto the track in the two races. However, it is a fairly time consuming exercise, so I would appreciate a few posts from members confirming that there is a genuine and sufficient interest for me to do so.

[Speedblood]

As a geniune racing fan I would first of all say the grid was dissapointing, but looking back at other series that were first launched, it wasn't as bad as it could of been.
I'm sure that this series will take off. Some of the cars that made it out at silverstone were not bad, an F40, Lotus GT1, Harrier etc are all pretty neat and it's unlikely to see them race anywhere else.
Hopefully if the same race happens next year, the grid will be full of cars but we will just have to wait and see.

[zac510]

John, I'd like to see the cars that weren't racing on Saturday/Sunday.

I'll kick off with a couple.

[John Turner]

Originally Posted by zac510

John, I'd like to see the cars that weren't racing on Saturday/Sunday.

Yes, indeed, but I really do believe we will get to see them out eventually.
The story goes that Paul Knapfield, having acquired a McLaren F1 GTR went to Stephane Ratel and asked for somewhere to race it, and thus GT90 was born. Unfortunately, the car wasn't ready in time; nor was the similar car of Laurence Stroll, the Porsche GT1 of John Greasley which I understand had engine woes and, according to the commentator, Ratel's own Ferrari F40 LM was stuck somewhere between Australia and the UK(?). The entry was further depleted by others who didn't show and so we were deprived of both some quality and quantity. The upshot of this was that in Race 1 (the results of which I do not have at the moment) the Lotus Elise GT1 of Giroix who was driving the very car that he had raced at Silverstone over a decade earlier put the car on pole by over 5 seconds, and waltzed off into the distance and led by over 7 seconds at the end of lap 1. He continued to extend his lead for several laps until pulling off with water loss. Since the Stealths of Krayem and Pudwell were having problems of their own, along with a number of other cars, it was Peter Cook who emerged the winner in his GT2 Porsche 911. He was probably somewhat surprised since he had only qualified 10th and wasn't even the quickest GT2 qualifier:-


This apparently is the very first Ferrari 550LM built, that of Jacobo Sebastiana. It was strange to see a later version racing in the FIA GT round, albeit circulating toward the back of the GT1 field:-


Ian Stinton's Harrier GT1:-


The above photos were taken between Abbey and Farm, but this is into Bridge. Faraut's Venturi 400 Trophy car:-

[soper]

Great idea, but far too expensive for too little return
Euro 2000 entry fee, forced to buy Michelin tyres which you have to give back, control fuel, full FIA everything plus an international licence
For a couple of support races that are not much different from any other club meeting this is all too much.
Shame really because cars such as Mantis, Prosport, Ferrari 348/355 etc are reasonably affordable these days, but these race costs are at professional levels

[ghinzani]

Do they still run Intermarque in the UK? That was the place for these types of cars on clubbie (ish) budgets. Altho I dont recall Greaselys K3s, but certainly things like Mike Hollands 934 up against big Ferraris and Astons.

[Tuscan 6]

Originally Posted by soper

Great idea, but far too expensive for too little return
Euro 2000 entry fee, forced to buy Michelin tyres which you have to give back, control fuel, full FIA everything plus an international licence
For a couple of support races that are not much different from any other club meeting this is all too much.
Shame really because cars such as Mantis, Prosport, Ferrari 348/355 etc are reasonably affordable these days, but these race costs are at professional levels

I have to disagree with some of your points. Actually pretty much all of them, but then I had the benefit of experiencing the race first hand and writing the cheques.

Entry fees: This is was an International meeting with 3 hours of track time for £1,354. Entry fees are comparable with, for example, Britcar, for which you also need to pay a £400 registration fee and buy a £360 powerlogger. In fact for 2 x 50 minute races at the A1GP meeting at Brands, Mr Tucker would require £1,650 of your English pounds. Costs are kept down by only allowing a single mechanic to work on the cars during pitstops - you don't need (and indeed are not allowed) a huge team of mechanics.

Michelin tyres: yes, Michelin tyres are mandated, but most series have a single tyre supplier. I don't know where you got the idea that you have to give them back? You don't. We also found that the compound is hard enough that you could do a whole race weekend on a single set. For those cars that Michelin do not have a suitable tyre available, competitors were able to use other brands (e.g. the Stealths ran on Dunlops). The organisers were very pragmatic about this

Fuel: the regs might say control fuel, but the race bulletin changed this to 98 octane pump fuel

FIA everything: again, not true. Cars run to their original championship regs if they are from one marque series, otherwise if they are FIA GT cars, yes, they are expected to still comply with FIA regs. I was not required to fit an FIA approved safety fuel cell to my Tuscan and nor will I be.

Not much different from a club meeting: when did you last race against international competition with 2 x 30 minute free practice sessions, 2 x 15 qualifiers and 2 x 45 minute races spread over a weekend, with live TV coverage?

Yes the grid was small, but it was the first race and a pretty good start. Hopefully we will see some more F355s, Mantis, Prosport, Lamborghinis etc in GT3 and the GT1 and 2 entries are already set to increase. It isn't cheap - but then when has motorsport ever been cheap?

[John Turner]

Thank you for raising some interesting issues, Soper, and even more so to Tuscan 6, for addressing them so succinctly with first hand knowledge.

A few more from the first race. I'm intending to ensure that between us, Zac and I will have provided images of every car that ran in these two races at least once, so that anything not shown so far will appear in the pictorial review of the second race.

The Michael Krine Venturi 400 Trophy:-


The Ferrari 355 Challenge of Duncan McKay:-


The TVR Tuscan Challenge car of Steve Glynn:-


The two Stealth B6s of Pudwell (long tailed version) and David Krayem:-

[Tuscan 6]

Re-reading my response the tone seems a little sharp - I don't mean it to be!

The series is no more expensive than other comparable series and in fact is cheaper than some. We won GT3 by a considerable margin with a car that is hardly expensive. (Unless you add in the cost of this

It has a matching hole in the side of the block)

I think it will grow from what was a pretty reasonable start. The attrition rate was very high - hopefully abnormally high - and as more and more cars enter we should have a great series.

Encouragingly the people involved seem to be a great bunch, we had fun despite losing the engine whilst leading GT3 in Race 1 and spending Saturday night fitting a spare.

[John Turner]

Ah, so that was the forlorn engine lying outside the canvass on Sunday morning!

First race of the series was always going to suffer from a loss of entries when, with the best will in the world, some cars would not be ready in time, and others suffering from lack of recent track time. It always highlights hitherto unseen problems. They need to be used!

[Rob974y]

I have pics of most of the GT90 cars on track, including a photo of the 911 GT1 in the pits, but unfortunitly dont know how to attach them to this message.
I agree that it was a little disappointing not to see more cars but as its already been said this is a new series and any start is a good start, the TVR's were great entertainment as usual.

[John Turner]

A picture of the 911GT1, which I failed to find, would be good. Check out the FAQs on how to post images!

[rogerwills]

Where can I get some info on the series? I have a friend with an F40LM that may be interested.

[Tuscan 6]

Originally Posted by John Turner

Ah, so that was the forlorn engine lying outside the canvass on Sunday morning!

First race of the series was always going to suffer from a loss of entries when, with the best will in the world, some cars would not be ready in time, and others suffering from lack of recent track time. It always highlights hitherto unseen problems. They need to be used!

I'm not sure about forlorn, it had most definitely shuffled off its mortal coil and gone to meet its make-ah. It was an ex-engine!! [Monty Python mode off] And besides, I wasn't having it dribbling oil all over my nice awning flooring Fortunately we had come prepared with a spare.

For more info on the series visit www.gt90s-revival.com

Regards

Andy

[johnh875]

Great pics John. Hopefully this series will grow and keep the cars on the track.

I was just thinking I have never seen most of those cars either racing or off the track, the only exceptions would be the Porsche Museum's 911 GT1 being run (not raced) at Philip Island, Ferrari 550 and 911 GT2s. There was only ever one 550 raced in this country I can recall, and the smaller marques from that era haven't been seen here (incl. Lotus at GT1 level).

[John Turner]

Apart from the TVR and 355 Challenge cars, I don't think I've seen the others 'live' either, although I remember watching the races on TV (Motors TV?) in the 90's with a lot of interest. The stand out race that I can recall was in Sweden (Karlskoga?) when a very fired up Jean-Marc Gounon drove a real blinder of a race in the Ferrari F40 through the field having been delayed at the start.

Incidentally, I should have mentioned that the races carried compulsory pit stops. I do have the results of Race 2, which was the final race of the meeting on Sunday afternoon. The races are by rolling start and here they are behind the pace car coming up to Abbey. Virtually, hidden from view at the back is the Giroix Elise GT1 which unfortunately expired even earlier this time, after 2 laps:-


First lap and the Stealth B6 of David Krayem has already opened up a small gap to the two GT2 Porsches of Cook and Fairburn/Mclean. Just behind these 3, out of picture the Harrier of Ian Stinton is slowing, and failed even to complete a lap:-


The Stealth stayed healthy and went onto win by 1 min 45 seconds:-


2nd place went to the Porsche 911 GT2, seen here, of Fairburn/Mclean. First race winner, Peter Cook dropped to 7th at the end, 2 laps down, so clearly encountered some problems. In the background, the Stinton Harrier is parked up:-

[Tuscan 6]

The Peter Cook Porsche missed the compulsory pit stop window and had to serve a stop and go penalty.

Unfortunately for them, the duration of the penalty is equal to the time by which you miss the pit window. In this case it was several minutes (they didn't pit until lap 15and unfotunately it killed their race. A great shame.

I'm just waiting until you get to third overall in Race 2 in your race commentary

[John Turner]

I know, I've been wondering whether you were feeling left out - I do have this slightly mischievous side, on occasion! It will be the next pic. I put up, hopefully later today.

Why did Peter Cook leave it so late to pit? Seems a bit of oversight!

[Tim the Grey]

I have a pic of the 911 moving.
Being towed back to the pits by a Land Rover at Abbey...
I can't remember if I got it actually out on track.
All I saw of the EMKA Mclaren was it being packed up, amid dark mutters about Michelin folk chipping the wheels...

And after I spent AGES digging out the old EMKA hat too!

[John Turner]

Tim, it's the thought that counts!

So finally, we get to the thundering Holden/Dowling TVR Tuscan which went very well on both days, but as we have seen didn't finish the first race. However, it netted 3rd in the second race:-


The Nayar/Nayar Venturi 400 Trophy car which finished 10th, and lasy ofb the classified runners in Race 2:-


The Mckay/Ward (61) and Furness/Catt (66) Ferrari 355 Challenge cars circulated closely for much of the race. The positions had reversed by the end however, 8th and 9th respectively:-


The dramatic looking 'langheck' Stealth B6 of Terry Pudwell completed just one lap (according to the timing sheets) so I guess I was lucky to capture it:-


I don't think that we have missed any car that made it to one or both of the starts. I agree that it was disappointing that we 'lost' cars both before and during the event, but my own feeling is that there is loads of potential here and there is a strong will to see this series succeed, so we have cause to be optimistic.

[Tim the Grey]

This is BMS' 911 in the pits warming up...
http://catmangler.smugmug.com/photos/152557126-M.jpg
This is it 5 minutes later... blown engine.
http://catmangler.smugmug.com/photos/152895279-M.jpg

This is all I saw of the McLaren...
http://catmangler.smugmug.com/photos/152557128-M.jpg

I have shots of cars moving, but I think you've already covered those bases John...

[Tuscan 6]

The 911 GT1 took part in FP1 and put in a 1.48lap. Apparently its engine failed.

The McLaren also took part in FP1 - I watched it half spin coming out of the pit lane as I waited for a tow (diff failure on lap one of FP1). We are told that it lost a piece of bodywork on track which was then damaged by another car and the F1 was retired.

There were rumours of there being insufficient Michelins available for one of these two cars, but I have no idea whether there was any substance to this.

SRO are working on the Spa round 27-29 July and it is now awaiting FIA approval. I suspect if it goes ahead it will pull out a larger entry and once the ball is rolling....

[Tim the Grey]

The guy packing the McLaren away was muttering darkly about Michelin not having any tyres, plus other 'mechanical' issues.
I was the other side of the car, and he was chatting to two guys between the car and the van, so I didn't hear a lot of what was said, TBH. Truth be told, I was trying NOT to listen to someone else's conversation!
But it concerned my favourite car in this event... So I couldn't help but listen, could I? Naughty me.

I wish I'd got shots in the first practice of the 911 GT1, but I didn't...

[TheNewBob]

There is a car you've missed out! The Marcos LM600, which was beautifully presented in original 1995 livery. Sadly it blew up on Friday, so I am lead to believe, but it was on display in the paddock on Saturday. It had sadly disappeared by Sunday:

[Tim the Grey]

This is it on track, Friday. They had plug leads everywhere on Saturday, and it wouldn't fire?
http://catmangler.smugmug.com/photos/153799014-S.jpg

Tim