GT Racing - GT1, GT3, Blancpain Endurance Series & National GT SeriesSports Cars 

Can I steal some space for a moment? I want to dream a little.

A few years back, Stephane Ratel dipped a toe in the water to see if there was any interest in an "end of season" race, where all winners from all GT3 supported series around the world would meet and go head to head.
I thought idea was great, but looking at logistics and other factors, like tyres and national BOP, it would've been a nightmare.

Now, my dream then! I would like to see an "end of season" race, but not like Ratel's proposal. Instead, I'd like to see two car teams, all pro lineups, using all availabe internationally homologated GT3 specific brands, on neutral ground (San Luis?), racing for 6hrs or more, on tyres of each teams choice. Just imagine seeing SRT Viper, Cadillac, Callaway Corvette, Reiter Camaro, Aston Martin, McLaren, Bentley, Emil Frey Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus and Nissan on the same track at the same time!
 
Mt. Lynx
Can I steal some space for a moment? I want to dream a little.

A few years back, Stephane Ratel dipped a toe in the water to see if there was any interest in an "end of season" race, where all winners from all GT3 supported series around the world would meet and go head to head.
I thought idea was great, but looking at logistics and other factors, like tyres and national BOP, it would've been a nightmare.

Now, my dream then! I would like to see an "end of season" race, but not like Ratel's proposal. Instead, I'd like to see two car teams, all pro lineups, using all availabe internationally homologated GT3 specific brands, on neutral ground (San Luis?), racing for 6hrs or more, on tyres of each teams choice. Just imagine seeing SRT Viper, Cadillac, Callaway Corvette, Reiter Camaro, Aston Martin, McLaren, Bentley, Emil Frey Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus and Nissan on the same track at the same time!
Click to expand...
That already happens, it's called spa 24
 
No, everybody's not there, neither at Spa24 nor N24. I would like a GT3 constructor showdown, so to speak, where all constructors show up with two cars and pro drivers.
 
Holdenhsvgtsr
So who's missing from spa 24 considering half the British gt field go?
Click to expand...
No Vipers, no Vettes, only one Lambo, only one Jag, no Camaros (although I think they weren't homologated for international use at the time), only one Nissan.
And that is the entire field. If I limit it to only Pro...
 
Mt. Lynx
No Vipers, no Vettes, only one Lambo, only one Jag, no Camaros (although I think they weren't homologated for international use at the time), only one Nissan.
And that is the entire field. If I limit it to only Pro...
Click to expand...
There was a viper there this year iirc and your idea still wouldn't work if the cars aren't homologated.
 
Alright, time to post an updated version of my GT3 collage, now featuring even more obscure evolutions and variations of GT3 machinery, as well as some more "regional" GT3 cars like the Mosler and Chevron, joining the Ginetta as GT3 cars that do not have an official homologation.

Upcoming GT3's such as the Huracan, 991 GT3-R, GT-R Nismo GT3 Evo and others will be added when running shots are available in a wide range.

0FChAWH.jpg

​
EDIT: Decided to track down the Venturi and Maserati GranSport that raced in the early years of GT3 and include them as well. The image should now roughly include every car that's ever raced in GT3 regulations. Although if I'm missing anything, please let me know (aside from the aforementioned upcoming models).
 
Last edited:
Snaeper
Alright, time to post an updated version of my GT3 collage, now featuring even more obscure evolutions and variations of GT3 machinery, as well as some more "regional" GT3 cars like the Mosler and Chevron, joining the Ginetta as GT3 cars that do not have an official homologation.

Upcoming GT3's such as the Huracan, 991 GT3-R, GT-R Nismo GT3 Evo and others will be added when running shots are available in a wide range.

0FChAWH.jpg

​
EDIT: Decided to track down the Venturi and Maserati GranSport that raced in the early years of GT3 and include them as well. The image should now roughly include every car that's ever raced in GT3 regulations. Although if I'm missing anything, please let me know (aside from the aforementioned upcoming models).
Click to expand...
There was a Lotus Elise testing with the GranSport and Venturi at Paul Ricard at the time aswell.
Oh, and I didn't see the F430 in your collage either.

Edit: sorry, saw them now!

Edit2: all I can think of is the Sunred that raced under GT3 flag in IberGT, and a car - wich can't recall the brand on - that only did one race (IIRC), in the GTS class in GT Open.
 
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Mt. Lynx
There was a Lotus Elise testing with the GranSport and Venturi at Paul Ricard at the time aswell.
Oh, and I didn't see the F430 in your collage either.

Edit: sorry, saw them now!

Edit2: all I can think of is the Sunred that raced under GT3 flag in IberGT, and a car - wich can't recall the brand on - that only did one race (IIRC), in the GTS class in GT Open.
Click to expand...
Looked up the Sunred, and it was built under GT2 regulations.

And I'm willing to gamble and say that whatever that one-off car was, it too wasn't built to GT3 regs. But if you can find info on it, I'd be excited to see it.
 
long-pither-porsche.png


http://m.speedcafe.com/2014/12/03/long-leads-outright-porsche-bathurst-entry/

Porsche factory driver Patrick Long will return to the Bathurst 12 Hour next February, spearheading a Class A GT3R entry from Competition Motorsports.

The American team has contested two previous two Bathurst enduros with Class B GT3 Cup machinery, but has upgraded to an outright assault for 2015.

Long will be joined in the car by the returning USA-based Australian David Calvert-Jones and Kiwi Chris Pither.

The car, which is the 32nd GT3 entry confirmed for the race, will again be run with the assistance of local Porsche team McElrea Racing.

“Every year the Bathurst 12 Hour grows in profile to the point that it is now one of the most prestigious races on the international GT calendar,” said Long.

“Next year’s field is shaping to be the biggest and best in the race’s history, and I am thrilled we will have an outright FIA GT3 package to ideally be at to the head of it.”

Pither, whose link with the team comes through sponsor Ice Break, steps into the seat previously occupied by Alex Davison.

The Dunlop Series driver has driven a variety of machinery in previous Bathurst 12 Hours, including production class BMWs and Holden Astras, as well as the MARC Focus V8 last year.

“A Porsche 997 GT3R will certainly be the fastest car I have raced on the Mountain and I am expecting it to be one of the most exciting,” he said.

“I am also looking forward to working with a driver of Patrick Long’s calibre, as I am sure I will learn from his international experience.”

Calvert-Jones is the entry’s unseeded driver, but boasts experience in American categories including the United SportsCar Championship and Continental Tires SportsCar Challenge.

“It truly is a highlight of the year for me to come home and race at this incredible circuit and event, next year more than ever as we will be outright contenders for the first time,” he said.

The Competition Motorsports Porsche is the second GT3R entered in the outright class, with Andrew Macpherson’s locally based car also among the bumper field.

Entries for the 12 Hour close on December 11 ahead of the February 6-8 event.
Click to expand...


Phoenix Racing has unveiled its line up for the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour featuring Blancpain GT stars Laurens Vanthoor, Markus Winkelhock and Rene Rast.

The German-based squad will enter two Class A Audi R8 LMS GT3s in the Mount Panorama endurance classic on February 6-8, splitting its Blancpain Endurance Series stars over both entries.

Newly crowned Blancpain GT champion Vanthoor will lead the #16 car alongside reigning Nurburgring 24 Hour winner Christopher Hasse with extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner filling the third seat.

This will be Vanthoor’s second visit to the mountain having led Phoenix Racing’s sole entry in this year’s race, while the experienced Hasse and Baumgartner will make their debut.

The latter’s only previous racing experience came at this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hour with the Austrian most famous for his stratosphere leap.

Audi are planning to resurrect a livery similar to the crocodile scheme used by the Audi R8 prototype which won the Race of Thousand Years at Adelaide in 2000.

ADAC GT Masters champion Rene Rast will pilot the #15 alongside fellow GT ace Markus Winkelhock and Italian Marco Mapelli.

Rast and Winkelhock also competed in the event last year while Mapelli is rated as one of the rising young stars of GT racing having contended for this year’s Italian GT Championship.

The #15 Audi R8 of the German-Italian trio will run a distinctive livery, modeled on the ‘kangaroo car’ that won the race in 2012.

“The track is one of the most spectacular ones worldwide, the 12-hour race has long become a classic and in 2015 we’re expecting to meet with a larger number of rivals than ever before,” said Romolo Liebchen, head of Audi Sport customer racing.

“Our aim is to battle for our third victory even though this will probably be the toughest race we’ve ever contested there.”
Click to expand...
 
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Snaeper
Looked up the Sunred, and it was built under GT2 regulations.

And I'm willing to gamble and say that whatever that one-off car was, it too wasn't built to GT3 regs. But if you can find info on it, I'd be excited to see it.
Click to expand...
I think the Sunred was originally intended for GT1, but the rules changed. I do think it did have a national GT3 homologation in the end though.
The other car is called Montecarlo BRC W12, and in its original form (then called ALA W12), it too was ment for GT1 (2005 i think), but finances and rulechanges set it back. It raced under GT3 flag in the 4h of Monza in 2012. Runs on methane.

One car that however was built exclusively with GT3 in mind, was the VDS-001. Check it out. You either love it or hate it.
 
Mt. Lynx
I think the Sunred was originally intended for GT1, but the rules changed. I do think it did have a national GT3 homologation in the end though.
The other car is called Montecarlo BRC W12, and in its original form (then called ALA W12), it too was ment for GT1 (2005 i think), but finances and rulechanges set it back. It raced under GT3 flag in the 4h of Monza in 2012. Runs on methane.

One car that however was built exclusively with GT3 in mind, was the VDS-001. Check it out. You either love it or hate it.
Click to expand...
All the sources I've read have said that the Sunred was built for GT2, but races in International GT Open because it's the only series that allowed it. So while it's performance may have been parallel to GT3 cars enough to get it into the GT3-only "GTS" class, I don't consider it a GT3 car since it was never built to those regulations, nor does it seem to be retroactively modified to fit them (ala Viper Comp Coupe, Mosler, etc)

The same goes for the VDS, which was also built to GT2 regulations, not GT3 (unless you can provide evidence to the contrary, which I would welcome!). I love it only because it's just so bizarre.

The Montecarlo doesn't seem to have much information on it at all, but it seems like it was built as a Garage-56 type car. They may have used GT3 regulations as a basis on which to create the car, but I don't think it's engine would ever allow it to qualify. (In the same respect, I'd put it alongside Scuderia Glickenhaus P4/5 Competizione, and to a certain degree, the Porsche GT3-R Hybrid).

All very fascinating cars, to be sure though. It's cars like these that make me love Gran Touring specifications.
 
Snaeper
All the sources I've read have said that the Sunred was built for GT2, but races in International GT Open because it's the only series that allowed it. So while it's performance may have been parallel to GT3 cars enough to get it into the GT3-only "GTS" class, I don't consider it a GT3 car since it was never built to those regulations, nor does it seem to be retroactively modified to fit them (ala Viper Comp Coupe, Mosler, etc)

The same goes for the VDS, which was also built to GT2 regulations, not GT3 (unless you can provide evidence to the contrary, which I would welcome!). I love it only because it's just so bizarre.

The Montecarlo doesn't seem to have much information on it at all, but it seems like it was built as a Garage-56 type car. They may have used GT3 regulations as a basis on which to create the car, but I don't think it's engine would ever allow it to qualify. (In the same respect, I'd put it alongside Scuderia Glickenhaus P4/5 Competizione, and to a certain degree, the Porsche GT3-R Hybrid).

All very fascinating cars, to be sure though. It's cars like these that make me love Gran Touring specifications.
Click to expand...
I think this SR08 is what the SR21 started out as:
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1027103_spains-sunred-sr08-supercar

And from Van der Straten's own mouth:
"The ultimate project would be to enter the VDS GT 001-R in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This will necessarily take a bit of time. Its racing career will take off at the 24 Hours of Dubai, in January 2013, going out from the principle where the car is directly able to be homologated in the SP2 Class of the 24 Hours Series organised by Creventic. The team will be made known at a later date, based on proposals from the partners. Following that everything will be implemented to allow us to enter the car in the 24 Hours of Spa. This VDS GT 001-R is in the same vein as the Ascari KZ1. I therefore hope that she will be able to integrate a category specifically reserved for the Supercars that do not originate from the mass series. Discussions are in progress …"
I believe SP2 is basically GT3? And Spa24 certainly is.
 
Mt. Lynx
I think this SR08 is what the SR21 started out as:
http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1027103_spains-sunred-sr08-supercar

And from Van der Straten's own mouth:
"The ultimate project would be to enter the VDS GT 001-R in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This will necessarily take a bit of time. Its racing career will take off at the 24 Hours of Dubai, in January 2013, going out from the principle where the car is directly able to be homologated in the SP2 Class of the 24 Hours Series organised by Creventic. The team will be made known at a later date, based on proposals from the partners. Following that everything will be implemented to allow us to enter the car in the 24 Hours of Spa. This VDS GT 001-R is in the same vein as the Ascari KZ1. I therefore hope that she will be able to integrate a category specifically reserved for the Supercars that do not originate from the mass series. Discussions are in progress …"
I believe SP2 is basically GT3? And Spa24 certainly is.
Click to expand...
The Sunred SR08 and SR21 are entirely different cars. The SR21 is based off the HS21 concept that debuted in 2002:

http://www.supercars.net/cars/761.html

The SR08 was likely revealed in the hopes that the SR21 (which began racing the same year the SR08 debuted) would take off and allow them to compete in GT1 as well as GT2. Then the economy tanked and that never happened, so the SR21 soldiered on.

SP2 is for cars like the Ford Fiesta, so I'm guessing that's a big typo. SP7 and SP9 are typically where GT2 and GT3 cars race. Considering his ultimate goal for the car is Le Mans, this car is designed for GT2/GTE regulations. And I think he may have a desire to develop the car for GT3 racing to compete at Spa.

That doesn't mean that it is currently a GT3 car.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/10/10/2013-vds-gt-001-gt-001-r-are-knife-edged-gillets/

... now the Belgain race team is getting ready to build its own unique car to compete in GT2 races.
Click to expand...

For now, it's effectively a GT2 car to me.
 
I'll try not to get too excited about the 650S. Every time I do get excited about new cars at the Adelaide round of Australian GT, they all crash out in a practice session early in the weekend and then get pulled out of the race.
 
Mt. Lynx
Can I steal some space for a moment? I want to dream a little.

A few years back, Stephane Ratel dipped a toe in the water to see if there was any interest in an "end of season" race, where all winners from all GT3 supported series around the world would meet and go head to head.
I thought idea was great, but looking at logistics and other factors, like tyres and national BOP, it would've been a nightmare.

Now, my dream then! I would like to see an "end of season" race, but not like Ratel's proposal. Instead, I'd like to see two car teams, all pro lineups, using all availabe internationally homologated GT3 specific brands, on neutral ground (San Luis?), racing for 6hrs or more, on tyres of each teams choice. Just imagine seeing SRT Viper, Cadillac, Callaway Corvette, Reiter Camaro, Aston Martin, McLaren, Bentley, Emil Frey Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus and Nissan on the same track at the same time!
Click to expand...

This reminds me some years ago, I thought what if the world's racing cars got together. And then Cars 2 came out! They stole my idea!
Not that there would be a dirt stage at a circuit, but truly bringing a WORLD Champion ship to the fore.
 
http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/news-audi-bathurst-return

MAN WHO JUMPED FROM SPACE WILL DRIVE IN THE 12H
audi_motorsport-141128-8200.jpg


Austrian Felix Baumgartner – who soared into the record books in 2012 when he set records for skydiving after jumping from a height of nearly 40km and falling to earth at the speed of sound – will join an incredibly strong Phoenix Racing attack that features a pair of Audi R8 LMS Ultras.

Baumgartner, who made his racing debut last year, will join factory Audi stars Laurens Vanthoor and Christoper Haase in the No. 16 Audi.

23-year-old Belgian star Vanthoor was part of the trio who finished 5th in this year’s race for the Phoenix team while Haase, 27, is one of the brands’ most formidable stars, winning the Nurburgring 24 hour and the Petit LeMans in America this year.

Baumgartner began racing last year but is best known for his role in the Red Bull ‘Stratos’ project that saw him achieve his incredible skydiving records.

The Austrian jumped from over 38,000 meters and fell for over 36km before deploying his parachute, freefalling at more than 1300km/hr – all records at the time. His jump saw him become the first human being to break the sound barrier outside of a vehicle or powered craft.

His racing debut came at the Nurburgring 24 Hour race last year where he finished 9th for Audi.

Audi Sport has confirmed the car will feature unique ‘crocodile’ graphics in an obvious tribute to the brands famous R8 LeMans Prototype entry that won the Race of 1000 years American LeMans Series race in Adelaide 14 years ago.

The second car will include two drivers from this year’s Audi attack – 28-year-old German Rene Rast and former Formula 1 driver Markus Winkelhock – and Italian driver Marco Mapelli.

Rast was part of Phoenix’s 2014 squad while Winkelhock raced for United Autosports this year, finishing 6th. The pair remarkably won both the Spa and Nurburgring 24 Hour races in 2014.

27-year-old Mapelli will be familiar to Australian race fans, having competed in the 2007 Australian Formula 3 Championship before returning to race GT cars in Europe.

The No.15 entry will feature ‘Kangaroo and Koala bear’ images, continuing the brands long tradition of showcasing Australian iconography on their Bathurst vehicles over the years.

The pair of Phoenix entries form part of a strong six-car Audi R8 attack on the February 6-8 Event
Click to expand...
 
Sweet! Course for some reason Jeremy Clarkson's famous line popped in my head - "I mean, how hard can it be?...". :lol: Of course this isn't his first race, hopefully he finishes well (being in an Audi should help lol).
 

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