JGTC to become Super GT

[nitro_2005]

Hey guys, get over to the JGTC website and check out the news. This year, the Japan Grand Touring Championship will be transformed into Super GT. They are doing this for 2 reasons:

1) Because they want to be seen and acknowledged by people form around the world

2) They want to attract teams form outside Japan and Asia (America, Europe, Australia, etc).

Go to www.jgtc.net to find the news story and go to www.supergt.net to get some info written in Japanese and a 2005 provisional race calender

Personally i give this a 👍. What do YOU think??

 

[Nasadus]

I'm all for it.The more cars the better.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Hopefully this means a race in Australia. Sounds like a great idea.

 

[RSCosworth]

Hopefully they start broadcasting the series in Finland..

 

[nitro_2005]

Hopefully this means a race in Australia. Sounds like a great idea.

sorry, to disapoint, but i think the races will still be in asia, when i said there would more of an international intrest, i meant the teams coming from different continents. but then again, the calender is provisional, so who knows? maybe there will be a race in australia, but it looks as though there won't be. sorry

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Awww. I was thinking it would be like a World GT series. Well... Maybe we'll see a Monaro in there or the Coopers 550M.

 

[nitro_2005]

yeah, it's possible, because they did say they wanted international teams to enter. So we could well see a Monaro.

 

[JohnBM01]

All this talk about the JGTC evolving to this bigger and better series and America isn't going to know about it unless they are underground race fans like us here on GTPlanet. I think JGTC should try to take up as much of the American market as possible. America has a nice array of challenging road courses from Laguna Seca on the west coast to Sebring on the east coast. Portland is lovely. In other words, they can kind of get an idea as to how racing in America is like by following the American Le Mans Series. Wouldn't you all agree? And if they want to, they can look at two nice venues the ALMS' rival series, the GARRA, those lovely venues include Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL, USA, and then Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec, Canada (don't know exact city).

My only real issue is that even with an all-star race here in America on December 19th, absolutely NO race report of this all-star deal on Speed Channel, much less any other TV station. I'm actually disappointed. All we ever get is what happened at some dirt track in some American city I've never even heard of, a post-season series of late model stock car racing, and oh yeah, a litte Michelin Race of Champions coverage. Why did I bring this up? This "Super GT" deal is going to be something big. How are you going to know about something big if you just stick to one brand of racing domestically? We don't live in a small world, so why should we let the world of racing follow suit? I'd surely love to see some TV coverage about the Super GT deal.

Maybe I just ask for escapes a lot of times, but that's how I feel. I see good things out of this Super GT. Only "complaint" would be that every time I see "Super GT," I think back to my favorite arcade racer of all time, Sega "Super GT." Don't want to mix things up. But hey, no complaints coming from my mouth or brain.

 

[Pebb]

I would love them to do some races in the UK of this.

 

[JohnBM01]

TVR&Ferrari_Fan, let's say that they consider five road or street courses in Europe. What do you think the JGTC/Super GT should consider?

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I don't think its very likley that they'd race in Europe. If the series does go over seas, the most likley races would be in Australiasia, Japan and The US.

 

[Pupik]

"Super GT", eh? Why do the Japanese have such a fascination with the word "super?"

Taking the series across the seas to America must have been expensive; thus, to transport the cars to Europe will likely bankrupt the smaller teams. Does Europe really need another racing series running around on its shores?

As JohnBM01 said, maybe what's really lacking is international television rights. In any case, if JGTC/SGT was broadcasted live, few people wouild watch it, because it would be shown live at midnight (or later) in the US. The Olde Worlde would have to wake up when we do for live F1 races...

 

[ND4SPD]

They should come to Canada too! I'd like to see 'em around Mosport or Trois Rivieres!

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Yeah. I saw Mosport on some car show on the discovery channel. It looked like a mini Nurburgring nords.

 

[ND4SPD]

Yeah. I saw Mosport on some car show on the discovery channel. It looked like a mini Nurburgring nords.

Whoa.....It does.....

 

[s0nny80y]

They've already introduced JGTC in Cali

 

[Cap'n Jack]

And? That was only a one off thing.

 

[Cosmic]

Hopefully they start broadcasting the series in Finland..

And Sweden

 

[JohnBM01]

I was talking about this in a "what if" fashion. To be honest, if the series raced in Europe, these would be my five picks, and later on in this post, I'll make a surprise call for a track. But these would be five races I'd like to see JGTC/Super GT try out:

(no particular order)
1. Bugatti Curcuit
2. Spa-Francorchamps
3. Monza
4. Brands Hatch
5. Silverstone (can't think of any other tracks I like in Europe that are classics)

Now the surprise pick in which I'm expecting mixed reactions:

Nurburgring Nordschleife

For the surprise pick to be made, it would have to be about a 2 or 3 hour race. Save the Nurburg. 24 for the big boys. I think I've seen JGTC machines modded for use for this track, but the series would have to take on the big tracks. I wonder what GT300 and GT500 would be like at Mount Panorama...

 

[Akina Racer]

I read in a magazine that a track is being built in Western Australia....or was it South Australia...well...in Australia anyway for JGTC. It's meant to be ready in 2006...supposedly. I had a look for the magazine but couldn't find the article. I doubt that Holden would send in a car to JGTC because they are probably more focused on V8 Supercars but who knows.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Holden made race ready Monaros, so obviously they're not more focused on V8 Supercars than you thought.

 

[Solid Lifters]

They've already introduced JGTC in Cali

Yeah, but I think it did more damage than good. It was only an "all star" race that didn't count. It was just an exhibition race. Plus, the race was sided by the drifting events, which damaged the JGTC reputation, IMO.

I think I posted about the Super GT a while back. But I can't remember where I posted it.