Brit GT 2005

[PaulSands]

There are plans for endurance races to be part of the British GT Championship in 2005...one of 2 and another of three hours for 05 but rather worryingly the three hour event may be just for N-GT's as part of the FIA GT round while the Cup Class have their own race at, possibly, Croft..
Personally I dont like the idea of splitting the two classes to run separately plus wheras a combined grid of N-GT & Cup Class cars looks great it could be counter productive to the image of the series to have, potentially, a grid of just 12-15 cars running

[Kicking-back]

Totally agreed Paul.

The series should race both classes together at every round.

And I don't like the idea of an event being "part" of an FIA GT race.

[SALEEN S7R]

Paul, to a degree I agree with what u are saying. But, teams in the British GT championship may want to venture outside GB and dip into the International arena to see what the level of competition is to evalutate possible future campagins. Splitting the 2 classess for one event IMO isnt really that bad a thing, sure if it happened say more than once a year then yes it would be detremental to the series, but a one off IMO is ok, the GT Cup class I imagine will be strong enough next year to cope for one race alone, at the moment the class attracts grids of around 15 cars on average. By next year Id expect that figure to be up to around 20 cars in the cup class per event.

You have to strike a balance between keeping the series domestic and strong and venturing out occasionally into the International arena. Personally I think Ratel has the right idea, 1 event isnt really a problem is it, assuming of course the British F3 championship is there to support the GT Cup class event, a stand alone GT Cup class race woudnt be good for the fans.

Also, one simple way to boost GT cup class runners for the single event, if needed, would be to invite entrants from the Porsche Carerra GB Cup championship. That would surley boost numbers to around 30 cars, the same roughly as what the British GT championship attracts now on average.

[Graham Goodwin]

No chance of getting the Carrera cup championship involved - their arrangement is with TOCATour

As for the split race - I'm sure the teams planning to run cars in both classes are thrilled!

[PaulSands]

But cant the British teams enter FIA GT events independently anyway?

[SALEEN S7R]

Paul, to my knowledge no they cant. Apart from the FIA GT's GB event at Donnington park. I might be wrong however so dont quote me on that. Also the British GT entrants are also eligable for the Spa 24hrs, including the Cup class machinery.

[PaulSands]

I'm not going to knock it, I'm excited to see how things develop over the next few weeks and months

[Audi R8R]

Originally posted by SALEEN S7R
Paul, to my knowledge no they cant. Apart from the FIA GT's GB event at Donnington park. I might be wrong however so dont quote me on that. Also the British GT entrants are also eligable for the Spa 24hrs, including the Cup class machinery.

If any of the teams in the British series are running a car that meets FIA homologation then they can enter whatever races they like! No series in the world is likely to turn a team away from its grid.

[PaulSands]

Originally posted by Audi R8R
No series in the world is likely to turn a team away from its grid.

Apart from the LMES with RSR (I know, I know )

[Graham Goodwin]

There's a big difference between the position on TVRs and Moslers and the position on Porsches and Ferraris

[jase]

In my oppinion, splitting the classes for a weekend is not the way to go. At the same track that is one thing, but at seperate tracks, that wont go down well with the faithful, and teams that enter in both classes will be stretched to the limit.

The series as a whole needs to run internationaly, say at Spa, not just the top class.

I shall adopt a 'wait and see what actually happens' stance, but I seriously hope they don't split the two classes.

[minimangler]

i think ur rite
teams like JWR would really struggle- they run 4 cars, 2 in each class.
but i can see the logic, but why not let the gt cup cars in as well?
it worked at spa in 2003 with the elms, didnt it?

[PaulSands]

it worked beacause the then FIASCC was gagging for entrants

[SALEEN S7R]

Yes indeed Paul, and if I remember rightly there was a few near missess with LMP 900 machines and the slower cup class cars. Although that probably has something to do with the weather at least in part. Not to mention the closing speeds between LMP 900 cars and the Cup class machinery. With FIA GT's though it could be differnt as the closing speeds woudnt be as big as the GT1 class machinery is still a little way off the LMP 1 class.

One problem I do see with the NGT British GT runners running alongside the FIA GT's is that the maximum entry number for FIA GT is 36 cars, plus 2 additional entries from the host nation. Now, assuming the FIA GT championship gets say 28-34 cars on average next year where are u going to put the 10-15 NGT cars from the British GT championship?

[Audi R8R]

Has the FIA grid met it full 36 cars at every round this year?

[Graham Goodwin]

Nope - discuss!

[SALEEN S7R]

No the FIA GT grid hasnt been getting maximum entries. But the smallest it has recived is what, 24? Now add to that say 15 NGT cars from the British GT championship and u have a problem due to lack of grid space. And looking at recent races, Brno, Donnington and Imola (not including spa as it was a non championship race) the series recently has been averageing around 29 cars, with another 15 entrants from the NGT class of the British GT's ud simply not have enough space.

[Audi R8R]

Okay, firstly, Spa WAS a Championship round of the FIA GT Championship.
Second, has there been 15 N-GT class cars on a regular basis in the British Championship this year?

[SALEEN S7R]

Yes Audi R8R I know the Spa round was a round of the FIA GT championship, although the FIA GT championship does NOT control the rights to the race, they are merley invited by the events organisers and is scored by the FIA as normal. So stricly speaking the "Proximus 24 hours of Spa" is not a official FIA GT race, they are just invited to race at the event and score their own way. But since u want to make a big deal out of it there were 29 FIA GT entrants. Of course FIA GT's could host a 24hr race at Spa, but it woudnt be the "Proximus 24hrs of Spa" that we know at the moment. If the organisers of the "Proximus 24hrs of Spa" didnt want the FIA GT series to race under the FIA GT banner for example the FIA GT's coudnt race under the FIA GT banner.

Oh, and as for the British GT championship, at Donnington there were 14 NGT cars, at Mondello there were 11 NGT cars, at Snetterton there were 13 NGT cars, at Castle Combe there were 12 NGT cars, At Oulton park there were 13 NGT cars, At Silverstone there were 14 NGT cars, At Thruxton there were 10 NGT cars. Now thats how many cars have been entered for each Weekend of the series. If u divide that by 7 (the number of race weekend this year) u should come up with 12 entrants per race. Now FIA GT's are averaging around 28-30 entrants per race at the moment as Ive said, add another 12 and u have 38-40 entrants. Thats too many cars and not enough spaces, oh and thats assuming that British GT, NGT grids dont go up in size for next year, something which I dont think will happen.

[Fieldgate]

After seeing the Britcar programme for next year, it will be very interesting to see whether any of the British GT teams swing that way instead.

...I know there's interest in one particular quarter.

[Kicking-back]

The Britcar series is club-level though.

We don't need to see it taking entries away from British GT.

[Audi R8R]

All championships have to start somewhere, and they're asking for championship status from the MSA for nxt year too. If they give teams and drivers what they want, why wouldn't teams go there instead? GT racing is about endurance, not sprints and not other things that have been blighting it (not just in the UK but elsewhere too) recently. The Britcar (EERC) gives teams long distance racing. Something GT's is meant to on a bigger scale.
It did last year, that's why it got popular again. For some reason, its not quite as popular this year. (And before you say it, I don't mean with the amount of entrants!)

[PaulSands]

The Britcar race held at Donington at the end of last year was augmented by a few GT entries and it worked well. I don't want to see the British GT Championship undermined in any way but as said if it offers the racers what they want that's where they'll go, though I think it would need a good TV deal to make a serious dent.
Hopefully there is room for both championships

[SALEEN S7R]

Personally I dont see there being room for 2 GT level series in GB, the British GT series at the moment is just about keeping its head above water and is getting a decent ammount of entrants. If Britcar does get Championship status next year it will IMO be a bad thing, and could well detract from the British GT championship. At the moment we have a good ladder series in the UK with British GT's being the premier series and Britcar and the Porsche Carerra cup and various other one make series feeding into it.

Sorry Audi R8R but I really dont see that theres room for 2 GT series in GB at the moment, it will be detremental to both series. Britcar should stay as it is IMO, a good semi pro/amatuer series meant for the smaller less well funded operations. Its a bit like what Johnathan Palmer is trying to do with his new touring car series, its ludicrous, its just going to detract from the BTCC, the same scenario applies here.

[Audi R8R]

I never said that there was room for both series. I said that if a championship organiser and promoter was going to give drivers and teams what they wanted then they would maybe want to go there. Why not? If they're not getting the track time with one series and can get more time elsewhere, it makes perfect sense. Entry fees and costs would be lower too.