Difference between Grand Am GT and ACO GT?

[matte22]

um someone explain thanks!

[joeb]

That is quite the chore. Simply put, the aco GTE cars are more advanced than the GA gts. Grandam has altered the class a bit in the last 2 years and now allows gt3 cars, kind of sort of, but only if the manufacturer will slightly modify it to GA's liking. I'm sure others will chime in with more details, including the use of tube frames in grandam, but I'm tapped out for now. Both groups also have rule books online if you want to get real technical.

[Canada ALMS fan]

http://www.lemans.org/wpphpFichiers/...ons-lm-gte.pdf

http://www.grand-am.com/Portals/0/Im...s2013_1_18.pdf


Any questions?

[picchiofan]

To put it in a Euro-sense, Prep levels for GA-GT cars fall somewhere in between GT3 and GT4. The Porsches are essentially 911 GT3 cup cars with a few mods, and the Ferraris and Audis are modifed GT3 builds with reduced aero and no traction aides. There's still a handful of tube framed or "prep 2" class cars, but the overall trend seems to be shifting over towards the Unibody GT3-ish spec cars. If you were watching Daytona, The M3s are a tube chassis car running an S62 V8 out of the E39 M5, The RX8 is a tuber with a 20b naturally aspirated rotary out of the JDM Cosmo, and the lone Camaro runs an LS2 based motor. The Viper is a unibody car based off of the Generation 2 competition coupe.

Traction control and ABS are not allowed in the GA-GT class, and they run on a spec Continental (nee Hoosier) tire.

[Canada ALMS fan]

If the ALMS GT run all pro with open tires and GA GT run pro-am on spec tires I think they should co-exist quite nicely IMO. I am curious if in 2016 we end up with only one GT class in the new series? The Continental series should serve as a nice ladder series.

[Great Dane]

The fundamental difference is that GTE (ACO) is production car based and with very strict technical overall regulation whereas GT3 has virtually no technical regulations related to performance (obviously there are numerous regs relating to safety). People can really race what they bring e.g. no regs about engines - they don't even have to come from the same manufacturer.... but there is a big BUT and that is the dreaded three letters BOP... (Balance of Performance) - so although the GT3's are cheaper (although their price is creeping up with annual update kits a 'must' for serious teams to the tune of 45.000€ for the kit alone) and often quicker than GTE whatever development a team can do it all disappear in so far that all teams are leveled out with restrictor, weight and tank size. This also happens in GTE/ACO racing but to a much much smaller degree. ACO can also grant 'waivers' (dispensations) but they come at a price somewhere else.. eg BMW M3 was strictly not a GT car but as BMW is a big factory they were given over 30 exemptions and had limits forced upon them by the ACO in other areas.

I prefer ACO but the GT3 concept is beguiling in its simplicity... but don't think for a moment that ACO is about to embrace GT3 wholeheartedly despite the success of some of the GT3 series and the abundance of the cars... If there is going to be a free for all in GT racing at Le Mans/ALMS with factories involved and they are difficult to control en masse, the class will quickly spiral out of control cost wise..

[chernaudi]

I do think that one thing that gets forgotten in the GA vs GTE vs GT3 debate is the fact that the ACO and FIA are supposed to unify the GTE and GT3 regs at the end of 2014, and it does seem that since Grand Am/IMSA want to follow the FIA/ACO lead with the GTE regs, the combined class might end up in the combined GA/ALMS series.

Of course, it does make sense to have a standardized GT class, so that way the likes of Audi, Porsche, BMW and Ferrari only have to build one car that with very few mods can race in all three of major rules sets that govern most racing series (GT3, WEC and ALMS/GA, as well as the LM24). It will also save teams money that race in multiple series, as one car can do all the jobs at hand with little in the way of changes.

However, this is the future, and when we don't even know exactly how the LMP/DP rules will go or even the ACO's LMP rules will evolve, it's still murky as to the exact future of GT racing, though that seems easier to solve and work out than the prototype classes.