GT2 replaced by GT3 ..... ACO new idea

[The Badger]

Im not sure if this has been mentioned before , so here goes .

I was talking to some German journalists at Le Mans who had been at the ACO press briefing .

Mentioned was the fact that the ACO are considering replaceing GT2 with GT3 . I was said that the ACO deem the GT2 cars to expensive and way too electronically advanced and want to reduce the cost .

Also said by a Porsche mechanic ..... the GT2 997 as we know it is more electronically advanced that a Porsche 911 GT1-98 .

[Satorian]

I'm all in favour of it. GT3 offers many different cars, currently already has lots teams and seems on a sharp upwards trend. The cars look nice, resemble their road counterparts and they even go reasonably quick, with some more potential to be uncovered.

Go, GT3, go!

[SALEEN S7R]

Personally I like things the way that they are now, as things are there is a nice balance across all the GT categories with the exception of GT4 which is struggling a little bit.

[duke_toaster]

Sounds good, it seems like GT3 is becoming a popular class with plenty of diversity (Moslers, Cockmobiles AKA Porsches, Ferraris, Astons, Mustangs ...)

[Dani Filth]

I wouldn't mind that much . but dont want the driver ruling to be in place for LeMans.. if they can get 3 "gold" drivers .. so be it

[EuropaBambaataa]

Who said anything about "gold" drivers? This is ACO, not the FIA GT3 European Cup. IMO this is ridiculous. The GT2 cars are already 30-40 seconds slower than the average LMP1 protos at Le Mans (never mind the Audi and Peugeot), you want to add another 10-15?

[Graham Goodwin]

As I recall it the press briefing pretty specifically counted out GT3 at LM

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

As I recall it the press briefing pretty specifically counted out GT3 at LM

Not to be niggling, but so we are clear here. Are we talking the class "GT-3", or the cars that are in GT-3 being moved up as/to GT-2? Pretty sure I know the answer but would like clarification for all. As this I believe also goes to the Parallel thread on GT-1 at the moment.

L.P.

[Graham Goodwin]

AFAIK we are talking about countinmg out the current cars running in GT3 running in a GT3 class at LM or in ACO racing - There is however the rather more grey area of reducing the electronics in the current GT2 cars - My guess is that we will end up with something betwen the two classes eventually

[The Badger]

This is what i was getting at , but didnt word it correctly . An almost GT3 class but not in name GT3 ..... so I guess its a bit of a compromise between the 2 classes ..... but my point remains the same , the idea is to reduce the cost of GT2 , and to address the electronic issue .

Correct or not Graham ?

[gttouring]

and since GT1 is withering to Aston and Corvette and Saleen only....
and sometime only GT1 in northamerica, why not.
make current Gt2 regs and change it to GT1 (introduce a New GT2 Corvette and Aston)
and move all the GT3 up to GT2 status...

[Graham Goodwin]

Originally Posted by The Badger

This is what i was getting at , but didnt word it correctly . An almost GT3 class but not in name GT3 ..... so I guess its a bit of a compromise between the 2 classes ..... but my point remains the same , the idea is to reduce the cost of GT2 , and to address the electronic issue .

Correct or not Graham ?

I think that's very close to the truth - But I reckon we have a lot of politics left to wade through yet!

[SALEEN S7R]

Originally Posted by gttouring

and since GT1 is withering to Aston and Corvette and Saleen only....
and sometime only GT1 in northamerica, why not.
make current Gt2 regs and change it to GT1 (introduce a New GT2 Corvette and Aston)
and move all the GT3 up to GT2 status...

Whithering to Aston Corvette and Saleen only? Well maybe that was the case at Le Mans this year but the Murciealgo can be competitve too as has been shown in FIA GT this season by the All-Inkl team. Added to that the MC12 is still extremely competitve, sure it doesent race at Le Mans but Maserati have said they are coming back to Le Mans with a new GT1 car soon too. At the moment we have 4 manufacturers that are competitve and that are eligable for Le Mans, 6 manufacturers if you go away from the ACO GT1 rules towards the FIA GT ones.

[The Badger]

It takes about 18 months to properly develope a GT1 car , nothing on the horizon so far , and its the ACO rules that matter , not Fia GT , with respect to LM .

Nobody seems interested in making the Lambo into a 24 hour car and the Masa is not legal , and I havent heard anything about a new GT1 Masa recently anyway .

So , were talking about Corvette ,Aston Martin and Saleen . Great spectacle to watch though , but the fight seemed to peter out this year at Le Mans , with respect to last year anyway .

[dj choc ice]

with regards to a so called GT1 problem there is these cars:

aston martin DBR9
corvette C6R
corvette C5R
saleen S7R
lamborghini murcielago RGT
koenigsegg CC-GTR
maserati MC12*
pagani zonda GTS
ferrari 550 GTS
ferrari 575 GTC

*maserati MC12 is restricted to the FIA GT and national GT championships only which is a big shame, if the car were allowed to do LM and the ALMS and LMS it would most assureadly make GT1 much more interesting and breat some new life in.

the new koenigsegg CC-GTR remains unraces and could potentially be a good car, the pagani zonda is a car which has raced few times but would be great with some development, yet this is unlikely now.

the lamborghini murcielago RGT has already demonstrated in this years spec with good drivers and team that it can win a race and do very well, imo its the darkhorse of GT1 along with the saleen S7R.

the ferrari 575 GTC and ferrari 550 GTS are both old and outdated cars now, but i still feel in the right hands that these cars could be damn quick still, especially the ferrari 550 GTS.