The Lower Leagues

[Speed-King]

I thought it might be a good idea to create a catch-all thread for all the GT-series that normally don't warrant their own bespoke thread on here, so probably most anything below the national top-series of the UK, France and Germany.

Series that would fit in this thread are:

Germany: DMV-Tourenwagen-Championship, Spezial-Tourenwagen Trophy (don't let the names fool you both are very heavy on GTs)
UK: Britcar, Bute GT Cup
France: VdeV
Italy: Italian GT, Coppa Italia, etc.
Scandinavia: Swedish GT, various Thundersports/Special Saloon series
Spain: Iber GT
BeNeLux: Supercar Challenge, BRCC

(and more)

I'll start with something from the UK: A packed entry list for the opening round of the GT-Cup this weekend at Donnington.

Also starting this weekend: Belgium's BRCC, where the field will be lead into the 3 hour race by 8 GT3 cars and as announced today an SRT run Corvette C6R GTE!

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

I'll start with something from the UK: A packed entry list for the opening round of the GT-Cup this weekend at Donnington.

A big grid, with some spectacular cars (the Mosler and Marcos in particular).
Four classes going on in there, what's the difference between them?

[MagVanisher]

Please add some coverage on Trans-Am Series too so I can request a mod to close the thread since it needs more love.

If not, that's okay.

[Speed-King]

GT-Cup-classes:

There will be four groups defined by original manufacturer stated specifications comprising of;

GTO Open specification cars (subject to meeting balance of performance),GT3 and modified challenge
cars
GTC Late model year Challenge and Cup specification cars, with performance balancing where required
GTB Early year Challenge and Cup cars with minimum specification changes together with modified
saloon base vehicles
GTA Lower powered Cup, Challenge and One make series cars

What I like best about GT-Cup is that they do a really good job at presenting themselves. After each race they have some - by club racing standards - very watchable videos online.

Another series that'll be starting this weekend is the DMV-TCC with a pair of 30 minute sprints at Brno: Entry list here (pdf download).
12 full-on GT3s in a field of around 40 cars. Other notable entries are two 997RSRs (one of them turbo-charged) and Perti Kuismannen with his trusty GT1 Viper and Rock Media's Pagani.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

Please add some coverage on Trans-Am Series too so I can request a mod to close the thread since it needs more love.

If not, that's okay.

Feel free to discuss Trans-Am here. Although it is more of a touring car series in my mind.

[nobster]

Super car challenge has some nice cars in the field, last year a Mc Laren, corvettes, porsches, ferrari, vipers all took part. On motors tv they show the highlights of the races.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by nobster

Super car challenge has some nice cars in the field, last year a Mc Laren, corvettes, porsches, ferrari, vipers all took part. On motors tv they show the highlights of the races.

Things have changed for the worse this year though... They had their first races last weekend and much of the GT1/2/3-machinery is gone with silhouette cars of different types taking their place.

Race results.

[IndyMeister]

DMV starts its season at Brno this weekend:
12 GT3 cars on the entry list (+ 9 Porsche 997s and a few GT2s):
http://www.dmv-tcc.com/events/2014/T...enn-CZ-53.html

And if you don't know what you are doing in the next few day, thi might interest you :
http://www.dmv-tcc.com/marketplace.html

[Mr Pink]

Modsport in Sweden has some pretty cool cars (among others the Speedlab Corvette which has a thread on here somewhere). The classes are based on kg/hp.

http://www.modsport.se/index.php?page=foerare-team

[fergus_r]

GT Cup is a pleasant surprise this season, having occasionally struggled to even make double figures these past few years. Should be a good championship if the numbers keep up for the whole year.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by joeb

Feel free to discuss Trans-Am here. Although it is more of a touring car series in my mind.

Well, there's some GT cars in the TA3 class with marquees such as Porsche, BMW, etc.

But anyway, the Trans-Am series is gaining step-by-step with TV and media coverage deals being formed on the series. While the TA1 class is important since it's on par with NASCAR in terms of horsepower, I think I'm interested in the TA2 class since it's a pony car class with Ford and Chevy battling out with their respective Mustangs and Camaros.

Plus, it's the ideal class where it needs to inject some manufacturer involvement and modern technology, becoming what is essentially the American version of Super GT/DTM. Of course, it's not gonna happen because Trans-Am can't afford to lose the TA1 class.

That's my take on Trans-Am. As for the news, it's straight from the website itself.

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

That's my take on Trans-Am. As for the news, it's straight from the website itself.

which can be found at www.gotransam.com

[Maelochs]

Any series which wants to hold my attention (and is too small for television) needs to stream races--even replays--or I just can't get too excited.

Every time I have seen T/A at a track the cars were cool, but I haven't seen T/A in a couple years ... I have no clue what's up with it.

As for all the other interesting series ... well, they sound interesting (a series which is basically run-what-you-brung with a bhp/kg standard? Excellent!) but my days of following racing by outdasted magazine articles, or even up-to-date web articles, are over. I want to see the racing.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

Any series which wants to hold my attention (and is too small for television) needs to stream races--even replays--or I just can't get too excited.

Every time I have seen T/A at a track the cars were cool, but I haven't seen T/A in a couple years ... I have no clue what's up with it.

As for all the other interesting series ... well, they sound interesting (a series which is basically run-what-you-brung with a bhp/kg standard? Excellent!) but my days of following racing by outdasted magazine articles, or even up-to-date web articles, are over. I want to see the racing.

That all costs money. Since these are 'lower' level national/club series then I think thats expecting a little too much. Nice to see some teams installing cameras in their cars for all to see on YouTube, though.

I like championships that accept wide varieties of machinery. Britcar is pretty good for variety but the OTT noise limits and recent grid sizes (as well as a lack of support races) have put me off. Weather permitting I may well have a trip to Donington this weekend for GT Cup - looks like most series in those MSVR-organised meetings have some really big grids.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Maelochs

As for all the other interesting series ... well, they sound interesting (a series which is basically run-what-you-brung with a bhp/kg standard? Excellent!) but my days of following racing by outdasted magazine articles, or even up-to-date web articles, are over. I want to see the racing.

Have a look at GT-Cup's coverage from last year then: Link to Rd.1 2013.

Overview of all 2013-videos.

As I said, those highlights programs are pretty well done, though the product that they can work with varied from round to round with capacity grids occuring as well as weekends when they were barely getting into double digits.

[rich07]

I miss Belcar-remember the variety of cars in that series. Good times while it lasted.

That's what I like about the lesser known series, there's usually a myriad of different cars that aren't normally seen in the bigger series. The drivers aren't usually professionals but still the racing is good

[MagVanisher]

Say, any news on whether the Britcar 24 Hours will return next year? I heard that it was cancelled because of rowdy fans.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by rich07

I miss Belcar-remember the variety of cars in that series. Good times while it lasted.

That's what I like about the lesser known series, there's usually a myriad of different cars that aren't normally seen in the bigger series. The drivers aren't usually professionals but still the racing is good

Well, Belcar has become BRCC (more or less - it's a long and complicated story) and after some lean years they are actually looking quite good for this season. The one thing that I don't like is their BoP process, that uses additional pitstop times to equalize older and newer GT3 cars. So PK's 2012 Audi R8 will have to stop 3,5 minutes less than the post-2013 cars. In a 3 hour race, that is. Seems a bit excessive to me, they could simply have given them a weight break.

[TheNewBob]

Originally Posted by MagVanisher

Say, any news on whether the Britcar 24 Hours will return next year? I heard that it was cancelled because of rowdy fans.

Should be back next year:

http://www.britcar24hr.co.uk/home/?p=5335

[Speed-King]

Lo and behold! The Pagani is running and on pole for the first race of DMV-TCC tomorrow!



Qualifying Results can be found here.

[IndyMeister]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Lo and behold! The Pagani is running and on pole for the first race of DMV-TCC tomorrow!

Oh, good memories! Never had much success in GT1 but it's simply a thouroughbred sportscar. Does anyone know which chassis it is (maybe another)?
http://www.racingsportscars.com/type/Pagani/Zonda.html

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by IndyMeister

Oh, good memories! Never had much success in GT1 but it's simply a thouroughbred sportscar. Does anyone know which chassis it is (maybe another)?
http://www.racingsportscars.com/type/Pagani/Zonda.html

By the photo, it actually looks like a Zonda R instead of any of the chassis listed on RSC.

[nobster]

Seen the list from qualifying, that looks like a damn good series to watch!

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by nobster

Seen the list from qualifying, that looks like a damn good series to watch!

Yeah, it's usually pretty good, though they seem to have lost their focus a bit this year... too many rounds outside Germany (for drivers and crew guys that have a regular job) and increased entry fees means the paddock isn't exactly happy. Will be interesting to see how their fields will hold up during the year...34 cars is okay for an out of country round, but they used to get as many as 50 cars for their Hockenheim races.

[MagVanisher]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Lo and behold! The Pagani is running and on pole for the first race of DMV-TCC tomorrow!



Qualifying Results can be found here.

It's good to see a Zonda R racing somewhere. Still, I wonder if the racing team can handle the repair cost of that racecar...