DTM cars with sunroof?

[kmchow]

Did the "real" pre '91 DTM cars have sunroofs on them? I see some 1/43 model DTM cars have sunroof cutouts? I know post '91 DTM cars did not have any. Naturally, I assume they were deleted to help structural rigidity and the fact they were never used anyways??? Thanks ahead.

[JMeissner]

They did not have sunroofs. As you say that wouls destroy the structual rigidity. There is a reason that they have enormous roll cages in the cars.

You shouldn't trust 1/43 models..

[KA]

Originally posted by JMeissner
You shouldn't trust 1/43 models..

Model manufacturers, particularly the major makers of ready-finished diecasts, need to get as much mileage as possible out of the tooling for a model so they'll use the same basic casting for as many different versions of a car as they can, whether it's a 'civilian' road car, a police car or a racing version, unless there are really major differences in the bodywork-

Standards of accuracy have increased greatly in recent years, but if the only difference in the basic bodyshell casting is a sunroof, then they'll sometimes leave it in and hope no-one notices- another one I've seen on occasion (particularly closer to the 'toy' end of the market) is a model of the 4-door version of a car used to represent the racing version- which was actually 2-door....

[kmchow]

I kinda thought so, but these particular "models" are very affordable relative to the major brand names. As well, the brand name models don't produce MB DTM cars pre-90. It's a real shame MB doesn't race their C-Class in the resurrected DTM. Didn't someone say for '04 DTM, 4 door saloons are allowed again?

[pink69]

yeah, i believe all 3 manufacturers are looking at 4 door saloons for next season, Mercedes the C-Class, Opel the Vectra (but don't tell jeremy clarkson!) and Abt the A4.

[kmchow]

REALLY??? The DTM will return to the good ol' four door saloon days??? SWEET!!! I can't wait to show my parents a racing C240. My dad bought a C240 sedan a little over a month ago! OTOH, when '04 rolls around, the C240 would have been around for already 3-4 years? The Vectra 3 years? The A4 2 years. Aren't we getting a new BMW 3 series for '04 or '05?

[touringlegend]

There's talk that the DTM wants each make to run 7 of the 4-door models each, but that is unlikely so we will probably see a good few 03 Coupes still running next year, with a 30kg penalty because they have an aerodynamic advantage.

[kmchow]

Wow, manufacturers still(??) running 7 cars? That's quite hard to believe? 7 cars must set them back 40-50M US?? OTOH, if you divide by 7, each car/program only costs about 7M US.

[kmchow]

Where did you hear that MB/Opel are considering racing 4 door saloons for next year? Wouldn't it be cool if Toyota actually raced that DTM-ish IS300 HKS prepared last year? Or that DTM-ish Jaguar X Type that toured the NA car shows?

[touringlegend]

It was in Autosport, it's a regulation change in the DTM all cars must have 4 doors from 2004 on.

I don't actually think Opel/Mercedes would run 7 cars on their own it'd be much the same set up as it is now in the DTM.

[flor]

the 03 coupes won't have a weight penalty they will be lighter!

all the manufacturers will have 7 cars, and joest will re-enter with 2 audis

[flor]

oh and about sun roofs, i know that the 96 calibra was the sun roof model, but it was closed with carbon fibre to gain a weight advantage over the normal version of the car