GT3 Manufacturers...

[Rodger Davies]

Assuming it isn't Lexus or the Corvette, it's most likely Jaguar or maybe less likely Cadillac.

As for the third new model, would that be the Mercedes? I hope for a new GT3 Porsche but I won't hold my breath on that one.

[hondafan37]

Remember the article a few days ago with rumors GT3

Originally Posted by Speed-King

GT3 news round up on Speedweek.de

*Callaway Europe's Corvette C7 GT3 project is back on track, but they've lost a couple of months with the uncertainty around the convergence rules
*not one but two new Lambos: 1) the factory developed Huracan, 2) a comprehensive update to the FL2 by Reiter.
*new R8, potentially already for 2015
*new Mercedes based on the baby-SLS
*BMW working on a GT3 spec M4 (!)
*Lexus is on track for a debut in 2015
*Porsche probably isn't, but the current plan is to do a kind of kitbash between the Cup-car and the RSR.

[divxx]

A new Mercedes makes sense, the SLS road car is out of production now, assuming Mercedes stays in GT3. It's been successful, but they just don't seem to take GT as seriously as their German rivals; their factory drivers consists of a 50 year old retired guy and the program manager.

[rich07]

That 50 year old retiree is a bit faster then your average 50yr old! :lol:

[divxx]

Oh I'm well aware of that, but even Scheinder probably planned to only be a 'brand representative' when he signed up, not serve as the main factory ace.

[Dimension]

Its been confirmed by Graham Goodwin among others to be the Nissan GT-R GT3.

BMW and Mercedes will not update until 2016, neither will Porsche.

[Graham Goodwin]

Today's timeline of what is expected in GT3 now updated with a little detail on the plans for the C7 Corvette GT3 http://www.dailysportscar.com/2014/0...ne-in-gt3.html

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Graham Goodwin

Today's timeline of what is expected in GT3 now updated with a little detail on the plans for the C7 Corvette GT3 http://www.dailysportscar.com/2014/0...ne-in-gt3.html

Thanks Graham. Looks like the manufacturers are still putting their weight behind the class. I'm still surprised at porsche taking so long to bring the new 911 into gt3.

[divxx]

Thanks for the info, Graham.

I'm not that surprised about Porsche, they do have their hands full with other programs.

[JoestForEver]

I'd say the reason why Porsche refuses to make a 991 GT3 may be corporation politics. Porsche is making huge profit from customer racing in Carrera Cup/Supercup while GT3 is a market Audi wants now. Therefore, the cake of GT race is split between two marques.
If they really want a 991 GT3 to sell, 911 GT America is an off-the-shelf solution with a similar performance to GTD cars. A slight tweak and proper BoP will work.

[TF110]

I posted some pictures of the Nismo GTR GT3 in the rumors thread http://tentenths.com/forum/showpost....postcount=5306 that were on japanese autosport. Definitely a big upgrade!

[divxx]

Thanks for the GTR pics. The recent discussions about BoP at Spa has me curious, and this may be a noob question, but is there (or has there ever been) a series in which GT3 cars ran to their full capabilities without any balance of performance adjustments? Would be really curious to see what the pecking order would be like that situation.

[Mike Hedlund]

Originally Posted by divxx

Thanks for the GTR pics. The recent discussions about BoP at Spa has me curious, and this may be a noob question, but is there (or has there ever been) a series in which GT3 cars ran to their full capabilities without any balance of performance adjustments? Would be really curious to see what the pecking order would be like that situation.

Only in places where cars can run unlimited.. and in that case you'd want to run a prototype anyway, not a GT car. Either way, the performance of the cars would really be dictated by what type of circuit they ran. Generally, I believe the 458 has the least changes from being delivered by Michelotto.

-mike

[Speed-King]

There actually is such a series.... in the German DMV-TCC series you can run GT3s either by the FIA specs in their own class or with the old GT1s and GT2s and some specials in the Open class, which about 1/3 of the GT3s do. However, wins are rather fairly distributed between the GT3s run by the rules and the Open cars, so maybe the GT3s actually aren't too far off their real capabilities when under a regular BoP.

More likely the sample size is too small and skills differences of the drivers too big to allow for a meaningful comparison. In general, the run-by-the-book-GT3s in ADAC GT-Masters are quite a bit faster than anything in the two Open series DMV-TCC and Spezialtourenwagen-Trophy.

[Deleted]

But are the GT3s (and GT1s and GT2s) actually running unrestricted in that Open class, or rather BoPped together as a whole? Like DSC or something

[JoestForEver]

I believe in the 2009 Spa round of FIA GT series, R8 LMS was running without BoP in the G2 group together with GT1 and GT2 cars.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by JoestForEver

I believe in the 2009 Spa round of FIA GT series, R8 LMS was running without BoP in the G2 group together with GT1 and GT2 cars.

I was under the impression it was run in VLN spec thereby not conforming with FIA GT3 BOP

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Chiana

But are the GT3s (and GT1s and GT2s) actually running unrestricted in that Open class, or rather BoPped together as a whole? Like DSC or something

AFAIK there is no BoP... you can show up in a DTM Audi, lap the field and hide and no one will complain.

[Deleted]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

AFAIK there is no BoP... you can show up in a DTM Audi, lap the field and hide and no one will complain.

Why haven't I heard of such series before cause that sounds bloody awesome

Now please tell some coverage of that series exists... somewhere... somehow...

And are there any old GT1s or GT2s running there now with those GT3s and 'specials'

[Speed-King]

Not much in the way of coverage, I'm afraid. It's the series I get to see most often, though, as Hockenheim is the series' homebase and that's just a bit over an hour down the road from where I live.

I didn't manage to go this time around, but here are last weekend's results:
http://www.dmv-tcc.com/events/2014/T...imring-56.html

Also some pictures:
http://www.dmv-tcc.com/gallery/2014/...7-2014-97.html

BTW: That silver Porsche 997 Turbo is driven by Fritz Kreuzpointner of Mercedes Group-C-fame, so there are some pretty decent drivers in the series as well.

[Deleted]

Righto, if you've got Kuismanen with his old ragged Vipers or whatever you know it's gonna be pretty open rulebook

Shame for the little publicity... there are some random clips on youtube at least

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Chiana

Righto, if you've got Kuismanen with his old Vipers or whatever you know it's gonna be pretty open rulebook

Yup, no restrictor on that Viper either, IIRC... should ammount to something well north of 700bhp.

[Deleted]

If someone other - pretty much anyone else - than mr "It was the tight seatbelts that ruined our race" was driving that GTS-R, the laptimes could be rather spectacular.

[divxx]

Cool, I just watched one of the race review videos. Saw a BAC Mono and some "where are they now" cars like the Alpina B6 and Zonda racing against the typical GT3's. I realize the drivers are varied in skill, but surprised to see the 911 GT3 Cup cars running ahead of most of the GT3's.

[Speed-King]

Not all the Cup-Porsches are what they seem. Some have bigger engines than what you'd find in a regular spec one.

But yeah, a lot of the GT3s are not driven to their full potential... GT3s with pro drivers can do sub-1.40 laps at Hockenheim, something that basically never happens in DMV-TCC, unless a GT-Masters team decides to use the series for a test run.