Matech Ford LMGT in 2011

[HORNDAWG]

Logic is upsetting? Hmm, max 4 cars and spares vs being able to have a market for all of your possible chassis (limited supply of shells). Pretty easy decision when one wishes to recoup costs.






L.P.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by dxk1

Since Mr. Doran doesn't race a car in ALMS and so far has only one taker, I wouldn't worry about what he thinks. I was wondering, is taking on a Matech GT-40 for ALMS a project someone like Tracy Krohn could or would take on? He did run the 2 Lambos a few years back. Yeah, they didn't have much luck but he did have some decent drivers. He could run two GT-40s and at least have one top flight driver line-up. I'm glad there seems to be some impetus for this to happen

DK

Well it seems that Robertson Racing will have a second car at Petit, piloted by Murry, Bell and Lazzaro.





L.P.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by HORNDAWG

Well it seems that Robertson Racing will have a second car at Petit, piloted by Murry, Bell and Lazzaro.





L.P.

Which Bell is that? I believe Matt Bell had a run in Kevin's DP at New Jersey, right? Or Rob? Or Townsend? Too many Bells!

Bartek's statement in the E-I article that they would definitely never build a GT2 Ford was after the announcement from the ACO that there would be no GT1 at Le Mans in the future. Clearly he went and rethought the economics of the situation and realized his blinding devotion to the rat would be his undoing.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by cmk

Which Bell is that? I believe Matt Bell had a run in Kevin's DP at New Jersey, right? Or Rob? Or Townsend? Too many Bells!

Bartek's statement in the E-I article that they would definitely never build a GT2 Ford was after the announcement from the ACO that there would be no GT1 at Le Mans in the future. Clearly he went and rethought the economics of the situation and realized his blinding devotion to the rat would be his undoing.

It would be Rob. And Craig Stanton will join the Robertsons in the #40 car.




L.P.

[cmk]

Yeah, I just caught the press release. The wisest of the choices - little bro Matt has a a lot of raw pace but his almost total lack of car racing experience calls for some additional practice. Good to see Lazzaro back too; his departure from Risi after the first Sebring with the 430 was sad after struggling for years with the almost-but-not-quite-there 360. I guess he has Ford GT experience too, with Black Swan. Easy to forget who co-drove that car since it was always woefully slow.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by Audi Racer

what do you do for a living. just sit on this forum. I edited the statement which quite frankly isn't even wrong within a minute of posting it. i can see you now just sitting their hitting the F5 key all day. Get a job.

And second if you took a da*n second to read the article Martin Bartek says he knows that GT1 will be "nixed". it was mentioned at some later time
You read english right?

G.F.Y

Please refrain from the "personal attacks"...the content of a post is fair game, but not the person behind the post.

The G.F.Y at the end also was rude and uncalled for...

Moderator cap now off...back to your reguarly scheduled programming.

[MJ_N_09]

"Originally Posted by Audi Racer View Post
what do you do for a living. just sit on this forum. I edited the statement which quite frankly isn't even wrong within a minute of posting it. i can see you now just sitting their hitting the F5 key all day. Get a job.

And second if you took a da*n second to read the article Martin Bartek says he knows that GT1 will be "nixed". it was mentioned at some later time
You read english right?

G.F.Y "

Uh what? There's just no words from me about this. What kind of post was this? Maturity goes a long way.

[Aysedasi]

Perhaps I should explain. The post was reported to the mods and Tim responded. I then acted also not realising that Tim had already dealt with it. I actually deleted the contents of the post entirely as I considered it offensive. I PM'd the poster. End of story - it's been dealt with. I don't think we really need to dwell on it folks.....

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by cmk

Which Bell is that? I believe Matt Bell had a run in Kevin's DP at New Jersey, right? Or Rob? Or Townsend? Too many Bells!

Bartek's statement in the E-I article that they would definitely never build a GT2 Ford was after the announcement from the ACO that there would be no GT1 at Le Mans in the future. Clearly he went and rethought the economics of the situation and realized his blinding devotion to the rat would be his undoing.

Oh stop he just sees an opportunity to sell cars with winning pedigree (GT3 Champions), winner in GT1 competition in FIA and LMS (Spa).

[JAG]

An interesting point is Matech came to an agreement with the ACO to revise the GT1 car in a few areas so it isn't an all new GTE.

Then again only the Matech Ford GT and Nissan GTR falls into this category as other manufactuer already produce GTE's.

[MJ_N_09]

It sounds like there will be none to minor exterior changes (apart from the wing maybe) for the new GT2 car compared to the GT1 car. The performance will appear to be the only actual difference between the GT1 and GT2 car.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by MJ_N_09

It sounds like there will be none to minor exterior changes (apart from the wing maybe) for the new GT2 car compared to the GT1 car. The performance will appear to be the only actual difference between the GT1 and GT2 car.

Well, something must be done to speed it up...

[ss_collins]

Its simple Bartek changed his mind, he told me that there would not be a GT2, then later revealed that there would. People do change their minds...

[Purist]

So, cmk, which GT2 turned a 2:17.3 at the Spa 1000km weekend this year?

If these GT2s retain that sculpted shape of the GT1s, this sounds great.

[Matech]

Hi everyone. The Matech Ford LMGT will comply fully with the regulations to compete in LMS, ALMS, Asia Le Mans and of course the Le Mans 24 hours. Our GT1 car will be modified accordingly. We will use the knowledge and experience gained through our successful GT3 and GT1 programmes to build an endurance car that can meet the demands required.

If you have any questions, please ask, and I will do my best do answer them where possible.

Thanks and good to join you.
Matech Concepts

[pederb]

Originally Posted by Matech

Hi everyone. The Matech Ford LMGT will comply fully with the regulations to compete in LMS, ALMS, Asia Le Mans and of course the Le Mans 24 hours. Our GT1 car will be modified accordingly. We will use the knowledge and experience gained through our successful GT3 and GT1 programmes to build an endurance car that can meet the demands required.

If you have any questions, please ask, and I will do my best do answer them where possible.

Thanks and good to join you.
Matech Concepts

Welcome aboard,

I have a question for you, were do you find your chassis? You have to use Ford factory made chassis, right? and they have not been made in a long time so I'm very curious how all these Ford GT's are built with no production.

Cheers

[Matech]

Thanks for the welcome.

Matech Concepts purchased a number of chassis from Ford some time ago, so that we are able to meet the demands and turnaround times that our racing customers expect.

[HORNDAWG]

Originally Posted by Matech

Thanks for the welcome.

Matech Concepts purchased a number of chassis from Ford some time ago, so that we are able to meet the demands and turnaround times that our racing customers expect.

About a dozen left?

And of course welcome to our little corner!





L.P.

[I Rosputnik]

(Makes me even more happy that I've joined this site! I get to talk to representives from racing teams! )

Hope you guys win GT1 this year! If Matech or Sumo win I'll be over the moon! Anyway, I've got two questions to ask.

1. Will Matech still race in GT1 in future years seeing as you are making a LMGT car?
2. How much does Ford back you? -PR, technology, etc-

[Matech]

What a nice welcome...thanks.

Just to clarify and correct a couple of points...

Mr Bartek said at Le Mans that it was out of question for Matech to develop a GT2 car. This is still the case. Matech is building LMGT-E(ndurance) Ford GTs following an agreement with the ACO to convert the existing Matech Ford GT1 into a LMGT car. The changes include a flat floor, which is a completely new design. The rear wing is also a new design. The electrical loom is different, as is the engine [5.3 liter Roush-Yates V8]. There will also be new features not permitted in GT1 such as traction control, paddle shift, etc. But on the other hand, the car will have steel brakes instead of carbon brakes that are on the GT1 car.

Re: the Ford Chassis...to expand on my previous answer...back in 2008, Ford initiated the production of additional space frames to meet its lifetime supply. Ford Racing offered Matech to increase the batch by a number of frames which were sold to Matech for our own use.

I'm not sure how many are left at Ford now....I think VERY few.

Thanks for the good wishes for the World Championship...we are doing absolutely everything possible and sometimes it feels impossible to win and become world champions, but as you will have seen, the competition is extremely strong...but hey winning something easy brings little satisfaction.

Matech will continue to build and compete in GT1 as well as manufacturing the LMGT cars.

Ford support us in a number of ways...Ford Racing in the United States has actually been the base of this programme. Without our partnership with Ford Racing, there wouldn’t have been any GT3 cars and certainly not any GT1 cars. We are a customer of Ford, so it’s not that we’re getting any financial support. But we are indeed getting some moral support. The fact that we are accepted as the officially supported independent manufacturer for racing the Ford GT is already a big achievement for us and speaks for itself for the quality and reliability of the cars we build. Ford of Europe has actually gone far beyond that. They have given us access to their wind tunnel in Cologne [Germany], free of charge. So we’ve been able to use that a couple of times. We’ve also had access to the CAD data of the production car. They have officially extended its commitment to Matech within the ACO and the FIA. Our aim is to deliver a product that’s as good as possible in every respect, in order to showcase this car at the highest level where it belongs from a historic point of view.

Matech Concepts

[pederb]

Originally Posted by Matech

Thanks for the welcome.

Matech Concepts purchased a number of chassis from Ford some time ago, so that we are able to meet the demands and turnaround times that our racing customers expect.

Great I was worried that you had to find used roadcars

Cheers

[I Rosputnik]

I'm amazed. As a Ford-nut I'm delighted that Ford are helping you. I'm glad GT1 is around as it gives a wide range of different constructors and privateers a chance at a World Championship, with out the red tape of F1.

Also does Matech have any involvement in the Mustang GT3 project? (Seeing as you ran Mustangs in the past.)

[Matech]

We did run Mustangs in GT3, but we moved away from two different models when we decided to concentrate on the Ford GT programme. Designing, developing and manufacturing both Ford GT3s and GT1s required the full focus of the company, and the successful results achieved so far confirm our judgement on this.

Our GT1 customer team decided to run the Mustang in FIA GT3 this year, but there were a number of homologation issues that prevented them from competing, so they has suspended that programme for the time being. However, as they wished to compete in the Spa 24 hours a few weeks ago in GT3 category, they had no cars. As a great customer to Matech, they took delivery of two Matech Ford GT3 cars just a few weeks before the race. Their team then modified them for endurance racing and they promptly got a podium in one of the toughest races, which is fantastic as the team had no experience of the GT3 car at that time. Another customer team got a 6th in class....again an outstanding result we are extremely proud of. Add to this our win at the same race last year in our Ford GT3, and it shows we have the performance and the reliability needed. For us at Le Mans this year in GT1, we also needed a little luck, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

[I Rosputnik]

Hopefully Marc VDS will also be with us for sometime.

If there is a chance of the Matech GT going into the ALMS, I must admit, it will be interesting to see how it compares to the Robertson Racing GT.

Also last question from me for now, why is Matech constantly changing its drivers around in GT1. -Musical chairs-

[Matech]

We're confident that Marc VDS Racing will be around for a long time to come. Racing is in their blood, and they have been going for a very long time. Have a Google about their history and origins. They are a great customer and we have a great relationship where we share data and set up information before a race, but we obviously have our own strategies.

The Robertson Racing GT is a great car, just like ours. We would welcome an opportunity to race in the ALMS against all of our competition, and we are working on our plans and calendars. Racing in multiple series is hugely demanding in terms of finances, logistics, personnel and competing calendars.

As I said earlier, we are doing and will continue to do everything possible and everything necessary to give the team the best chances to become world champions.