RE: You know You Want To...Porsche GT1 Strassenversion
Discussion
Fabulously ill-informed piece there, PH.
The version of the car that won Le Mans was the GT1-98, which is a totally different car to this and was designed as a full-on racecar with a carbon tub.
Yes, it may have won Le Mans because the faster cars had problems, but it did win Le Mans - and Toyota, BMW and Mercedes didn't. It could be argued that Jaguar only won Le Mans in 1988 because Klaus Ludwig ran out of fuel and lost two laps coaxing the 962 round to the pits on the starter motor, or Mazda only won in '91 because the Mercs broke, yet both of those are viewed as legendary victories.
GT1-98 was blown away by the Merc in FIA GT, certainly, but that had quite a bit to do with the inferior Michelin tyres and the turbo restrictor sizes.
But that's a different car.
The 96 version of the car advertised was the one that broke the mould in GT racing. It stunned the world at the LM test day in '96 and ran with the prototypes on outright pace in the race. In the late season BPR races it made mincemeat out of the McLarens et al - anyone who was at Spa or Brands in '96 would've seen it winning at a canter. By '97, when this version was made, the rulemakers had caught on and strangled the car (and all other turbocars, like the Elise GT1 which changed to a massive V8 at the start of the season in a desperate attempt to find power) with tiny inlet restrictors - effectively ruining the factory's efforts and destroying the privateers who had spent so much money on buying what they thought was going to be the ultimate customer car. At LM in '97 the cars were still the best GTs, but a driveshaft failure for Wollek, while leading, led to a crash and retirement.
So it's a bit disappointing to read such a dismissive article about a brilliant, game changing car that demonstrated Porsche's ability to push the rulebook to the limit in the same way it did with Moby Dick in '78 - especially when the author doesn't appear to know anything about the car he's writing about.
The version of the car that won Le Mans was the GT1-98, which is a totally different car to this and was designed as a full-on racecar with a carbon tub.
Yes, it may have won Le Mans because the faster cars had problems, but it did win Le Mans - and Toyota, BMW and Mercedes didn't. It could be argued that Jaguar only won Le Mans in 1988 because Klaus Ludwig ran out of fuel and lost two laps coaxing the 962 round to the pits on the starter motor, or Mazda only won in '91 because the Mercs broke, yet both of those are viewed as legendary victories.
GT1-98 was blown away by the Merc in FIA GT, certainly, but that had quite a bit to do with the inferior Michelin tyres and the turbo restrictor sizes.
But that's a different car.
The 96 version of the car advertised was the one that broke the mould in GT racing. It stunned the world at the LM test day in '96 and ran with the prototypes on outright pace in the race. In the late season BPR races it made mincemeat out of the McLarens et al - anyone who was at Spa or Brands in '96 would've seen it winning at a canter. By '97, when this version was made, the rulemakers had caught on and strangled the car (and all other turbocars, like the Elise GT1 which changed to a massive V8 at the start of the season in a desperate attempt to find power) with tiny inlet restrictors - effectively ruining the factory's efforts and destroying the privateers who had spent so much money on buying what they thought was going to be the ultimate customer car. At LM in '97 the cars were still the best GTs, but a driveshaft failure for Wollek, while leading, led to a crash and retirement.
So it's a bit disappointing to read such a dismissive article about a brilliant, game changing car that demonstrated Porsche's ability to push the rulebook to the limit in the same way it did with Moby Dick in '78 - especially when the author doesn't appear to know anything about the car he's writing about.
All three versions are just epic.
Not very often one of these pops up for sale so hopefully it goes to someone who uses it properly. There was one at Modena trackdays a few years back and it was really surprising to see it run round a track.
The 98 version is absolutely one of my favourite cars ever made, an unbelievably sexy car and it won at Le Mans as well. People tend to forget that whilst the Toyota and MB entries were quicker most of the time, during the later stages of the 98 race, McNish was absolutely hammering the thing round the track and taking lumps out of the Toyota's lead so it was damn quick and would've been quicker still if the FIA hadn't buggered the rules up for turbo cars.
Also, ph123 - MORE PICS NOW!
Not very often one of these pops up for sale so hopefully it goes to someone who uses it properly. There was one at Modena trackdays a few years back and it was really surprising to see it run round a track.
The 98 version is absolutely one of my favourite cars ever made, an unbelievably sexy car and it won at Le Mans as well. People tend to forget that whilst the Toyota and MB entries were quicker most of the time, during the later stages of the 98 race, McNish was absolutely hammering the thing round the track and taking lumps out of the Toyota's lead so it was damn quick and would've been quicker still if the FIA hadn't buggered the rules up for turbo cars.
Also, ph123 - MORE PICS NOW!
Edited by F1GTRUeno on Wednesday 20th July 17:28
when i had my first 911 it was serviced at AFN Reading/Porsche GB one of the very cars the looked after was one of these GT1 road cars owned by a 26 year old IT Guru, he loved it but had to have the ride hight raised for the road and it was not keen on going round UK corners!
amazing looking cars only 5 years ago they were selling for £500k so quite a jump if it sells.
amazing looking cars only 5 years ago they were selling for £500k so quite a jump if it sells.
silversixx said:
Still, imagine turning up to a Brands Hatch GP circuit track day in it...
Don't know about a trackday at Brands, but this was at the Modena Trackdays 2-dayer at the Nurburgring (GP Strecke) last month.
Absolutely gorgeous, as was the white F1-GTR in the next garage. That was the just the start of the exotica...
I was there and didn't want it to win, but it did...
Two memories, Tiff Needell's comment, " I see Porsche have brought a van" and the GT1 display. Everyone else: showroom shiny, but the Porsche had German road plates & was covered in bugs, it had been driven there, suddenly went it up in my estimation!
Two memories, Tiff Needell's comment, " I see Porsche have brought a van" and the GT1 display. Everyone else: showroom shiny, but the Porsche had German road plates & was covered in bugs, it had been driven there, suddenly went it up in my estimation!
marcosgt said:
It was pretty competitive in the British GT series too (anyone remember the Blue Coral car?) and other championships.
M.
Looks like a Blue Coral car is for sale too:M.
http://www.springbok.de/fahrzeugbestand/details.ph...
Easily my favourite Porsche of all time. Bar none. dont know why, just is. This is as the above poster said a very very different car to the one that flipped. Its a GT1 EVO, an evolution of the yellow one posted above.
The confusion about the number made may come from the fact that some std examples were produced, then some EVOs, so the figure could be for one, the other, or both.
Top spot though!
Simon
The confusion about the number made may come from the fact that some std examples were produced, then some EVOs, so the figure could be for one, the other, or both.
Top spot though!
Simon
IBM folklore has it that some very senior exec in the US went up to Lou Gerstner (then CEO) on the Monday after LM weekend and said something along the lines of "Hey Lou, great result at the weekend, eh?", to which a bemused Mr Gerstner asked what the hell he was on about. When he was told that the IBM sponsored car had won Le Mans, Lou went apoplectic and demanded to know who sanctioned the sponsorship (IBM has a policy of not sponsoring motorsport, for fear of being involved with a "worst case scenario"...rightly or wrongly). That particular European execs resignation came as a surprise to him. Alledgedly.
I think I'm right in saying that IBM havent sponsored any car since (Lenovo doesn't count, nothing to do with IBM now for a long time)
All happened before I joined, but did see the car take the chequered flag that year. I know where my Euro millions win would go (as said many times above).
I think I'm right in saying that IBM havent sponsored any car since (Lenovo doesn't count, nothing to do with IBM now for a long time)
All happened before I joined, but did see the car take the chequered flag that year. I know where my Euro millions win would go (as said many times above).
By is123 at 2009-02-05
John Greasley's car that won the '97 British GT championship (in conjunction with his 993 GT2/1), runner up '98 '99. Wonderful cars: as you drove down the pit lane, you RELAXED - every detail about the car let you know, it was BUILT for 24 hour racing. Gearshift was RIFLE BOLT secure, cockpit airflow SORTED, seat ergonomics COMFORTABLE, aerodynamics SERIOUS ... let's go RACING, through backmarkers, rain and greasy track, through the night ...
MrDarkBlack said:
I remember seeing this one for sale, and it still is!
They said that only 18 were sold...the article and a few others that I've read, have said 25, and I've read elsewhere that there were 30. So who knows the actual amount..
Sophie's Choice time - GT1 Strassenversion, or Mercedes CLK GTR? Painful to make a choice like that...! (I like the look of the Merc better but it's totally impractical for road use. But then, I imagine the GT1 is as well. Either is even rarer than something unusual like a Zonda, so I imagine that to travel anywhere in either vehicle would be to stop the traffic.)They said that only 18 were sold...the article and a few others that I've read, have said 25, and I've read elsewhere that there were 30. So who knows the actual amount..
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