Anyone else enjoying GT1?
Discussion
After relising that I could watch the races on youtube (the GT1WORLD channel), Ive been loving the racing in GT1.
The racing is close, both in terms of whos winning in the tables and the in the race itself, lots of overtaking and action on track. Yet, cruically, the racing is clean, done the way it should be. Perhaps its becuase its mainly Pro drivers
I like the idea of a qaulifying race (three qualification rounds, qaulification race, then points race) tends to mix things up, and given the driver changes are not regulated by a min time limit, you get rid of the classic front of the pack leaders spending 2 hours on their own.
I wish their were a few more cars on the grid, or should that be manufacturers, as the rules of the series only allow 1 set of cars from a manufactuerer. Would be nice to see 10-15 different marques in the mix. I also wouldnt mind a few more famous tracks in the calendar, but given the racing is so good, I wouldnt mind where they raced at.
Only two races so far, but I must admit its the series Im looking most forward to watching this year.
Any other fans(or anyone else that disagrees)?
The racing is close, both in terms of whos winning in the tables and the in the race itself, lots of overtaking and action on track. Yet, cruically, the racing is clean, done the way it should be. Perhaps its becuase its mainly Pro drivers

I like the idea of a qaulifying race (three qualification rounds, qaulification race, then points race) tends to mix things up, and given the driver changes are not regulated by a min time limit, you get rid of the classic front of the pack leaders spending 2 hours on their own.
I wish their were a few more cars on the grid, or should that be manufacturers, as the rules of the series only allow 1 set of cars from a manufactuerer. Would be nice to see 10-15 different marques in the mix. I also wouldnt mind a few more famous tracks in the calendar, but given the racing is so good, I wouldnt mind where they raced at.
Only two races so far, but I must admit its the series Im looking most forward to watching this year.
Any other fans(or anyone else that disagrees)?
37chevy said:
It'd complete rubbish, ratel destroyed gt2 a few years back to form gt1, and has now destroyed gt3 to make gt1 this year....the guy doesn't know what the hell he's doing
Oh ok,Im young, could you explain how gt3 has been destroyed? As well as a breif summary of what hes done, as it sounds as if he cocked things up!Thanks Chevy
Edited by Fantuzzi on Monday 14th May 18:58
Back when GT3 started costs were designed to be kept to a minimum and the series was really designed to give gentleman drivers who didn't want to race against pros in GT2, GT1 at the time.The official GT3 Europe championship had massive grids but Now every season the cars and costs of running them has gotten more expensive and the European GT3 Championship only has a handful of cars.
tux said:
Back when GT3 started costs were designed to be kept to a minimum and the series was really designed to give gentleman drivers who didn't want to race against pros in GT2, GT1 at the time.The official GT3 Europe championship had massive grids but Now every season the cars and costs of running them has gotten more expensive and the European GT3 Championship only has a handful of cars.
Oh ok, Yeah I know about the reason for starting GT3.Didnt know the costs were heading sky high.
How has Ratel made the cost rise out of interest? I know the cars seem to be getting higher price tags, the R8 was 269,000 euros in 2009, now its 329,000.
How did he mess up GT2?
Sorry lots of questions, but I wont to learn miss...
Fantuzzi said:
Oh ok, Yeah I know about the reason for starting GT3.
Didnt know the costs were heading sky high.
How has Ratel made the cost rise out of interest? I know the cars seem to be getting higher price tags, the R8 was 269,000 euros in 2009, now its 329,000.
How did he mess up GT2?
Sorry lots of questions, but I wont to learn miss...
The problem is that the fia gt championship used to consist of gt1 and gt2 cars, they had about 30 cars on the grid and travelled all over Europe. Didnt know the costs were heading sky high.
How has Ratel made the cost rise out of interest? I know the cars seem to be getting higher price tags, the R8 was 269,000 euros in 2009, now its 329,000.
How did he mess up GT2?
Sorry lots of questions, but I wont to learn miss...
Ratel then introduced the g3 championship which was brilliant with 40 car grids and ran as a support series to the fia gt championship
Ratel then scrapped gt2 and took the gt1 cars to a world championship and kept gt3 as a support series, that worked fine until he started the blancpain gt series which also runs gt3 cars, when the gt1 cars got too expensive at the end of last year he took gt3 cars and moddeed them to make the cars that currently run in the gt1 championship,
Basically he has started too many series for gt3 cars and tried to expand the championship to world status sending the costs sky high during a recession...hense gt1 only has 18 cars, gt3 only has 14 cars and the whole championship is a joke because no promotors of decent circuits will pay to have the championship there.
If you want proper gt facing, go on YouTube and type in 1997 fia GT championship....you will then see what the series was like before ratel got his grubby little hands on it!
37chevy said:
The problem is that the fia gt championship used to consist of gt1 and gt2 cars, they had about 30 cars on the grid and travelled all over Europe.
Ratel then introduced the g3 championship which was brilliant with 40 car grids and ran as a support series to the fia gt championship
Ratel then scrapped gt2 and took the gt1 cars to a world championship and kept gt3 as a support series, that worked fine until he started the blancpain gt series which also runs gt3 cars, when the gt1 cars got too expensive at the end of last year he took gt3 cars and moddeed them to make the cars that currently run in the gt1 championship,
Basically he has started too many series for gt3 cars and tried to expand the championship to world status sending the costs sky high during a recession...hense gt1 only has 18 cars, gt3 only has 14 cars and the whole championship is a joke because no promotors of decent circuits will pay to have the championship there.
If you want proper gt facing, go on YouTube and type in 1997 fia GT championship....you will then see what the series was like before ratel got his grubby little hands on it!
Ill give it a youtube!Ratel then introduced the g3 championship which was brilliant with 40 car grids and ran as a support series to the fia gt championship
Ratel then scrapped gt2 and took the gt1 cars to a world championship and kept gt3 as a support series, that worked fine until he started the blancpain gt series which also runs gt3 cars, when the gt1 cars got too expensive at the end of last year he took gt3 cars and moddeed them to make the cars that currently run in the gt1 championship,
Basically he has started too many series for gt3 cars and tried to expand the championship to world status sending the costs sky high during a recession...hense gt1 only has 18 cars, gt3 only has 14 cars and the whole championship is a joke because no promotors of decent circuits will pay to have the championship there.
If you want proper gt facing, go on YouTube and type in 1997 fia GT championship....you will then see what the series was like before ratel got his grubby little hands on it!
Thanks for the help, really good to get some history on the series. I watched a round of GT3 on motors tv recently and was shocked by the lack of cars on the grid! I too thought that GT racers are spoilt for choice, shame there cant be a single GT3 and GT4 series that can use the more decent circuits for a sports car championship.
Maybe if we rob a few banks we can set something up
Shotgun a 458...I've no problem with there being a GT World Championship but it needs to be with cars that can be raced elsewhere, either GT3 or ACO GTE.
Bin the European GT3 series or make a virtual series by nominating rounds of existing national GT3 series (eg. British GT at Silverstone, Belgian GTs at Spa, French GTs at Nogaro) that foreign teams can make guest appearances against the locals.
Bin the European GT3 series or make a virtual series by nominating rounds of existing national GT3 series (eg. British GT at Silverstone, Belgian GTs at Spa, French GTs at Nogaro) that foreign teams can make guest appearances against the locals.
Fantuzzi said:
Ill give it a youtube!
Thanks for the help, really good to get some history on the series. I watched a round of GT3 on motors tv recently and was shocked by the lack of cars on the grid! I too thought that GT racers are spoilt for choice, shame there cant be a single GT3 and GT4 series that can use the more decent circuits for a sports car championship.
Maybe if we rob a few banks we can set something up
Shotgun a 458...
Or shoot ratel and get someone who can promote a series to sort the mess out...the stupid thing is if he just concentrated on 1 series, say blancpain then it would be awesome!Thanks for the help, really good to get some history on the series. I watched a round of GT3 on motors tv recently and was shocked by the lack of cars on the grid! I too thought that GT racers are spoilt for choice, shame there cant be a single GT3 and GT4 series that can use the more decent circuits for a sports car championship.
Maybe if we rob a few banks we can set something up
Shotgun a 458...37chevy said:
Or shoot ratel and get someone who can promote a series to sort the mess out...the stupid thing is if he just concentrated on 1 series, say blancpain then it would be awesome!
True. But I still want a drive in a 458 GT3...By concentrate his efforts, do you mean to get more cars on the grid, more circuits, better circuits or something else?
Thanks
Edited by Fantuzzi on Monday 14th May 21:43
37chevy said:
Fantuzzi said:
Ill give it a youtube!
Thanks for the help, really good to get some history on the series. I watched a round of GT3 on motors tv recently and was shocked by the lack of cars on the grid! I too thought that GT racers are spoilt for choice, shame there cant be a single GT3 and GT4 series that can use the more decent circuits for a sports car championship.
Maybe if we rob a few banks we can set something up
Shotgun a 458...
Or shoot ratel and get someone who can promote a series to sort the mess out...the stupid thing is if he just concentrated on 1 series, say blancpain then it would be awesome!Thanks for the help, really good to get some history on the series. I watched a round of GT3 on motors tv recently and was shocked by the lack of cars on the grid! I too thought that GT racers are spoilt for choice, shame there cant be a single GT3 and GT4 series that can use the more decent circuits for a sports car championship.
Maybe if we rob a few banks we can set something up
Shotgun a 458...37chevy said:
If you want proper gt facing, go on YouTube and type in 1997 fia GT championship....you will then see what the series was like before ratel got his grubby little hands on it!
That would be the FIA GT Championship born in 1997 from the BPR Global GT Endurance Series (the R in BPR being for Ratel) which was run, for the FIA, by SRO, the Stéphane Ratel Organisation.Yes, the guy has arguably been the catalyst for an initial explosion and then implosion of GT championships, but don't tar him solely with the ruined GT racing brush. The ACO had a pretty large say in the current state of GT racing.
Fantuzzi said:
True. But I still want a drive in a 458 GT3...
By concentrate his efforts, do you mean to get more cars on the grid, more circuits, better circuits or something else?
Thanks
He needs to concentrate on having 1 series not 4, that way you get a bigger grid, more promotion from better circuits etcBy concentrate his efforts, do you mean to get more cars on the grid, more circuits, better circuits or something else?
Thanks
Edited by Fantuzzi on Monday 14th May 21:43
Fantuzzi said:
tux said:
Back when GT3 started costs were designed to be kept to a minimum and the series was really designed to give gentleman drivers who didn't want to race against pros in GT2, GT1 at the time.The official GT3 Europe championship had massive grids but Now every season the cars and costs of running them has gotten more expensive and the European GT3 Championship only has a handful of cars.
Oh ok, Yeah I know about the reason for starting GT3.Didnt know the costs were heading sky high.
How has Ratel made the cost rise out of interest? I know the cars seem to be getting higher price tags, the R8 was 269,000 euros in 2009, now its 329,000.
How did he mess up GT2?
Sorry lots of questions, but I wont to learn miss...
Also, GT3 cars got to the point a while back where they were faster than the so called 'expensive' GT2 cars, at which point it kind of fell apart.
currently, a GT3 car will cost you >£300K to buy and between £50-100K per year to keep it up to date, at 3 years old it's effectively scrap (as it will have been superseded by the new model).
Just how many people have budgets to keep up with this?
Scuffers said:
all the more stupid when you consider that the original target price for GT3 cars was ~£100K (the price of a 996GT3 cup car at the time)
Also, GT3 cars got to the point a while back where they were faster than the so called 'expensive' GT2 cars, at which point it kind of fell apart.
currently, a GT3 car will cost you >£300K to buy and between £50-100K per year to keep it up to date, at 3 years old it's effectively scrap (as it will have been superseded by the new model).
Just how many people have budgets to keep up with this?
RM Monaco sold a LP600 GT3 for 175000 eros, first in proam or gentleman driver class (cant remember which) in the Blancpain series.Also, GT3 cars got to the point a while back where they were faster than the so called 'expensive' GT2 cars, at which point it kind of fell apart.
currently, a GT3 car will cost you >£300K to buy and between £50-100K per year to keep it up to date, at 3 years old it's effectively scrap (as it will have been superseded by the new model).
Just how many people have budgets to keep up with this?
Cheap I thought given the price new!
EDIT-Got price wrong
Edited by Fantuzzi on Tuesday 15th May 19:17
xavierkx250 said:
I went to the GT1 and GT3 races at silverstone last year. Took these pictures of the crashed cars, on my blog here: http://nitroaddiction.co.uk/?p=237 If you like the pics leave a commnet, I'll take more next time! Also watch the video. How to kill a £900k GT1 car!
Unfortunately there won't be a "next time". UK isn't featuring this year at least 
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