Thursday 10th April 2008

British GT: The Cars

PH looks at the differences between a road car and a race car

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One of the big draws of the Avon Tyres British GT Championship is the fact that the cars look very similar to those you might see on the road. But how far removed are they under the skin?

As part of our coverage of the 2008 season we contacted the teams to find out the difference between a road car and a race car. This is what we found out:

[Dr G]

Anyone for a game of Top Trumps?

[bruciebonuz]

One of each delivered to my house please.

[Strangely Brown]

What kind of audience do you think you have to run articles about the difference between a road car and a race car? Jeez, talk about dumbing down.

[wl606]

The Gallardo goes from 4 to 2 wheel drive. That seems like quite a major change; surprised it's allowed.

[Polarbert]

is the fact that the cars look very similar to those you might see on the road. But how far removed are they under the skin?



No st sherlock!

[hellem]

What's the point of all that information without saying what weight they are in race trim.

[Ahonen]

hellem said:

What's the point of all that information without saying what weight they are in race trim.

430: 1219kg + 40kg ballast
Gallardo: 1202kg + 60kg
911: 1150kg + er, not sure. 0 I think.
Ascari: 1200kg + 100
Aston: 1285kg + 0
Viper: 1315kg + 0

The Mosler, not included on the above list, was ballasted up to a startling 1360kg last year.

Those weights look quite high, but the balancing of performance in GT3 means there's little point in the cars weighing less as they'll only be ballasted up even more with a big chunk of lead in the passenger seat.

What the above doesn't make clear, but is probably trying to get across, is that the cars are very similar to road cars. We run 430s and a Lambo and, aside from the obvious racing bits and things like centrelock wheels etc, they're both very, very close to road spec.

GT2 and GT1 cars are vastly different to their road car brethren, but GT3 cars are only lightly modified, which makes their speed all the more impressive.

[Ahonen]

wl606 said:

The Gallardo goes from 4 to 2 wheel drive. That seems like quite a major change; surprised it's allowed.

4WD isn't legal in GT racing. The racecar still has its engine mounted off centre because of the road car's 4WD transmission, though - which looks quite peculiar when you first see it.

[E38]

Are these just scans from the programme?

[flattotheboards]

wl606 said:

The Gallardo goes from 4 to 2 wheel drive. That seems like quite a major change; surprised it's allowed.

Shame Gallardos arent normally RWD

[lord summerisle]

E38 said:

Are these just scans from the programme?

looks like whats handed out in the press pack at the Media day....

[sniff petrol]

Can anyone tell me why the Vipers don't have any side windows in them? Must have been a bit chilly in the snow at Oulton Park 2 weeks ago.

[paulie-mafia]

Oh man, this is just lazy - you just put up some photocopies from Autocar or something!

Write something proper!!

[Gizmo535]

flattotheboards said:

wl606 said:

The Gallardo goes from 4 to 2 wheel drive. That seems like quite a major change; surprised it's allowed.

Shame Gallardos arent normally RWD

Wonder how easy it would be to convert one...

[Viper]

sniff petrol said:

Can anyone tell me why the Vipers don't have any side windows in them? Must have been a bit chilly in the snow at Oulton Park 2 weeks ago.

they arent fitted at the factory, guess the majority being sold to the US there isnt much need for them, they do get a bit hot inside

i was chatting to the Brookspeed engineer at Oulton he said their viper was 35kgs over the weight limit, loosing a few kgs through missing windows may help a bit, cant see where else they can loose that amount of weight from though

having been in coupe coupe around silverstone, its nothing like my road car, the only thing in common is the name ! i dont have a £20k carbon fibre body, a £10K gearbox, or £8K of carbon brakes, the list goes on. Only a fool would say any of these race cars are anything close to their road going cousins

Edited by Viper on Wednesday 9th April 23:03

[Olf]

This isn't all your own work is it?

[Ravell]

Gizmo535 said:

flattotheboards said:

wl606 said:

The Gallardo goes from 4 to 2 wheel drive. That seems like quite a major change; surprised it's allowed.

Shame Gallardos arent normally RWD

Wonder how easy it would be to convert one...

Shouldn't be too hard. Just take out the front drive running gear, replace the centre differential with something solid and plug the open holes. At most some of teh output shafts of the gearbox would need an extra support bearing put in, but only if part of their support was removed with the removal of the front drive machanism.

[10 Pence Short]

What the article doesn't mention is that the 'small' modifications cost many thousands of pounds.

If I remember rightly Phil Burton spent more than £30k upgrading his original 360 Challenge car to GT3 spec.

[dougalAgain]

"The only mechanical modification the teams are allowed to make are to the suspension, engine and gearbox"

...and fit a roll cage, strip the interior, change the wheels, change the bodywork to carbon fibre and add an aero pack.

So basically they can change virtually everything.

Edited by dougalAgain on Thursday 10th April 09:27

[Ahonen]

dougalAgain said:

"The only mechanical modification the teams are allowed to make are to the suspension, engine and gearbox"

...and fit a roll cage, change the wheels, change the bodywork to carbon fibre and add an aero pack.

So basically they can change virtually everything.

The teams aren't allowed to make any modifications as such. The cars are developed by the manufacturer's nominated GT3 builder and the specification is finalised by the homologation form.

The original PH article is pretty rubbish as it doesn't really explain how GT3 works.