End of GTLM in IMSA

[Vette_1978]

Interesting announcement yesterday that as of next year GLTM is no more and is replaced with GTD Pro. The lack of full season GTLM entries has obviously sparked them into what the ACO should have done. What do we need to do to keep the class competitive and within budgets - stick to FIA GT3 spec. Corvette and BMW are understood to have GT3 spec cars for next year, but add in Lambo, Mclaren, Acura, Lexus, Audi etc then the class and racing could be fantastic.

Does this mean the end of Corvette Racing at Le Mans though? Doubt they will travel this year with restrictions on travel and IMSA races not really allowing for any quarantine period. Then next year maybe they are not eligible. I'm sure somebody can confirm the differences between GT3 and LM specs, but could be IMSA produces some classic racing.

[//j17]

Vette_1978 said:

I'm sure somebody can confirm the differences between GT3 and LM specs, but could be IMSA produces some classic racing.

They generally fall into 3 buckets:
1. To ensure a car designed to race for 1 hour can keep going for another 23.
2. To account for Le Mans and the relative impact of pit time. A GTE is less draggy than a GT3 to 'win' on the long Le Mans straights, while losing a bit to a GT3 on the twisty bits. This also tends to mean you can maybe stretch fuel to an extra lap/tyres for an extra stint - and while that doesn't help ina mandatory/tyre only GT3 race pitstop it can be the difference between winning and not in longer, refuling/multi-tyre change races.
3. ACO wanting to be "more". Sometimes a bad thing (some manufacturers don't think it's worth the time/money just for WEC), but sometimes good (who WOULDN'T pick a 650BHP GTE over a 500BHP GT3 - both of which are probably detuned/restricted down from what they could do anyway).

DailySportsCar have an article on the A-M GT4/3/E and the ability/cost of swapping a chassis between them - http://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/10/25/convertin...

[Vette_1978]

//j17 said:

DailySportsCar have an article on the A-M GT4/3/E and the ability/cost of swapping a chassis between them - http://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/10/25/convertin...

Nice one, I'll save that for tomorrow while watching the Rolex.

[FredericRobinson]

//j17 said:

They generally fall into 3 buckets:
1. To ensure a car designed to race for 1 hour can keep going for another 23.

Not sure that's fair, there's only one 24 hour race for GTE, there's 4 major international 24 hour GT3 races, they don't fall to pieces after 60 mins

ETA 2 24 hour GTE races, at least for now

Edited by FredericRobinson on Thursday 11th February 06:59

[Ahonen]

FredericRobinson said:

//j17 said:

They generally fall into 3 buckets:
1. To ensure a car designed to race for 1 hour can keep going for another 23.

Not sure that's fair, there's only one 24 hour race for GTE, there's 4 major international 24 hour GT3 races, they don't fall to pieces after 60 mins

Exactly. Almost all GT3 events are enduros. The poster may have been thinking about the early days of GT3 in around 2006, when they only raced for an hour. Things have moved on a long, long way since then.

[Ahonen]

//j17 said:

They generally fall into 3 buckets:
1. To ensure a car designed to race for 1 hour can keep going for another 23.
2. To account for Le Mans and the relative impact of pit time. A GTE is less draggy than a GT3 to 'win' on the long Le Mans straights, while losing a bit to a GT3 on the twisty bits. This also tends to mean you can maybe stretch fuel to an extra lap/tyres for an extra stint - and while that doesn't help ina mandatory/tyre only GT3 race pitstop it can be the difference between winning and not in longer, refuling/multi-tyre change races.
3. ACO wanting to be "more". Sometimes a bad thing (some manufacturers don't think it's worth the time/money just for WEC), but sometimes good (who WOULDN'T pick a 650BHP GTE over a 500BHP GT3 - both of which are probably detuned/restricted down from what they could do anyway).

DailySportsCar have an article on the A-M GT4/3/E and the ability/cost of swapping a chassis between them - http://www.dailysportscar.com/2018/10/25/convertin...

I'm going to reply to this because it's pretty inaccurate.

1. GT3 cars are endurance cars. Spa 24, Nurburgring 24, Bathurst 12, Daytona 24, Sebring etc etc are all enduros. There are more long distance GT3 races than GTE.
2. GTE cars are a little less draggy, agreed, but really the difference is in cornering potential. GTE cars are lighter by nearly 100kg, for a start, which is worth around 1.2s. In terms of fuel usage I don't have direct consumption differences but GTE cars are limited to something like 55 minutes at LM while the GT3s run 65 minutes at Spa. GT3 cars have larger tanks.
3. GTE cars don't produce 650bhp. They are somewhere in the 550 region, which is a little more than GT3 cars.

The reason GTE has limped on for so long is the ACO's refusal to accept that its time is over. They used to claim that they had proper technical regulations and didn't apply an artificial BoP like GT3, yet now they tweak the BoP far more (between a tiny number of cars) than any GT3 series - they are constantly messing with boost, weight, fuel allowance etc. GTE cars are astonishingly expensive to buy and run but, because of the carrot of a Le Mans entry, they know people will continue to buy them. The cost of a 991 GTE is the better part of double that of a 991 GT3 R.

I wouldn't read too much into that old DSC article about converting a GT3 into a GTE, by the way. That was the idea when they made the prototype GT3 but from what I understand the production versions are very different to the GTE in several ways that mean they can't be changed back and forth. The Ferrari 488 GTE/GT3 variance is supposedly much closer though.

[FredericRobinson]

I'm sure I saw somewhere that GT3s in GT Open were lapping Spa at faster than GTE speeds, so they've the ability to be plenty quick enough, depending on the BOP of the series they run in.

[Vette_1978]

Interesting news on Sportscar365 about Corvette sending one car to race at Portimao and Spa before Le Mans in June. IMSA have moved some races from May to September which frees them up. Excellent news for Le Mans, just need to be able to get out there now.

[Genuine Barn Find]

i just want to see a grid full of GT3 cars fighting it out at Le Mans.....

[Great Dane]

There is that little thing about SRO vs ACO

[FredericRobinson]

GT3s run in loads of non SRO championships, including ACO ones, SRO don't own the formula, not an issue.