Friday 19th December 2003

2004 British GT Championship

New season with a new organiser

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The big change for 2004 in British GTs is actually at the top. Frenchman Stephan Ratel has been brought in to organise the series. Ratel has done great things for GTs abroad, ramping up the French series from a 20 car grid to a 60 car grid in a few years. He's also promoted the successful FIA GT championship so he knows his onions.

Ratel's emphasis is firmly on making GT racing as cost effective and as accessible as possible. In the launch on Thursday night he made it clear that he believes GT racing is about seeing 'Dream' cars on the circuit battling it out - i.e. the Porsches, Lambos, Vipers of this world. Hot hatches certainly don't fall within his vision of what GT racing should be about.

The 2004 season will be made up of sixteen rounds at eight events:

April 3/4	Donington	1 & 2
May 8/9	Mondello Park, Ireland	3 & 4
June 5/6	Snetterton	5 & 6
June 19/20	Castle Combe	7 & 8
July 17/18	Oulton Park	9 & 10
August 13/14/15	Silverstone*	11 & 12
August 29/30  (bank holiday)	Thruxton	13 & 14
October 1/2/3	Brands Hatch	15 & 16

* Supporting the Le Mans Endurance Series 1000km

There will be three classes in 2004. GT for monster cars like the Lister, Saleen and Porsche GT2 etc, all producing 600bhp, N-GT for less powerful (400bhp) TVRs, Moslers, Ferraris etc, and the GT Cup for smaller cars such as the VX220's, Elises.

Each meeting will consist of two 45 minute free practices, two 20 minute qualifying periods and two sixty minute races (one on each day). Up to 35 cars will be accepted for the forthcoming season.

The boat's been rocked a bit since Ratel's appointment particularly as some teams found that their cars weren't eligible only from articles in the press. Teething troubles aside though we can expect Ratel to have a very positive effect on the series and hopefully attract some serious machinery and large grids back to British circuits. We wish him every success.

[murcielago]

2004 is gonna be a whole lot different to 2003!
But one major mistake I think.
Didn't it say that the TVR's are a class below the top class with the Ferraris, Porsches and Lambos? The TVR's, Moslers etc won't get as much attention from the press as last year will they? And it was great seeing TVR Vs. Mosler this season
Apart from that I like it

[PetrolTed]

Ok, I've modified my text a bit to clear things up as I confused matters a little

It's my understanding that the class structure isn't wildly different to this year although regulations within those classes are slightly different.

GT will be the big boys (if they choose to come out and play) such as Listers, Saleens, Ferrari F40s, Vipers, Porsche GT2, Marcos LM600 and cars with 600 bhp. If the Typhon could manage that then I'm sure it would be allowed in but I don't know of any plans to race it.

GTO/GTN will be the 400bhp Ferraris 360s, T400R etc.

GT Cup will be Elise, VX220, Morgan etc.

There are some cars such as Porsche GT3s and Ferarri 360s which depending on setup seem to fall into either GTO or GT Cup. That may apply to the Sagaris, I'm not sure yet.

[Steve_T]

Would expect TVRs to be in with 360s and 911s. Lambo up against the 575 and perhaps the new porker GT?

[PetrolTed]

I expect it will take another 2-3 years before we start seeing more/any 600bhp GT cars back in the series.

[hansgerd]

Thanks for the dates Ted. Two races per weekend sounds interesting, Ratel is surely on the right route. Shame Spa-Francorchamps isn't on the schedule. The August weekend together with the LMES will be fun though, it's noted in my calendar. Are the Tuscan Challenge dates out yet ?

[jedi]

I'll take the dates with a pinch of salt at the moment due to the impending sale of Brands, Snetterton, Oulton and Croft. Also with the French GP in question (could affect the date of British GP, thus throwing the whole of the UK's motorsport timetable into a spin) the huge matrix that defines the UK's motorsport timetable could still change. Didnt realise how complex the timetabling was until the other day (everything is linked in someway, so its more like train timetabling than simple date organising).

Hopefully I'll be there at a couple of the events in my single seater in unofficial supporting races that make up the rest of the weekend. Mondello Park should be good )

Roll on 2004.

[Speedy7]

I was speaking to a Driver/Owner yesterday who runs a few races each year in British GT and he is chasing to buy Ferrari 550 GT to run in the GT class for 2004

>> Edited by Speedy7 on Friday 19th December 12:37

[griff2be]

Wot no Croft?!

[kjr]

[quote] hopefully attract some serious machinery and large grids back to British circuits.[/quote]

No Knockhill this year - so that will be the English GT championship at English circuits.

KJR

Sorry, just spotted the Mondello Park event. Still not happy about dropping Knockhill.

>> Edited by kjr on Friday 19th December 15:16

[mutley]

IMO the 2004 season sucks already, no Spa! But then Ratel doesn't want anything to endanger his other series LMES/FIA-GT. This man has too much of a monopoly on European endurance racing for my liking. I read that he will be happy if only 4 top class cars. As for 2 races over a weekend, and with all the Free practice and qualifying, there's not a lot of time for any other practice sessions, so look forward to long boring Saturdays.

The series was just working out nicely when we find out we are having to start from scratch AGAIN!

(Sorry just venting off some steam over this)

[john75]

If British GT racing was type of food then I am now very hungary for the new improved dish of the day.

[The DJ 27]

Personally I like it. Last year was very good, but it was missing something. With the return of the GT class,we have the prospect of Lister (x2 hopefully) vs Saleen (again, x2 hopefully), a possible Ferrari 550, a Stealth,Colin Blower may return with his Ultima, and I would imagine theres a few 911 GT2 owners who would love a go at British GT. Also, Rupert Lewin races a stunning, FIA GT spec Porsche 996 GT2 in the Porsche Open, which would look great in British GT. I think its got great promise, and grids are only going to get bigger as the season goes on. Bear in mind at Donington last year, 13 cars started the race.

[john75]

At least we are all now singing form the same songsheet now and the only winner can be British Motorsport.

[BWhight]

As a small team entering the cup-class in '04, we feel somewhat annoyed by recent events. For a start, we do not have the man-power to catch up the 2months development time we have lost while the powers that be make up the rules. To top this, they haven't changed the cup-class hardly at all! Why couldnt we have been told this 2 months ago. Additionally, the general feeling is that the cup class will not continue after '04, but may have its own races. Problem with that being people want to be in the main GT races, so it won't have the profile/TV coverage.

We (Gavan Kershaw & Me) will still be there in '04 though, in what was the green/yellow elise of '03. Lots of work to try and finish in time for donington, including a new paint job.

All in all, im disappointed, but appreciate that from a spectators point of view the new regs are an improvement.

We have space on the car for sponsorship if anyone in interested....

Barrie Whight

[PetrolTed]

Good luck Barrie. I'll be sure to come over and say hello.

[yellow peril]

Thanks for that info PT.

I get a bit confused with what car is classified in which group...that helps to sort it.

Although I would agree about taking the dates lightly at this stage...

Last year I planned three dates way ahead of time for Mid Essex runs out and had to change plans when the dates were changed!!!!

Still....at least we will have TVRs back in the fold whereas at one point it didn't seem as if they would be eligable.

Just hope the Tuscan Challenge will run on the same event dates as the GT spread, otherwise I'm in for a very hectic schedule with the Mid Essex TVRcc region.

I'm looking forward to some interesting racing next year.....

.....//P//

[Griffmeister]

Not much going on for us in the 'South' of the country then until mid June. Thats a long time to wait for the circus to arrive in town.

Whatever happened to the big season opener at Silverstone which blew away the winter cobwebs ?

Its really frustrating, I cant make LeMans this year and the Silverstone FIA GT meet falls right in the middle of my summer holiday. Then, theres no Spa to go to instead.

So far not impressed.

Matt

[williamball]

Griffmeister said:

Not much going on for us in the 'South' of the country then until mid June.

And sod-all for us in the North/Scotland at all, with no Knockhill or Croft. Furthest North is Oulton I guess...

WB

[Alan Green]

jedi said:

I'll take the dates with a pinch of salt at the moment due to the impending sale of Brands, Snetterton, Oulton and Croft.

Jedi, Croft is nothing to do with the Brands group. Cadwell is their other circuit.

As for the GTs not coming to Croft they'll be missed, but if they've got so big that they can't take the hairpin then ok, bye, have a nice time down south. No fun just having sprint races for these cars anyway.

Al.

[PetrolTed]

Heard on the grapevine that Tuscans have been confirmed as being one of the support races for GT/F3.