The FIA World Council Says No To The GT3 Mosler
Discussion
Thats the headline and personally I think it stinks. They let the Ascari in despite not having sold enough roadcars, but now, because of rival manufacturers opposing it, the Mosler GT3 cars have been stopped from entering. This is despite Martin Short being told in September that they would be allowed! The principle behind this is so annoying. I'd hate to think whats going through Martins head at the moment!
Its at Dailysportscar.com
Apparently it was Jaguar and Aston that caused the problem. Its all about marketing. They didnt want to loose out to Mosler and so they pushed for the GT3 car to be rejected by the FIA. With the go-ahead being originally given by the FIA, I would have thought that Rollcentre could sue for compensation. As things stand, there is no precident for the refusal. Letting Ascari in blew all previous precident out of the water. I guess they're just scared of a little competition.
On the other hand, Mosler have an excellent GT2 engine. Anyone at Silverstone for the British GT this year can see that. Within 30 minutes Ian Flux was 40 seconds in the lead until the saftey car was called out. Then, when he got back in the car for that last 15 minutes, he was still 3-4 seconds a lap quicker than the 430 and Panoz. He actually put in qualifying laps when most cars were starting to struggle! If the race had been 10 minutes longer, then they may have well won. The Mosler is far from down and out!
Apparently it was Jaguar and Aston that caused the problem. Its all about marketing. They didnt want to loose out to Mosler and so they pushed for the GT3 car to be rejected by the FIA. With the go-ahead being originally given by the FIA, I would have thought that Rollcentre could sue for compensation. As things stand, there is no precident for the refusal. Letting Ascari in blew all previous precident out of the water. I guess they're just scared of a little competition.
On the other hand, Mosler have an excellent GT2 engine. Anyone at Silverstone for the British GT this year can see that. Within 30 minutes Ian Flux was 40 seconds in the lead until the saftey car was called out. Then, when he got back in the car for that last 15 minutes, he was still 3-4 seconds a lap quicker than the 430 and Panoz. He actually put in qualifying laps when most cars were starting to struggle! If the race had been 10 minutes longer, then they may have well won. The Mosler is far from down and out!
Edited by Dragaan on Sunday 10th December 20:10
Dragaan, you might want to edit your post a little to remove the DSC article. 
GrahamG might be along in a minute - and you've reproduced a copyrighted article without permission...
With regard to the approval (or lack thereof), it was Stephane Ratel who originally gave it the nod, not the FIA. I agree with the rest of what you say though.
GrahamG might be along in a minute - and you've reproduced a copyrighted article without permission... With regard to the approval (or lack thereof), it was Stephane Ratel who originally gave it the nod, not the FIA. I agree with the rest of what you say though.
Ahonen said:
Dragaan, you might want to edit your post a little to remove the DSC article. GrahamG might be along in a minute - and you've reproduced a copyrighted article without permission...
With regard to the approval (or lack thereof), it was Stephane Ratel who originally gave it the nod, not the FIA. I agree with the rest of what you say though.
GrahamG might be along in a minute - and you've reproduced a copyrighted article without permission... With regard to the approval (or lack thereof), it was Stephane Ratel who originally gave it the nod, not the FIA. I agree with the rest of what you say though.
Thx for that. I've edited the post accordingly. I wasn't aware that it was copyright since the only thing on there with a copyright sign was the picture. As for the approval thing, I was just going by how the article was written. Either way, there should be something in place that stops this sort of thing in the future. After all, its not just a case of slapping some paint on a car for a game (like I do) and then being told no. Its peoples futures at stake. Its not pocket money involved here. I think its possible that alot of other teams will have seen this and trust in the sytem, Stephan or the FIA will have been lost. A decision such as this, apart from it hurting Martin and everyone else involved, could have much further reaching effects due the the principle involved. This sort of thing could seriously harm the GT sport as a whole, or at least change the face of it forever. F1 politics, here we come...
It's pretty crap for all of us really. Our 2007 season was neatly planned out, but now it's in limbo again. There's every chance that we'll be allowed to run in BGT, in GT3, but there aren't too many more options now - apart from the Jesus Pareja-run International GT Open series.
It's such a shame because it's a great car - both to drive and look at - and terrific value for money.
It's such a shame because it's a great car - both to drive and look at - and terrific value for money.
I have just read this in Autosport! So the FIA have let the Ascari in despite only producing 1 or 2 road cars (according to a previous post in 'gassing') - plus it has a carbon tub and then refused the Mosler due to having not produced 200? Ascari say they will only ever produce 50 KZ1's!! Seems like the FIA are applying a different rulebook! Perhaps the manufacturers are giving Ascari a hard time too?
torque wrench said:
Perhaps the manufacturers are giving Ascari a hard time too?
Or they don't consider it a threat...
To be fair, it was Ratel that told Shorty that he should go ahead with the GT3 production as he thought it would go through. It's only now (due to other manufacturers pressure, allegedly) that the FIA have said no.
Hi there,
Took the morning off work today and went to the General Test at Donington.
Was pleased to see the GT3 Mosler being put through its paces, sounds great and looks great such a great shame it will not make it into the FIA GT3 championship. Hopefully it will make it to the grid for the British GT championship.
Here are some pics.
Regards
Tim
Took the morning off work today and went to the General Test at Donington.
Was pleased to see the GT3 Mosler being put through its paces, sounds great and looks great such a great shame it will not make it into the FIA GT3 championship. Hopefully it will make it to the grid for the British GT championship.
Here are some pics.
Regards
Tim
Edited by autofocus on Thursday 14th December 22:20
It was a GT2 last year, but they dropped a GT3 engine in it towards the end of the year (for the Britcar race at Silverstone I believe) if I'm not mistaken. The whole point of them doing that was to take part this year in a class with more competition. I hope they manage to get the car to fit whatever restraints the FIA impose just as long as the car remains competitive.
Its nice that Phil got to drive it though, because if he remains with Trackspeed this year, at least he'll get to know what its like to drive the car infront of him
Its nice that Phil got to drive it though, because if he remains with Trackspeed this year, at least he'll get to know what its like to drive the car infront of him
Sean Edwards said:
Thats one of my team mates this year, Phil Keen, he tested it all day and then went out in the Radical SR9 LMp2 car and an MG got in his way, lots of damage to both 
Like I said above, Mosler would be too fast compared to the other GT3 cars, it is basically a GT2 car...
Like I said above, Mosler would be too fast compared to the other GT3 cars, it is basically a GT2 car...
And he's my ex-number 1 driver, having been a superstar in our Mosler for two years.
Thing is, the Mosler was only as quick around the Silverstone GP circuit as the GT3 Vipers were back in May (1:54s tops), so it's not that fast really. We would also only be running the same power as the Ascari, which is rather less than the Viper, plus the FIA could control the car with tyre compounds and ride heights, as they have with other cars.
The car is the same as the road Mosler and so not as developed as other cars on the grid. The Ascari has considerably more downforce from its vast splitter and sizable wing, while the Aston now features the full GT1 aero kit - offering huge amounts of downforce compared to a Mosler.
We all appreciate that the car looks a bit extreme and has spent much of its time racing against GT2 cars, but the fact is that our car (and those of Balfe and Rollcentre) have all always been just slightly beefed up road cars: same suspension, same aero, same bodywork. Underneath that swoopy body the car is nowhere near as developed as even a 996 RSR - and cars like the Panoz, F430 and 997 RSR are much, much more developed racecars.
It's unfortunate that the FIA has been swayed by objections from certain manufacturers, but we remain optimistic that the car will be eligible for national GT series. The bitterest pill to swallow is that Ascari are in because they were quick off the mark at the championship's inception, giving them a position of strength (and very well done to them, because it's a great car that needs to be raced), while Mosler has been foiled by the popularity of the class.
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