British GTs this year

[chevronb37]

I've heard entries are few and far between this year. Anyone know the truth?

[mattsayle]

There were 11 (Yes, 11) cars out at the media day. That is it. To make up for that, however, the Ford GT is doing a full campaign (supposdly)

[TimCrighton]

Not all of the 11 cars that were out have full budgets in place for the season so i'd be expecting a couple of casualties from that perhaps - but equally perhaps picking up a couple of extra too but I think they'll be struggling to get more than mid teens grids.

Interesting on the other foot though FIA GT4's seems to be doing really well - perhaps something to do with the facts it works out at only about 5-10k more to do FIA GT4 cup than doing British GT4 - I know which I'd sooner be doing!

[chevronb37]

Eek. That's not a great turn-out. I'm looking forward to seeing the Ford GT and the G50-Z, but 11 cars isn't going to make for a stunning series. Last year had such a good entry as well. Are you running this year, Tim?

[TimCrighton]

Sadly I think not at this stage. I know the Beechdean GT4 was out at the media day but I'm not sure that is a season long tie up. It is a really tough climate to secure funding and for guys, like me, who fund racing purely through sponsorship its almost non existant and those seats are being taken by those with family or connected budgets - unfortunately as they say that is life and not much I can do about that! Hopefully things will have improved for next year and I might pick up a few rides during this year to tide me through. I had planned to run in the Supercopa but unfortunately thats been pulled after a title sponsor couldn't be secured. I'm still talking to a couple of people about options so we'll see what happens but I think its going to be a tough season accross the board sadly. Still chin up though

Edited by TimCrighton on Thursday 2nd April 18:18

[chevronb37]

Sorry to hear about that, mate. Never easy finding sponsorship at the best of times, by all accounts. Any chance of picking up some drives in historics to keep you sharp? Best of luck with it anyway. I'll be at Oulton Park for the GTs anyway if you're about.

[adam24]

Here are some of my pics from the Media Day on Tuesday... I was a little disappointed not to see any Lambo's this year and suprised to see less F430s etc however the Ascari, FGT & DBRS9 made up for it . Anyway, I have to say that the noise from the DBRS9 is quite simply epic! I sat listening to it tear round the track on it's own towards the end of the testing day, it made me think of my times at Le Mans. I'm now uploading a vid so will add the link once uploaded...































Still an exciting line up..

[autofocus]

Hi there,

Headed off to Silverstone today for the Media Day to celebrate the launch of the 2009 British GT season.

Weather was very changeable, mainly overcast with the odd burst of sunshine.

The credit crunch has obviously hit the series quite hard with only 7xGT3 and 4xGT4 spec cars attending today. The Ginetta G50Z was also present, it sounded superb and went really well.

The series organisers reckon to have 20 cars on the grid for the first race at Oulton Park over the Easter Weekend. Need to get some Lambos out there, and also would be nice to have a 911 or two.

Anyway onto the pics: -

Lets start with that superb Ginetta G50Z



Aston and Ascari on the start/finish straight



Ford GT - stunning newcomer for the full 2009 season



With only 11 cars on track it was hard to get two in the same shot



Ascari heading for Bridge



Do like that Ginetta



Cheeky shot of Stuart Halls helmet



2nd Barwell Aston Martin - stunning



Lone Ferrari F430 should be joined by a couple more



Another Ford GT pic



Ginetta G50 Zytek - wow !!



KTM joins the series for 2009



Another season debutant Rollcentre Mosler GT3 sponsored by Momo



Probably my favourite shot of the day




Regards

Tim

[b8ste]

great pics tim and adam cant wait for donnington if they actually get to race there!!

Edited by b8ste on Friday 3rd April 03:44

Edited by b8ste on Friday 3rd April 03:46

[Broady88]

Have noticed on the official site(http://www.britishgt.com/drivers.php)that Jody Firth & Nigel Moore are entering a GT4 Ginetta run by Team WFR. IIRC Jody was the team Mgr @ Embassy and their LMP2 car was designated WFR01 - is Team WFR a reincarnation of Embassy or am I making 2+2=105!!

[PDV]

Embassy is no more and all the assets are up for auction. I think WFR is Jody doing something entirely seperate AFAIK

[Broady88]

Appreciate that Embassy is no more but wouldn't Jonathan have somesort of "intellectual copyright" on WFR?? I find it hard to believe Jody would go with that as a name without some sort of OK from him. Perhaps someone could pop round and find out for us at Oulton Pk this weekend.

[GrahamG]

There were actually 16 GT cars at Silverstone for the media day all told though not all took to the track and only a minority of them are confirmed for the full season (and as of the end of last week the Ford wasn't one of them)

There will be a couple of Lambos in the field, again though unlikely for the full season plus four 430s, only one of which was at the media day.

[Graham]

I see only 16 cars showing on the provisional entry list and 5 of them are Ginetta's ( 1*G50z) you can see why they let the G50's back in gt4!!!!

What was the britcar grid

[steaming2uk]

Graham said:

I see only 16 cars showing on the provisional entry list and 5 of them are Ginetta's ( 1*G50z) you can see why they let the G50's back in gt4!!!!

What was the britcar grid

1st. race, at Silverstone, there were 28 starters for the GT race.

Also there,observing, were a few British GT 'pilotes'!

[touring fan]

If there are more than about 12 or 13 cars doing the full season, then I would be amazed.

So how come the credit crunch has hit British Gt's far harder than other top-line UK motorsport? Its going to be nearly 50% down in permanent competitors.

But the BTCC still has a very healthy entry, only a couple down on last year and even the Porsche Carrera Cup has more competitors than it has had for many years.

I reckon the answer must be a combination of the credit crunch and some general disatisfaction with the way the BGT championship is being run?

[Paul O'Neill]

Such a shame.

It was a fantastic championship to be involved in last year. I personally think the grids will steadily get bigger. At least the cars and drivers in it at the moment of of a high standard.

[GrahamG]

touring fan said:

If there are more than about 12 or 13 cars doing the full season, then I would be amazed.

So how come the credit crunch has hit British Gt's far harder than other top-line UK motorsport? Its going to be nearly 50% down in permanent competitors.

But the BTCC still has a very healthy entry, only a couple down on last year and even the Porsche Carrera Cup has more competitors than it has had for many years.

I reckon the answer must be a combination of the credit crunch and some general disatisfaction with the way the BGT championship is being run?

And the fact that there are a couple of cheaper places to run much the same cars on many of the same circuits with Britcar and GT Cup

[Piglet]

GrahamG said:

touring fan said:

If there are more than about 12 or 13 cars doing the full season, then I would be amazed.

So how come the credit crunch has hit British Gt's far harder than other top-line UK motorsport? Its going to be nearly 50% down in permanent competitors.

But the BTCC still has a very healthy entry, only a couple down on last year and even the Porsche Carrera Cup has more competitors than it has had for many years.

I reckon the answer must be a combination of the credit crunch and some general disatisfaction with the way the BGT championship is being run?

And the fact that there are a couple of cheaper places to run much the same cars on many of the same circuits with Britcar and GT Cup

...I was just wondering if it was rude to say that we had 36 cars lined up for the MSVR GT Cup at Donny that is now being moved to Silverstone!

I thought BGT was really disappointing at Oulton, it's normally a great start to the season and the rush of the first GT start really sets me up for the year.

[SimonY]

touring fan said:

If there are more than about 12 or 13 cars doing the full season, then I would be amazed.

So how come the credit crunch has hit British Gt's far harder than other top-line UK motorsport? Its going to be nearly 50% down in permanent competitors.

But the BTCC still has a very healthy entry, only a couple down on last year and even the Porsche Carrera Cup has more competitors than it has had for many years.

I reckon the answer must be a combination of the credit crunch and some general disatisfaction with the way the BGT championship is being run?

One problem in my view is that the GT4 (~Ginetta) and Supersports classes have the opposite effect that they are supposed to. I.e. instead of bolstering grid sizes and providing a stepping stone to GT3 they actually detract from what is marketed as a semi-pro championship. In 2007 when the GT3 grid appeared healthy and the GT Cup cars were being phased out I was looking forward to the prospect of an all GT3 grid in 2008, and I think in this mode the championship would have been in better shape than it is now.