Wednesday 5th May 2010

GT1 World Championship: At The Races In A 370Z

PH competition winner Ben Preece heads to Silverstone in a Zed for a taste of the new FIA GT1 series

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Kudos: 370Z gets 'supercar parking' access

Storm White as a car colour takes some getting used to. Before winning PH's 370Z competition, I'd just not considered myself a white car kind of guy. I'd not driven any Z-Car before either, but this 370Z was specced with the GT Pack, which includes gorgeous 19-inch alloys, so I was eager to go out in it - be it white or anything other colour. It would certainly make an interesting comparison with my rather saggy 911 996 daily driver.

When you get in the 370Z, the driving position and dashboard impress. The Zed's interior is well laid out and built: switches and dials click reassuringly, the DAB radio and sat-nav do what they're told via the touchscreen, and everything except the stability control button is in easy reach.

996 is Ben's everyday drive

The drive to Silverstone (tickets to the first UK round of the new FIA GT1 World Championship were the other part of the prize) made for a balanced test: the A429 Roman road through the Cotswolds, then a leisurely meander eastwards, leading to a very un-leisurely 10-mile blat of dual carriageway. The Zed was specced with 7-speed auto and paddle shift, so I experimented with how to overtake with the best performance-to-noise ratio. The 3.7-litre V6 is unacceptably quiet during steady driving, so I found that two flicks down made the sort of noise I was happier with.

On arrival at Silverstone, and before we could make it to the press centre, a wild-eyed lunatic on a moped thrust a supercar pass through the window and demanded we follow him. No identification asked for; he just clocked the white Zed as something he must lead to the heart of the circuit, where we were park amidst crowds at the back of the pits. Some snapped the sharp-looking 370Z, but most were looking for bigger fish like GT-Rs and the elusive Aston Martin One-77.

GTRs win after Astons are disqualified

The new FIA GT1 World Championship itself is best summed up as a stonkingly exciting series of races that deserves mainstream TV coverage.

Race-spec Nissan GT-Rs fight alongside supercars from your most-wanted list: Aston DB9s, Maserati MC12s, Murcielagos, Corvettes and Ford GTs.

SumoPower's GT-Rs, easily identified by their Union Flag roof, started in fourth and fifth but worked hard to fight off the turquoise MC12s of German team Vitaphone. The GT-Rs were lapping just slightly behind the DB9s and were unable to catch them, but were awarded the win after technical infringements by both the Astons.

Watching the GT1 cars on the longer Silverstone circuit made me question why I've been bothering with Formula One this season. Do I aspire to drive GT1 cars or F1 cars? That's a no-brainer: I love the GT1 cars, each one with its own character and inherent performance differences, and unhampered by tyre and fuel silliness.

Sunday at Silverstone proved that the new GT1 leads to overtaking and excitement, not the attrition of Formula One. I like Monaco and the newer F1 circuits as much as the next man, but Argentina's San Luis circuit (the venue for the season finale) loops a volcanic lake and has me much more excited.

GT1 goes out on Bloomberg TV, but as I've only got Freeview I guess I'll have to watch the rest of the season online.

[Dagnut]

Good point regarding F1 and GT1...so who wrote the piece? It has riggers as author?

[Hongkongfooi]

Good write up! Gt cars are fantastic. well done sumo power of East Sussex!

[steve_n]

I was there on Sunday and thoroughly enjoyed the sound of the GT1 cars. GT3 was also good to watch but the GT1 were another level of loudness and speed and flames and yes it is better than Formula 1.

[ukaskew]

Do we get to find out what the winning entry was?

Bit of a shame it went to a 996 owner, I had (clearly misguided) thoughts that it would go to a petrolhead who for whatever reason is stuck in a family car with little or no chance of ever owning/driving anything remotely 'special'.

[timmo]

I was there Sunday in the Becketts stand - it was so cold

[TheRoadWarrior]

So where's Ben's 60 word entry then? Comeon.. you promised!

[Blayney]

Enjoyed watching the GT1 online, I missed watching "abby dabby" though. Looking forward to the next round.

I still have BTCC + support races and WRC to watch as well.

[Zed Ed]

sure was cold!

agree, better than F1; noise ( esp on the overun ), flames, cars

one team had excellent pit chicks, blue porker one I think, and another team had rented dogs from marilyn manson models.

[Europa1]

Likewise was there on Sunday. Fantastic racing in all 3 classes (agree with previous posts about noise and flames!), but what was also excellent was the accessability - you could wander round the paddock to your heart's content - no FOM stormtroopers keeping us great unwashed away! Good display of road cars in the paddock, plus a teasing Evora Cup car

[alexpa]

Went to three Spa 24 hours races and Silverstone twice of the previous incarnation of the championship- FIA GT. All were good fun. Stéphane's new championship looks like a lot of fun, the format really does deserve mainstream TV coverage. I wouldn't imagine it's that pricey (at all!!), come on Eurosport!

[marcosgt]

ESPN are showing the FIA GT races too (well they did Silverstone including in HD).

It's free if you're on Virgin Media's XL package.

M.

[beeej]

Hope you guys enjoyed the write-up. I loved the prize and am very grateful for it! There's much more to say about the GT-Rs and the GT1 series in general, so if there's a thread running, point me at it.

[pagani1]

I didn't win it either so have to stay in my 20 year old Bertha, but well done Nissan and PistonHeads for doing a competition with such a fab prize.Congrats Beej
What about the next round competition then PH ?

[soad]

Nice write up - good on you for bagging the prize

[Keith Alexander]

I was there on Sunday with swmbo and the three boys we watched the GT1 race from the stands at Luffield and I was shivering from the cold by the end.
It was a great spectacle, I don't have ESPN either but watched the online content on the GT1 web site, they completely missed covering the yellow number 13 becoming a JCB

Mine was the blue supercharged ZT 260 which was rather on its lonesome in the super car, car park..................

[nonuts]

TheRoadWarrior said:

So where's Ben's 60 word entry then? Comeon.. you promised!

+1



Looks like fun racing!

[F1Doom]

I went for all 3 days.

It was my first experience of a race at Silverstone after I took part in the MR2 world record attempt last year (WRA2).

I had a brilliant time and would agree that the experience of GT1 was something to be remembered. It was the loudest thing I have ever experienced and when I tried to record to my HD camera from the Luffield stand it crashed my system. I retired to a quieter location and got some great footage.

I think the exclusion of manufacturers was a master stroke from Ratal.

I will see you all there next year...with thicker gloves this time.

Oh by the way. I am in the beige baseball cap in the top picture clutching my viciously hot coffee.

[Venbar]

You forgot to mention Noel Edmonds! Surely the highlight of the day?

[MSportUK]

Nice write up - my feelings about F1 vs GTs exactly! How can you not be impressed by these monsters?!

[Godzilla]

Unbelievable this series doesn't even get late night coverage on Motors, ITV4 or Eurosport...