129 replies to this topic

[FLB]

Well, it's not the 24H of Dubai, but it's still something:

 

[FLB]

Aaaand we have the first chaotic race incident of the year.

 

 

A tow truck was sent to retrieve a car stuck in a gravel trap... and the tow truck has managed to become stuck in the gravel itself 

[ArnageWRC]

https://www.dailyspo...i-24-hours.html

 

Kalle Rovanpera to make his Sportscar racing debut in the Fuji 24 Hours

[FLB]

[OvDrone]

Earlier today was the finale of the Asian Le Mans Series:



And it seemed that the Racing Gods are fair entities after all, sometimes - as the much loved Mazepin was on his way to win the title in the #99 99 Racing team with Deletraz and Al Harthy but got ill before the race, having to be replaced by Albuquerque. 

Even more so, the #99 failed at winning the title outright even though they got podium for both rounds.


So, all is good with the world.

[juicy sushi]

The new Aston Martin GT3 shows up with enough aero to look like a Class 1 DTM/Super GT car.  Hoping these cars don't wind up like DTM cars and unable to actually race each other.

 

Edited by juicy sushi, 12 February 2024 - 15:31.

[Secretariat]

The new Aston Martin GT3 shows up with enough aero to look like a Class 1 DTM/Super GT car.  Hoping these cars don't wind up like DTM cars and unable to actually race each other.

 

 

Good point. Personally, I think the "GT gods" will get their eventual convergence of rules sets where GT3 becomes all those things.  

[juicy sushi]

I think the hold out will be Super GT in Japan.  It was possible a few years ago, but the manufacturers were not in the right mood to ditch the GT500 cars, and now Nissan and Honda don't have one to use.  Other than that series though, I can't see anywhere else in the world being anything except GT3 or GT4.

[Secretariat]

That's fair. I guess it depends on how the GT3 rules evolve. In today's racing environment, BoP solves all things (not saying that desirable). Oddly enough as far as I understand things, the basic formula of SuperGT is/was a BoP formula. I would not mind seeing more NSX's and RC-F's/Supras running around.

[juicy sushi]

Toyota are doing their own new GT3 Lexus thing, but with the NSX out of production and the GT-R GT3 cars seemingly out of production I don't see any likelihood of that happening.  The GT300 class uses BOP, but the GT500s are pretty much just a spec set of rules and no BOP, just success penalties on particular cars.

[ARTGP]

Honda and Nissan do have something to use. Thet have the Civic type R, and the Z. 

Edited by ARTGP, 12 February 2024 - 17:00.

[Stephane]

Civic gt3, now that would be weird.


The Z makes more sense.

[juicy sushi]

I mean, they are racing the Civic Type-R in GT500, but it’s a silhouette class, so no trouble. Not sure the FIA would ok an FR conversion for a 4-door hatchback in GT3.

 

Edited by juicy sushi, 12 February 2024 - 18:11.

[ARTGP]

I mean, they are racing the Civic Type-R in GT500, but it’s a silhouette class, so no trouble. Not sure the FIA would ok an FR conversion for a 4-door hatchback in GT3.

 

I don't think the BMW M4 or the Ford Mustang have their transmissions in the rear of the car, but the GT3 cars do (the "transaxle").  The engines also moved from "front engine" to "mid-front" engine. 

Edited by ARTGP, 12 February 2024 - 18:11.

[juicy sushi]

I don't think the BMW M4 or the Ford Mustang have their transmissions in the rear of the car, but the GT3 cars do.  The engines also moved from "front engine" to "mid-front" engine. 

 

Yes, but this is a bit more than that.  It's removing the front drive shafts, turning the engine 90 degrees, adding a prop shaft and then creating a rear axle that never existed.  The Civic doesn't even have an AWD version they could claim to be converting from.  It's front-wheel drive only.  No one's ever asked to do that much before, and I don't know if there would be the appetite to allow it.

 

On top of that, I am honestly not sure how eager Honda would be to try getting 550hp out of that 2 litre turbo for 24 hours.  They might not feel that it's a remotely viable option.

[ARTGP]

Yes, but this is a bit more than that.  It's removing the front drive shafts, turning the engine 90 degrees, adding a prop shaft and then creating a rear axle that never existed.  

 

Yes it's an extreme case, but they have already been permitted to do it in Japan.  Honda may well put out a homologation special type R (with AWD) just for this purpose. Toyota did something similar with the GR yaris. 

 

The CR-V can be had with AWD, and that platform shares with the Civic iirc so the mechanical bits are already there. 

Edited by ARTGP, 12 February 2024 - 18:36.

[juicy sushi]

They never were permitted to do that in Japan,  The GT500 class use Class 1 rules, so it's a front-engine, rear-wheel drive monocoque with silhouette bodywork on top.  The NSX that ran in GT500 for the last 3 years also had the engine up front, even though the production NSX had the engine behind the driver.  This would be seeking to build a silhouette car in a non-silhouette class.  It would be a very big change.  The CRV does have an AWD version on paper, but less than 5% of the power goes to the rear, according to dyno testing.  Those are not parts they could fit on the Type-R, so if they wanted to do an AWD version, the parts would need to be developed separately.

 

I just don't see this one happening.  I think Honda might be better off developing a new NSX or S that could be developed into a GT3 car, but the sales of the 2nd generation NSX were so bad we're probably not going to see anything like that from Honda for a decade at least.

[ezequiel]

Bring back the Accord coupé

 

(Nevermind, it was FWD too)

Edited by ezequiel, 12 February 2024 - 19:06.

[ARTGP]

They never were permitted to do that in Japan,  The GT500 class use Class 1 rules, so it's a front-engine, rear-wheel drive monocoque with silhouette bodywork on top.  The NSX that ran in GT500 for the last 3 years also had the engine up front, even though the production NSX had the engine behind the driver.  This would be seeking to build a silhouette car in a non-silhouette class.  It would be a very big change.  The CRV does have an AWD version on paper, but less than 5% of the power goes to the rear, according to dyno testing.  Those are not parts they could fit on the Type-R, so if they wanted to do an AWD version, the parts would need to be developed separately.

 

I just don't see this one happening.  I think Honda might be better off developing a new NSX or S that could be developed into a GT3 car, but the sales of the 2nd generation NSX were so bad we're probably not going to see anything like that from Honda for a decade at least.

 

I agree, it's not happening. It isn't appealing and Honda prefer to spend all their money on F1. 

 

Regarding the AWD thing, they aren't going to drop a CR-V drivetrain in a race car. I only mentioned it because it provides the basis for a "rear wheel drive origins" argument. 

Edited by ARTGP, 12 February 2024 - 19:23.

[Stephane]

I mean, they are racing the Civic Type-R in GT500, but it’s a silhouette class, so no trouble. Not sure the FIA would ok an FR conversion for a 4-door hatchback in GT3.

 

 

Yeah, i know. It's just the concept that baffles me, when i remmeber my first Civic. Nothing close to a GT.

[Secretariat]

I will circle back to the points of (a) Aston Martin GT3 aerodynamics giving Class 1 vibes and (b) whether we will see future/additional convergence in the GT category. In an article last year, it appears they have not given up on trying. Perhaps the thread can expand to 2024 and beyond?

 

https://www.motorspo...-cars/10460135/

[FLB]

[FLB]

[ANF]

A 29-car field will tackle the race, with the #50 KTM XBOW withdrawn after a Practice 6 crash into Forrest's Elbow for Trent Harrison.

Starting grid: 2024 Repco Bathurst 12 Hour

#32 Team WRT BMW (D.Vanthoor/S.van der Linde/C.Weerts)

#888 National Storage Mercedes-AMG (B.Feeney/W.Brown/M.Grenier)

#130 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG (M.Engel/D.Reynolds/F.Fraga)

#912 Manthey EMA Porsche (M.Campbell/L.Vanthoor/A.Güven)

#75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes-AMG (K.Habul/J.Gounon/L.Stolz)

#2 KFC/Jamec Team MPC Audi (B.Schumacher/M.Winkelhock/R.Feller)

#22 Wash It/Jamec Team MPC Audi (L.Talbot/K.van der Linde/C.Haase)

#46 Team WRT BMW (V. Rossi/M.Martin/R.Marciello)

#912 The Bend Manthey EMA Porsche (Y.Shahin/H.King/A.Picariello)

#88 Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG (P.Jefri Ibrahim/J.Love/J.Whincup)

#77 Craft Bamboo Mercedes-AMG (D.Juncadella/J.Ojeda/M.Götz)

#9 Hallmarc Team MPC Audi (L.Holdsworth/D.Fiore/M.Cini)

#222 STM Mercedes-AMG (C.Waters/T.Randle/C.Lowndes)

#48 M Motorsport Mercedes-AMG (G.Wood/J.Le Brocq/G.Walden/J.McMillan)

#44 Valmont Racing Audi (M.Zalloua/S.Pires/L.Youlden/B.Shiels)

#93 Wall Racing Lamborghini (T.D'Alberto/D.Wall/G.Denyer/A.Deitz)

#47 Supabarn Mercedes-AMG (J.Koundouris/T.Koundouris/D.Russell /J.Webb)

#13 Phantom Global Racing Porsche (B.Buus/J.Evans/J.Eriksson)

#27 Heart of Racing by SPS Mercedes-AMG (I.James/R.Gunn/A.Riberas)

#91 Wheels FX Racing MARC II V8 (K.Kassulke/H.Morrall/C.McLeod/T.Slade)

#111 MRA Motorsport/111 Racing MARC II (D.Currie/A.Donaldson/R.Gray)

#10 Supaglass Racing IRC GT (J.Holinger/N.Percat/C.Hill)

#702 IRC GT IRC (D.Stutterd/N.Morris/P.Tracy/M.Twigg)

#19 Team Nineteen Mercedes-AMG GT4 (M.Griffith/A.Christoudolou/D.Bilski)

#25 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 (C.Mostert/M.Flack/J.Bryan)

#701 Vortex 1.0 (L.Amrouche/J.Boilot/P.Bonnel)

#230 Method Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 (T.Hayman/T.McLennan/E.Schutte)

#56 Ginetta Australia Ginetta GT4 (P. Buccini/A.Zerefos/C.White/O.Hizzey)

#20 T2 Racing/Localsearch IRC GT (D.Jileson/A.Hargraves/C.Sbirrazzoul)

https://www.bathurst...athurst-12-hour

[Gemini]

yes, yes, yes!

 

one of my favourite events every year

 

brutal to watch in CET time zone, but Mount Panorama is probably one of the top 3 greatest tracks on earth, so worth red eyes tomorrow morning    

[FLB]

[AustinF1]

VR46, baby.

[OvDrone]

Oh damn, I completely forgot about this. For shame.

Thanks for posting it, FLB.

I do have to catch up on some sleep after I am done being downtown so have to check the highlights later.

[azza200]

good race so far but Covid is still effecting this race badly its good its a slightly bigger grid then last year but i wish it was a bigger field and more international drivers like it did around its peak around 8-10 years ago. 

Edited by azza200, 17 February 2024 - 21:40.

[krapmeister]

Yeah it's a bit of a shadow of it's former self unfortunately. Issue appears to be shipping costs and timescales. I thought they had moved the race to later in the year, to give them more time from other events like the Daytona 24hr and allow international teams to get here but it's back on its traditional Feb slot.

[azza200]

Also the 4-5 Championship thing idea has been bit of a failure the only race now which gets the biggest grids is the SPA 24 hrs & the insane Nurburg 24 hours the rest are 20+ cars at other races sometimes less. The Kyalami race was good but the thunderstorms effected those few races and it got canned the Suzuka race had potential but the coverage and commenters both times were awful and made the race unwatchable for me anyway. 

 

It is a shame the shipping costs and other issues are effecting the race considering its a great track and the event produces one of the best races of the year. 

[paulb]

That was awkward Ginetta. What a doofus.

[Dan333SP]

Vale is right with Vanthoor, looking good!

[krapmeister]

Looking like it might rain soon!

[jonpollak]

Good morning from Tokyo…

It’s now raining big fat drops … safety car !!
Jp

[juicy sushi]

Ohayo gozaimasu. Grab some coffee and grilled fish

[paulb]

Is 702 Paul Tracy?

[FLB]

Is 702 Paul Tracy?

Yup!

 

Paul Tracy returning to Bathurst 12 Hour - Speedcafe.com

[paulb]

Yup!

 

Paul Tracy returning to Bathurst 12 Hour - Speedcafe.com

 

I guess should have noticed by the stellar recovery from the initial hit.

[ARTGP]

This is some restart 

[krapmeister]

Nothing like a but of weather to spice things up

[jonpollak]

Came back from breakfast and it’s pouring again.

PS. Smoked fish was superb

Jp

[krapmeister]

GG Cam Waters... hero or zero move there

Edit: zero move it is

Edited by krapmeister, 18 February 2024 - 02:36.

[krapmeister]

Diabolical conditions at McPhillamy and Skyline

[juicy sushi]

Campbell with a hero drive.

Edited by juicy sushi, 18 February 2024 - 02:38.

[paulb]

Campbell with a hero drive.

 

Hope he doesn’t get hit with a penalty for 3 consecutive stints.

[juicy sushi]

He won’t be the only one, but it seems to be time driven, not number of times in pits.

[juicy sushi]

Not sure why we still have a safety car.

[krapmeister]

The time it takes to clear the safety car is a real blight on motorsport these days - sportscar/GT racing seems particularly bad for it as well...

[juicy sushi]

Yeah, it’s definitely really bad in sports cars.