In The World Of Endurance GT Racing A Small Thing Can Make You Go Faster And Therefore Can Make The Difference Between Winning And Finish Second
posted in Car Insurance Savings |There are three categories of GT motorcars. These are GT1, GT2 and GT3 and the following are all motorcars. Unlike LMP motorcars in endurance races, they look like the vehicles you can buy from the car showroom. These GT motorcars are not based on the average vehicles you see on the roads, but on the best range sports vehicles, like Porsche 911′s, Aston Martin, and Ferrari’s. These types of vehicles are not cheap to obtain and turning them into race winning motorcars can cost 10’s of millions of pounds. It would be very difficult to go through all the design specifications of GT1, GT2 and GT3 categories without writing a heavy book, but here is short description of what is allowed in each category of GT motorcars.
GT1 motorcars are the fastest of all the GT categories, these motorcars have to be based on production vehicles where at least 25 vehicles a year are sold. These vehicles are heavily adapted to make them into race cars, and in this category teams are allowed to use exotic materials, the biggest wings, the biggest tyres and the biggest breaks. All of this makes GT1 motorcars, the fastest of all GT motorcars, and only have the same shape as the vehicles and the wiper blades are the same as the original vehicle.
GT2 motorcars are very similar to GT1 motorcars, they also have to be based on production vehicles. However, they are not allowed to use exotic materials in the construction, the wings are also smaller as are the wheels and the brakes. This results in a heavier race car with less aerodynamic and mechanical grip, which is therefore slower round a circuits. These motorcars are however less costly to develop and run, making them a good alternative for teams with a smaller budget.
GT3 motorcars are basically road going vehicles that have had all the seats and other luxuries stripped out. Then the one race seat is added along with an FIA approved fuel tank, seat belts and roll cage. This is the cheapest category of GT motorcars to develop and run. All categories of GT motorcars must remain road legal vehicles, this means that all the lights and wiper blades must all work after being race converted, although you would not be able to use these motorcars on the road without first fitting some road legal tyres, as slick racing tyres do not meet the minimum 1.6 mm legal requirements.
To finish first in any of the GT categories it takes a lot of attention to detail and not one thing can be overlooked, just take the wiper blades for example. It is vital to make sure the wiper blades are in good condition, just in case it rains during the race, and replacement wiper blades will have to be fitted to the race car regularly, maybe as often as once a race weekend. The replacement wiper blades that are generally used are called flat wiper blades, these wiper blades could make the difference between first place and finish second. How could you think this is possible, unless the race was wet and the flat wiper blades were essential to enable the driver to see? But in a dry race the flat wiper blades could also make the difference and this is because of their frameless design, which is lays closer to the windshield giving an aerodynamic advantage over historic wiper blades. This advantage may only be slit but it’s all the small things that lead to finishing first. The flat wiper blades can make the airflow over the windshield smoother, resulting in a little bit more speed, a bit more down force from the wings and a bit of better fuel economy. All of which over standard wiper blades could make a lot of difference, and this difference could be the difference between first place and finish second.