FIA GT4 2008: Ditjes en datjes......ondere andere gesteggel om Ginetta!

[Mark]

Heerlijk, ik weet niet hoe ze het voor elkaar krijgen binnen de gehele SRO-groep maar dit is weer een fraaie. Het geval Ginetta!

Is GT4 een universele norm in elk land of kampioenschap? Ik, simpele harry, zou zeggen van wel...............maar dat blijkt niet het geval te zijn Koop een Ginetta en je kunt hem zowat overal inzetten maar wel per SRO sanctioned kampioenschap s.v.p. op maat aanpassen

BGTC klasse 2: Voor zover ik weet zie je hier de "echte" G50
Brits GT4: Daar gaan ze de wagen knijpen wegens te snel
FIA GT4: Met "straatbanden"! en dan in GT4 light.

Heel eerlijk, ik snap er geen hol meer van

[Mark]

Zo te zien 17 wagens dit jaar! Als dit een maatstaf is voor de rest van het jaar dan blijft het een zwak beestje. Nauwelijks progressie t.o.v. 2007.............

[Grig-O]

Mark, schakel nu gewoon je hersens eens aan.
Silverstone kan in geen honderd jaar een maatstaf zijn voor het seizoen 2008.
Enkele wagens zijn namelijk om diverse redenen thuisgebleven van de seizoensopener.

Er ontbreekt één exemplaar van de Aston Martin, dat van RFC Consulting.
Verder rekenen we erop dat de 6 Ginetta's in Monza opnieuw aanwezig zullen zijn. Verder werd er een paar weken geleden aangekondigd dat ASP Compétition twee Maserati's GT4 zou inzetten dit seizoen.

Ook zullen de Vertigo GT4, de Yes en mss ook de Donkervoort hun debuut maken in Monza of in een later stadium van het kampioenschap.

17 wagens?

[Coach Ep]

Originally Posted by Grig-O:

Verder rekenen we erop dat de 6 Ginetta's in Monza opnieuw aanwezig zullen zijn.

Vermoedelijk onderschat je nu de situatie en de vastberadenheid van Ginetta eigenaren Laurence Tomlinson en Richard Dean. Zolang de Ginetta's door SRO verplicht worden om in GT Light op 'grooved tyres' uit te komen, zullen zij daar niet rijden! Zij zetten liever deze wagens in in hun eigen Ginetta G50 cup waar al de eerste races voor verreden zijn met aanmerkelijk grotere startvelden dan de FIA GT4 Cup. De vraag is wie wie nu harder nodig heeft: Ginetta SRO of SRO Ginetta (het laat zich raden....).

Iets soortgelijk als Ginetta gaat Mosler doen met haar Mosler Challenge die dit jaar als onderdeel van het Dutch Supercarchallenge kampioenschap zal worden verreden voordat men in 2009 geheel op eigen benen gaat.

Kortom: laat SRO je niet onder reguliere voorwaarden toe in 1 van haar kampioenschappen, dan begin je toch gewoon je eigen cup!

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Grig-O

17 wagens?

In Monza zelfs minder! Zat net ff op de GT4 site te turen ivm het CPZ nieuws

[Mark]

Het bekende raceteam Madeno Racing uit Oude Tonge zal nog dit seizoen met twee Aston Martin’s Vantage V8 deelnemen aan enkele races voor het Europese FIA GT4 kampioenschap. De hightech racewagens zullen worden gereden door de ervaren Nederlandse coureur Willy Welles en het Finse talent Mikko Heino. Momenteel worden de twee wedstrijdwagens door de officiële raceafdeling van Aston Martin, het befaamde Prodrive uit Engeland, opgebouwd.
http://www.racexpress.nl/index.php?n...ikel&nid=11343

Toch nog twee wagens in aantocht.....

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Mark

Toch nog twee wagens in aantocht.....

Maar verdwijnen volgend seizoen al weer naar het Nederlandse GT4 kampioenschap?

[Coach Ep]

Niet gebruikelijk maar omwille van de verheldering hierbij een interview met de Ginetta eigenaren wat ik bijna integraal van dailysportscar heb afgehaald.

(P.S. als de moderators moeite hebben met deze handelswijze dan verneem ik dat graag)

LNT Automotive - Ginetta part

After a weekend which saw a grand total of 57 Ginetta race cars (plus a G50 Safety car) take to the track at Oulton Park, the inaugural rounds of the G50 Cup, the first UK race appearances, and a double win, for the G50 GT4 and a capacity grid (again!) for the G20 Cup with the vast majority of those also having been built in the 12 months since LNT started production, you’d expect Lawrence Tomlinson and Richard Dean to be breathing a sigh of contentment.

“We’ve built 150 brand new cars and the new factory in 12 months. Don’t forget there are more than those you are seeing here out racing. “Here in the UK the G20 grid is full, capped at 32 cars, and we’ll cap the G50 Cup grid at the same number,” added Lawrence Tomlinson. “We’ve sold more than the 19 G50s that are here this weekend for the G50 Cup already, but there were some customers who chose not to race here before they’ve had an opportunity to get sufficient practice in a new car.”

“On the GT4 front, we’ve got the six cars here in the British GT Championship and Belcar will definitely have two for their first round,” continued Richard Dean. “There is definite interest in a further two cars for Belcar, but they haven’t translated into firm orders yet. There have been orders for an endurance spec. car from teams entering Britcar, and those are exactly the sort of teams that will likely end up with a mixed season including some Britcar, some Belcar, the Silverstone, Spa and Zolder 24 Hour races.“

Here is an outfit that has brought a new product to the marketplace at just the right time. “I believe, or so we’ve been told, that we’re the largest volume racing car manufacturer in Britain: perhaps Caterham come reasonably close but many of those are sold in kit form, whereas all of ours are complete cars, painted and ready to deliver to the track to run.”

So then. When will we see a Ginetta G50 road car? Lawrence Tomlinson: “There is a car registered now but as a manufacturer we’ve gone about testing our product by racing it, but make no mistake, the G50 is a road car which has been designed as a GT4 race car. “Ginetta’s philosophy is that the road cars that we supply will be able to be race. They’ll be supplied with full FIA cages as standard. You’ll be able to turn up with your Ginetta road car and race it and turn up to a track day and not break it, and then drive it home.”

“The reality is that the only thing that’s slowed up road car production is that we are absolutely inundated with race car orders. We said we’d produce 26 cars (G50s) for the first race – and we have. We also said to Stephane (Ratel) that we’d have six cars for GT4 – and we have. So you’ll forgive us if we find it a little bit rich that people are complaining - those who don’t have six cars in GT4, but who might have been expected to do so by now. “We’re happy to have equalisation when other people have got six cars to look at. With six cars you’ll end up with a much wider variation in driving ability: some are better than others, and some teams are better than others. That’s a firm basis for equalisation in my book.

“We know that the teams running the Astons here in Britain are unhappy, but privately some of them would say that when they get the extra bits that the Jetalliance cars have got, brake cooling, adjustable dampers and all of those expensive upgrades, that they’ll perhaps be as quick as a Ginetta.” Richard Dean: “Lawrence told me some time ago, quite rightly, not to get stressed over equalisation. The thing(s) that Aston Martin haven’t beaten us on, can’t beat us on, and will never beat us on is price, support, service and back-up, which we have got here from the very first race. It’s been very, very difficult to put together but we’re here in numbers with some very committed and dedicated staff: we’ve tried to match the Porsche model in some ways, plenty of manpower, well equipped with parts and advice and we’ll continue to do that throughout the year. Nobody anywhere in GT4 is matching that.”

“We’ll go along and do what we do best,” added Tomlinson. “We’ll support our customers. We’re very happy with a power to weight equalisation process. We expected it from the outset. If you look at the numbers in GT4 the G50 is exactly where we were told (by SRO) that we should be. The fact that others aren’t is not really our problem. It really isn’t as simple as some imply. “At Nogaro last year, when I was out in the original car, we were up against a Nissan that was considerably faster. It was given extra weight and was still faster. Fair enough, Alex Buncombe is a good driver but then again I’ve done a bit myself too!”

So in the UK you are racing on slicks with the rest of the GT4 cars, but in the European Series you’ve got to race on road tyres in the GT Lights sub-category? “Apparently so, but we’re not sure who the competition are in ‘Lights’,” said a clearly mildly irritated Tomlinson. “In truth we haven’t seen a car that meets the criteria that Lights are looking for. We’re not sure who is going to be there at the first race. What we have said is that we’ll provide six cars for SRO’s European Series and remember it’s up to SRO who races in GT4, not the FIA, so any rules about production numbers is purely written by SRO.

“We did everything that SRO asked us to do and everything that we told them that we could do, in order to get the cars into GT4. We did that and got cars built, and sold and then found ourselves with a new series, Lights, which we don’t really agree with, but we are supporting as an interim measure. “We could fill six cars immediately in the international series if they were running on slicks. If the GT4 grids aren’t full and there’s less interest in a Ginetta on road tyres, then so be it.”

A Friday meeting of team owners at Oulton Park meanwhile had seen Stephane Ratel announce that the GT4 / Lights formula would be applied to the British Championship (and presumably other SRO series) in future years. Richard Dean: “We don’t agree with that, certainly with the G50 classified in ‘Lights’. The aim is for us to be a European GT4 car alongside everybody else, not to be de-classified, despite the fact that we’ve done more than anyone else has done against the criteria which are meant to determine what a GT4 car is, an affordable and available car.

Lawrence Tomlinson: “Can you show me where I can buy, today, a Nissan 350Z GT4 car? Even the N24s are, or at least until very recently were, on back order whereas we can provide a car that meets the power to weight ratio and looks like a proper GT car. To me to even think of a KTM in the guise that we’ve seen it is just a complete joke. The ACO would never allow something like that to compete, and if they ever did it, would be something like an LMP2. “If you want to call the category ‘Lights’ I don’t see how you can stop someone entering a Radical.

“There is no way that a G50 will run in ‘Lights’ in the UK on treaded tyres. If that happens I’ll buy the cars back and put them in a one-make series. That will be more cars in our Series and fewer in theirs.” Richard Dean: “Of course that brings into question whether we should compete in Lights in Europe in the first place. All we are doing is agreeing to compete in something that we disagree with in National series. “Lights was really thrown at us and in truth Lawrence and I haven’t had a chance to fully discuss this, but it’s fair to say that we aren’t happy with the way that Lights has emerged.

“We are trying to support Stephane and SRO in everything that they are trying to do. We love what they are doing in Belcar and elsewhere, but with Lights we seem to have done everything we said we were going to do - but then found that the goalposts have been moved. “I absolutely understand the road car issue, but for Ginetta that is just an issue of time.” Lawrence Tomlinson: “I think they are mistaking us for a low volume, one-off race car manufacturer, when the reality is that we are a volume car producer.

“They have made a rule where they have come up with a number, 300 cars. We’re quite happy to produce 300 road cars, but it is going to take some time. Is there intent to do it? Just look at the factory. Is there a car that looks like a road car? Yes there is. A car that’s registered and that we’re putting through European Type Approval? Yes there is. I have to say that I’m not really sure why we are really having this conversation. It isn’t that long since we saw instances of nine road cars being built for GT2. “The equalisation process doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Our car is the cheapest by 30,000 Euros and our parts are the cheapest too. If equalisation really works and all the cars are the same on performance, then we come out on top on price.

So thus far has Ginetta delivered what you hoped it would? Lawrence Tomlinson: “We’ve done what we wanted to with G50 to this point, and I’m really pleased with that. Everyone who drives one, and I’d recommend any driver to do just that, comes out with a smile on their face. “We’re trying to provide pleasure for the drivers, good racing and good entertainment for spectators. “We’re giving good value to people in racing and ultimately that’s what people want. The spectators love to watch the G20s too, they’re the most exciting races on the bill and that makes me very proud too. “We’re a little behind where we wanted to be with the G20 because the G50 build programme has taken up so much time, but we’re getting around to that and new things are on the way for the G20. We’d liked to have produced more of the Juniors too, there’s certainly demand for them.