BWF07

Anyone have any idea of what the differences in the current C8-R and the new GT3 C8-R coming out next year, beside of course it being built to the GT3 regulation and meeting the homologation requirements.

z06801

I think you just said current car is a GTLM car converted to GT3 car new car will be built the FIA GT3 rules and available to private teams to purchase. GTLM cars can run a higher power to weight, more aero, no abs, can also run slicks engineered to specs. GT3 spec has abs, has to run customer slicks, less allowance to move motor around, this is just off the top of my head I'm sure some other will have more detail. Makes it possible to maybe pick one up from a team in a few years and race it at your local track. We have quite a few 911r's running at are track one guy trie to put one in TT1 😂

BWF07

I was aware of the GTLM, however the GTLM car was converted to meet whatever weavers granted to run in the GTD class, which is in reality a GT3 class. I am wondering how much different will the new GT3 C8-R be as compared to the GTD Pro car.

z28lt1

We may get some hints when they release the car later this month, but I doubt we'll ever really know all the differences.

By rules, the GT3 car is more strict when it comes to aligning to the road car, but actually less strict when it comes to the aero components (you'll see all the GT3 cars have cutouts/venting at the wheel openings that the GTE (GTLM) cars don't.

Aston and Ferrari actually made there cars to be "convertible" between the two. For Aston, you had to change all the body panels, the engine, the fuel tank and some electronics (mostly just disconnect/reconnect the ABS) so that gives you an idea probably of the minimal amount of changes. However, those cars were designed that way and it is almost certain the current car can't be changed like that and still meet the GT3 regulations. Almost certainly things are in the wrong place.

There are couple other things for Corvette/Pratt Miller to consider now:

• They've got a couple of years history with the GTE car, so time to apply lessons on improvements
• The customer program means:
  • Car has to be a good bit cheaper than the GTE car, which probably changes some design/parts
  • Car has to be friendly for amateurs to drive (think the GTE car was already pretty friendly, so maybe not much to do here, but building a car for professionals is a different exercise than the AM driver)
  • Serviceability is important because you'll have non-factory teams running the car (also important for a factory team, but needs to be considered)

For those reasons (primarily lessons learned and cost) I suspect there will be even more changes than we would otherwise see.

I suspect very significant differences between them, but they'll look fairly similar with the engine not too far off the current car.

Like I said, I don't think we'll ever get a big list of differences, and as a guess there will be many differences, even though the philosophy of the car will be similar. Not too long now until we know some more.

z06801

I'm pretty sure that GTD pro cars are the same as GTD, both being FIA spec GT3, is there some other Factory race car being built?

BWF07

You are correct in the fact that the GTD Pro cars are the same as the GTD Am and GT3 cars, except the Corvette that is running in IMSA is not a true GTD car. It is there GTLM car that they had to modify to try and balance it with the GTD cars which meant spec tire, less aero, ABS and some other things, but it was never built as a GTD/GT3 car. Pratt&Miller have constructed a brand-new car that they have been test and it is a full on GT3. They will unveil it at the 24 Hours of Daytona on the 27th.

z06801

That's what I said in my first post was the GTLM car had been converted to run in GTD on a waiver and the new car was being built as a FIA GT3 spec.

KnightDriveTV

I think there must be some real depth to the matter considering the GTLM's ran around 1mil to build as to where the customer GT3's need to be priced far lower, around the 550k mark to be a competitive option. I'd assume much of that reduced costs, just lends itself to more up front development cost (fixtures/jigs/molds/etc) but many of the GT3 cars available (Porsche, BMW, Merc) are done in-house vs GM which is still outsourcing using Pratt and Miller. P&M has certainly shown capable of building cars, but the production numbers have been pretty limited. Cadillac spent 60mil developing the ATSV.R for GT3 competition with P&M, but then didn't sell any to anyone, which many disputed in the FIA. GT3/FIA requirements, last I knew, required 10 units within 12mo of homologation and 20 units within 24mo, in order to compete. You won't sell 10 or 20 if they cost double what other GT3's cost.

I'm curious how well GM is going to market and come through, pushing the C8GT3 out into the world, because this ain't GM's strong side, based on prior history. Klauser managed the ATSVR and Camaro GT4 program and those sales weren't great. We'll see. It sure would be great to see a lot of teams run them, to get a chance at owning them later on but....good luck.

Scooter70

GM said that they were going to make customer cars available. They didn't say they were going to make it cheap or easy for them.

TKgs2010

Honestly, GM has always been pretty much tight to the vest with their race cars, not offering current versions of the Corvettes or any factory advice or assistance for prep or setup. With the GT3 platform, now they'll have to offer the GT3R to customer teams, and I'll be very interested to see how that plays out. You have some very solid customers out there, like Callaway, LG Motorsports, etc that are very capable of doing a winning program, and in my mind, if I were GM brass I wouldn't care which team won, as long as there was a Corvette in the Winner's Circle.

C5 Hardtop

Are the GT3 races televised?

z28lt1

GT3 cars race all over the world in all kinds of series. Some of them will be televised or streamable in the US.

The factory team currently runs in IMSA in the GTD class in which all the cars (except the Corvette this year) are GT3 cars. All of those races are on TV of some sort. Some of the long races have parts of it that are streaming only, and a couple of races are shown same-day-delayed, but most are live on NBC or USA network.