ACC | GT3 cars

(to get to know your car better)

The BMW M6 GT3

The brand new BMW M6 GT3 made quite an impression in 2018 Blancpain GT3 series.

Following the dimensions of the street car, there is no denying that the race car is also very big, even bigger than the Bentley, especially in length and wheelbase. This same aspect, together with the impressive twin turbo V8, define the handling characteristics of the BMW.

The dimension of the car, results in a very large area of the underbody aerodynamics. The front splitter is impressive and the length of the rear diffuser is massive. Even the exhausts have lateral exits so that they do not interfere with the diffuser aero flow. Many smaller or bigger details can be found all around the long bodywork, achieving impressive amounts of downforce on par with the top of the class, even though the total drag inevitably stays a bit high given the big frontal area.

Nevertheless, the absolute aero numbers tell half the story. The best feature of all this attention to the aerodynamics is the quite stable aero platform. As we have explained in other posts, the main issue for the drivers of modern cars with high aerodynamics, is the stability of the aero platform in terms of aero balance, from the effects of pitch and roll. Often, the higher the downforce, the more sensitive the car becomes to pitch and roll, forcing the engineers to big setup compromises that make the car worse at low speeds, and forcing the drivers to change their driving style at higher speeds, in order to not upset the car. The later is easier to tell than do, especially for amateur gentleman drivers that participate in the Blancpain series.
The long wheelbase and long under tray of the BMW, deliver a much more stable aerodynamic platform, especially under forward pitch (coasting, braking) that permits softer suspension setups and more natural driving techniques to be exploited. At low speed the car offers exceptional turn in and minimal amounts of understeer at power exits. A hint of understeer is present at the apex of slow turns, which is typical for such a big car with a bit of front weight bias, but it adds confidence to attack the corners at entry and can be easily controlled by the drivers. As the speed raises the big amount of stable downforce, result in a very confidence inspiring car that can be pushed at high speeds and if the driver makes the occasional mistake, it can be relatively easily corrected.
The very very fast right hand bend at the end of the long back straight at Paul Ricard is the perfect example of the car’s stability. Even if you overcook the entry going in way too hot, you can confidently raise your foot or even pinch the brakes and the car will correct it’s trajectory without big drama. Not something you can do with the much more pitch sensitive Huracan for example.
Similar situation at the Misano circuit. The very dangerous braking zone for T13 and T14(Carro) turns, must be approached in a very certain and precise way, by practically all cars. The BMW M6 showcases great stability and honest reactions, giving the driver the opportunity to attack and trust the car, without big setup compromises.
Fantastic car then, is this the best of all worlds? Not so fast.
The very very long body and wheelbase, does indeed provide stability, but predictably enough, makes the car sluggish at narrow turns, chicanes and fast direction changes. The car turns in fast but then needs some time to take a set and keep the line. The perception of the limits of the bodywork is also not so good and this is a disadvantage in close racing situations.
Worse of all, the very long overhangs touch the ground easily and they will do often do so at the very worse moment at very high speeds while trying to ride a kerb in a very fast corner. The resulting loss of tyre grip and aerodynamic stalling can bring catastrophic results. This is where compromises have to be made on the setup, by rising the ride height, using stiffer springs and dampers and so on. Drivers must also adapt and find which kerbs should ride and which ones are better to avoid. In such situation the excellent behaviour of the BMW can quickly betray you and make you spin in no time at all. Beware.
All in all, the car forgives some aggressive driving and a bit less precision, but it really shines when the inputs are smooth, both on the steering wheel and on the accelerator pedal. The smoother you drive it, the more speed it gains. The advanced traction control, is finely tuned for safe driving but lowering it to level 3 or less, will permit even more forward acceleration if you are smooth on your inputs. In a way, it is as if the looks of a grand touring coupe are mirrored one to one on its handling behaviour.

The big V8 placed behind the front wheels, produces massive amounts of torque and power. The favourable Balance of Performance, let the engine output around 650Nm of torque and approximately 550bhp. Most importantly the torque curve of the car seems like the great plains, or siberian plains, or Netherlands, or padania… choose whatever fits your definition of flat and infinite. Unfortunately it’s not what I would call an enthusiastic engine. Even though it pulls incredibly from as low as 3000rpm, the party ends at around 6200rpm. It feels a bit like a very big diesel engine and you need to keep changing gears as fast as possible as it arrives to the top end of the power in no time. Occasionally you won’t even be able to hear your own engine sound while changing at around 6000rpm, while an attacking Audi or Lamborghini are screaming besides you at over 8000rpm. Still, after 2nd gear and with the rear tyres finding traction, there not many cars that can beat you in a drag race down the straights.
There is some turbo lag but it is taken care of with an anti-lag feature which makes the exhaust gurgle and our sound engineer happy. All this generous torque can easily result in power oversteer at any speed and gear, which normally would make the tyres unhappy but the very advanced new generation TC, helps both amateur and professional drivers, position the car properly and at the same time results in a big smile in their faces. Don’t overdo it though because after then smooth and gentle initial drift, the long rear end starts to slide and slide and slide even more, raising the heartbeat and destroying the tyres.
Keep it all together and you’ll be rewarded with a best in class acceleration out of the turns. Yes the Huracan has amazing traction and the initial acceleration is great while the TC intervention is minimal… Yes the Ferrari 488 mid turn speed is incredible. Yes the Mercedes GT3 balance is exemplary… but keep them behind you and watch them become smaller and smaller on your rear view mirror as they can’t even keep the slipstream while you roar towards top speed. Which you will hit fast… and hard. As a matter of fact, the car arrive at a high top speed very fast and then it hits a wall. A wall of air resistance as the drag hits and stops the car. This is when the other smaller cars will start closing up to you towards the brake zone and so the play starts again… Overtaking you though, that’s a whole different story.

No surprise then that the car managed to win the 24Hours of Spa, at a track famous for it’s mid to high speed turns and long uphill straights. Look at the narrow bumpy Brands Hatch race though and you’ll get the opposite side of the coin.
That is what the Blancpain series is all about, isn’t it?

The Porsche 991 GT3 R

The Porsche 911 has always been a top competitor through the years. The unorthodox architecture with the engine hanging at the rear giving heavy rear weight distribution combined with the short wheelbase, has always been judged as extremely unstable for street use. Yet, in the hands of an experienced professional driver, the extremely fast turn in, the agility in changing direction and the best in class traction, always delivered top performance. Sure everybody would complain of instability at turn in and terminal power on understeer at corner exit. Still professional drivers knew how to deal with such characteristics and adjust their driving style to make good use of the advantages. In a class where the cars were heavy and grip was generally lacking, being able to put the power down and change direction quickly was always an important advantage.
The choice of the word “was” is not casual though. Modern GT racing have brought to the grid cars with big aerodynamic improvements, electronic systems for traction control and ABS are adjusting traction and grip circles and modern tyres provide more grip. Speaking of which, because GT3 racing is “client racing”, in order to keep costs low, the tyres are identical for all cars with tiny dimension changes.
The end result is that the Porsche ended up without being able to make a difference with its architectural advantages, while it become even more unbalanced from the tyre dimension availability that often keeps the front tyres out of the operation range.

Aerodynamic advancements are also limited by the architecture. Much of the aerodynamic downforce gains are made from a big rear diffuser that has to be wide and deep enough. Unfortunately for the Porsche, that’s exactly where the engine sits, so the actual diffuser is very shallow and short. That means the engineers have to work a lot on the front splitter and the rear wing. They manage to create substantial downforce, but it is still not enough. It also generates a lot of drag as it needs the rear wing to work in high angles and most importantly, the resulting aero platform has a very narrow window of operation and a very non linear downforce production that creates unpredictable results. In the paddock, you can often hear the drivers complain that the car works strangely whatever the try to do and the engineers complain that they can make the car “work” in a given circuit or condition. As if things couldn’t get worse, most of the cars have their fuel tank near to their Center of Gravity, so that the fuel load only affects the weight of the car but not the overall balance and handling. Not the Porsche; 120 litres of fuel hanging under the front bonnet. Which means that even if you manage to make the car work with a good setup, the whole balance is going to change when the fuel load will change. The car needs quite different setups for race and qualifying sessions. Often teams will add more fuel during qualifying, to help the drivers with a more predictable handling. During the race, the car will change handling characteristics and the drivers must be ready for it. It’s not uncommon to see the car being competitive during one part of a stint, and then get slower for the rest of the same stint as the fuel load changes, or vice versa, depending on the setup compromise the team opted for.

Another limiting factor is the engine. This amazing powertrain screams up to 9000 rpm and it is one of the most praised engines in the road car. So how this can be a problem?
Even though the BoP is not very restrictive, it still has to limit the power to around 500bhp, similar value to the other small frontal area cars. Incidentally this is the same outcome of the street engine. Surely race engines could go higher, but when you start analysing the engine capacity, you realise that there’s not much margin available. The flat 6 engine is normally aspirated and has “only” 4 litres capacity. The smallest engine of the grid is the one of the Honda NSX, 3.5lt but twin turbo. All the other normal aspirated engines vary from 5.2lt V10 of the Lamborghini and Audi, up to the massive 6.0lt V12 of the Aston Martin and the gargantuan 6.2lt V8 Mercedes. Which means that those cars can generate similar amount of power but also massive torque from very low revs. The Porsche engine has to climb up to 9000rpm to achieve the same power and obviously the power band is more peaky. Surely the gearbox ratios can cover the problem, but then again the GT3 series demands a single gearbox ratios homologation that then is used on all the circuits. Some serious compromises must be taken.

Seems like the Porsche has serious disadvantages and predictably the performance of the car was not adeguate of the name in 2018, with the occasional spark under wet conditions where the traction can make a difference and the top speed is not so important. Porsche focused its efforts on the WEC GTE 991 RSR car which was highly modified with the engine rotated by 180° and practically transformed in a mid engined architecture. The car performed much better and surely the engineers learned a lot from that experience. The 2019 Porsche GT3 R car already won the Monza race and is looking good for the rest of the season. So if you want to win with the Porsche, you need to be a bit patient until we release the 2019 version of the car.

Still, all said and done, when you get to drive the Porsche, the shortest wheelbase of the grid, the scream of the flat 6 at over 9000rpm, the amazing turn in, while the rear starts to rotate, the fast and constant workout needed with the steering wheel to keep the car from over-rotating and the sublime lightness of the front end when you put all the power down and the front raises up, makes you forget the shortcomings in performance. The car keeps you alive and alerted at any moment. Brings back memories of vintage racing cars when the driver could make all the difference. When finally you manage to drive it properly the level of self reward reaches new heights.
Forget about top speed, you know you’ll be the slowest anyway. Add rear wing to get downforce, stiffen the rear end to make it rotate, play with the brake bias that can be set way to the rear and start working that steering wheel. The Porsche won’t forgive lazy drivers, it won’t make it easy for you. It demands your total dedication, yes even if you have to race it for 24 hours and doesn’t care if you’re tired. Show the respect it asks for, and you’ll get a different kind of reward that only special cars can give; and if it rains… you might even have a chance for something special.

The Lamborghini Huracán GT3

The 2017 champion car, arrives in the 2018 season in an almost identical form. The Huracan GT3, proved in the 2017 season, to be the car to beat in terms of absolute performance. Nevertheless this top level performance was the result of a very professional team with very talented and fast pro drivers that especially on some tracks were able to destroy the competition. The result of this was a very severe Balance of Performance handicap for all the Huracan cars, that heavily penalised the champion team but most importantly all the other teams using the car, further down in the grid and classification.

Objectively the Huracan GT3 is a very capable car, but at the same time it has some very unique and distinct characteristics that often make it difficult to handle for less experienced teams and drivers.
The car is very compact resulting in a very small frontal area and thus very low drag figures. Top speed is almost everywhere amongst the highest achieving cars, often topping the results. The downforce production is also very high, maybe not on par with Ferrari, Audi and Mercedes, but not that far either. The resulting efficiency is top of the class confirming the qualities of the Lamborghini aerodynamic design aided by the famous Dallara engineering. The compactness of the car dimensions, result on a very small under tray area that is quite pitch sensitive. At high speeds the car will become quite unstable under coasting or even worse, braking. As an example the very fast right bend after the long back straight at Paul Ricard has gave me some of the most violent slap tanks in my whole real and simulate driving life. Brake a bit too hard and a bit too late from 280kmh top speed and try to turn in and I can guarantee you, you’re going to change your mind very fast and thank Paul Ricard circuit designers for implementing those very wide runaway areas with blue and red lines that give even higher grip than normal asphalt (at the exchange of massive chunks of tyre tread flying around…). Small amount of ride height change at the front or rear, will move the aero balance quite a bit back and forth. To counteract this, the suspension setup must be adequate to aid the stability under such conditions, with high front stiffness and good damping work in front bump and rear rebound, more similar to a single seater setup, than a more conservative GT racer. The stiff setup will usually make the car jolt and jump around over kerbs and bumps, but surprisingly enough it will stay quite stable if the driver is precise and remains on power.

The mechanical balance of the car is also particular. The road car has an AWD setup that adds weight to the front axis from the axles and differentials. The GT3 car, by rules, has to be RWD and so the elimination of all the AWD mechanical parts, results in a very rear weight bias. As a matter of fact, the Huracan starts with about 60% of its weight at the rear tyres making it practically a very rear heavy car, similar the Porsche 911 that, let me remind you, is rear engined! A car with such weight bias, would need a staggered tyre setup. This means that the rear tyres should be wider than the front, to handle better the different loads. Unfortunately the tyres offered by the rules, have very similar dimensions for both front and rear which means the mechanical grip is a bit unbalanced with more tyre at the front, than what the car needs.
To the uninitiated, this might sound like a non issue. The car seems to understeer constantly, so more tyre to the front, can only fix the things right? Why does it make it worse then? To have balanced handling characteristics you need to have a predictable rear grip, so that you can shift the weight with your driving inputs and you get back predictable feedback and reactions. If you have more rear grip than front, then you can use the power on the exit of the turns to rotate the car and it will do so gradually, because even if you lose some lateral grip, you still have plenty to handle. But if you have more grip at the front, the moment you get power understeer (and you’ll get it because of the weight bias to the rear), then trying to power oversteer will subtract important amounts of grip from the rear and it will make it skittish and nervous. On top of that, add a quite sensitive aerodynamic platform that we described above, that moves the aero balance heavily to the front and to the rear every time the pitch of the cars changes by mere millimetres and you get a more clear view of why the car requires skills and respect from its driver.

Sounds like a difficult car to handle and it is when you try to push it hard on the limit. Setup must be balanced and on the stiff side, especially at the front. Don’t try to overcome the power understeer with a more oversteer setup, because you’ll end up with a nervous turn in that will make the car slower. Embrace a hint of understeer, be more precise in your inputs and driving line and learn to take advantage of the aero platform and mid turn speed. You can brake late, start to turn in, but get off the brakes as soon as possible and let the car coast to the apex or with a very very slight brake input, anything more and it will understeer at turn in too. Learn to do the coasting part properly and you’ll be surprised by how much speed you can carry inside the turn, which will be translated in time gains outside of the turn. This is taking advantage of the aero platform, leaving the car as flat as possible instead of forcing it to turn by braking and pitching. The results might surprise you.

If properly setup and driven, the Huracan GT3 showcases a very fast turn in and high mid turn speeds. Exceptional traction and agility makes it perfect for slow narrow turns and chicanes. There’s always an understeery behaviour on power at the exit of the turns and generally the car doesn’t like to change its line once in the turn. Precise driving and proper racing techniques are required to make the car deliver, but even thought it might not feel “fun” and requires lots of self control, concentration and commitment, it is capable of blazingly fast laptimes that reward all the hard work.

The Ferrari 488 GT3

When Ferrari decides to participate in a series, it does so without compromises. When a couple of years ago Ferrari decided to evolve and homologate the 488 GT3, everybody else was adapting road cars to the regulations of GT3 and different versions for the more extreme GT2/GTE series. Not Ferrari.

The 488 GT3 was designed from the start to be a race car able to compete in the highly demanding GT2/GTE series and with small changes to fit the rules, also in the GT3 series. The result is a highly sophisticated full blown race car. Chassis, suspension, engine and most importantly aerodynamics, everything has been designed by the highly experienced engineers of the “gestione sportiva”, the engineering department of research and development of the “Scuderia” responsible for all the racing cars and of course Formula 1 cars. All this translates to an extremely capable car in every single aspect. When the car first appeared in the tests for the Balance of Performance classification, it was instantly clear that Ferrari had build something extremely capable. Even by sandbagging and asking the drivers to keep it slow, it was evident by the tests that the car could destroy the competition. The most important aspect of the car is its aerodynamics. While the car produces a bit too much aerodynamic drag, it has also clever flow solutions to overcome this at higher speeds. The downforce is probably the best in class and the chassis and suspension offer neutral handling and very good tyre wear behaviour. The mid turn speeds are almost always the highest and the car responds even in the slightest chassis and aerodynamic setup changes.
The engine in the road car, is a twin turbo V8 that has won for four consecutive years the “engine of the year” award. It delivers over 700bhp reliably in the road car with all the emission and noise restrictions. It’s easy to imagine what it can do in race trim, properly tuned while at the same time achieving again top of the class fuel consumption. As this wasn’t enough, it’s power delivery is controlled by a first in class, traction control system, that separately control the amount of slip allowed and the amount of engine power cut for given slip, all at the disposition of the driver at any time, by two separate dials.

It really sounds like a category slayer, so how come doesn’t dominate the Blancpain GT3 grid? Enter BoP (Balance of Performance). The Blancpain BoP follows specific rules and effectively and successfully manages to balance the performance of the big variety of cars that appear in the series. It is a great equaliser but by definition it has to take some unpopular decisions to achieve the promised balance.
How do you lower the performance of a car that has great chassis and suspension design, top of the class downforce, amazing engine controlled by very advanced electronics? Turns out the most reliable method is to take advantage of the electronics of the engine management system and limit very precisely the amount of turbo boost throughout the whole power band. You can argue that the same applies for all the other cars, but if the electronics are not so advanced you can go only that far with intake restrictors until the engineers find ways to bypass this in some range of the power delivery. With the 488, you can be much more precise on what limitations you ask…

Every race results shows the same identical situation. The Ferrari 488 GT3 stuck behind one of the top cars of the series, practically pushing in the middle of every turn, digging its nose under the diffuser of whatever car at the front during the long straights, but never getting out of the slipstream to overtake. When they do, it’s almost comical to see the car losing speed because of the low power and drag caused by the high downforce. It drives almost like a prototype but then has no power to overtake in the straights. All the 488 drivers know this and really deserve our applause and reward as they fight and duel with other cars in every single race.

To be able to race and overtake, the car need to sacrifice some of the rear wing angle to generate a bit less drag. But the front splitter and diffuser generate a lot of downforce to the front, so in order to balance the car, it often needs to be run in negative rake. That means the front slightly higher than the rear. This will bring the aero balance back to the rear again making the car more stable at high speed turns. As usual for the GT cars the front suspension bump must be carefully controlled with bump stops to stop the car from pitching forward under braking and turn in and maintain stability. A bit of turbo lag might compromise occasionally the traction, but with so many options in the traction control, it’s not a big issue. The dampers are specially made on Ferrari specifics. They might not have the wide range of the Öhlins, but they do their job properly. You will also need to use them in unconventional ways. As described above, the car has a particular low CoG and race suspension geometry made specifically to save tyres life. This is a great advantage in the GTE WEC series where the tyre manufacturer creates specific compounds for every car. Unfortunately in the GT3 series the tyres are identical for everybody with just a single compound for any track, any weather combination. This is a great achievement from a tyre manufacturer and an effective cost control. Unfortunately in a combination of cold weather and slow circuit, while the other cars manage to keep the tyres in temperature, the Ferrari often finds itself not to be able to keep temperature on the tyres. Stiff springs and dampers can help with that, but obviously it badly compromises the handling of the car, which normally should be the advantage of Ferrari.

Speed at the apex is paramount so the drivers need to adjust their driving style accordingly. Late braking, smooth lines, precision and early power application are needed in order to make the car deliver lap times, but the car actually helps the driver to achieve this. It will also take more aggressive driving styles and will remain relatively sincere, but much time is lost this way, as the car doesn’t have the power to recover from sloppy driving. Lowest fuel consumption and lowest tyre wear also helps in endurance races, although Blancpain rules force pitstops every hour and thus almost eliminating such advantages, equalising all cars. Still, using less fuel than others, taking advantage of the less tyre wear as the rules give a limited set of tyres for each weekend, can make the car shine against competitors and aim for the podium in many circuits, making it definitely one of the top cars always capable of winning. Sponsors are also always keen to be on a Ferrari…

The Ferrari 488 GT3 evo

The new Evo package is the result of Ferrari’s desire to further refine certain aspects of one of the most successful cars in the marque’s history. This has been achieved using innovative concepts derived from its track experience and feedback from the teams competing with the 488 GT3.

Aerodynamics, vehicle dynamics, ergonomics, safety and reliability were the main focuses of development, all, of course, in compliance with the strict power and aerodynamic efficiency performance limits imposed by FIA regulations.

The engineers honed the 488 GT3 Evo 2020’s aerodynamics to boost the car’s stability with the new front-end design making a significant contribution. Over 18,000 hours of calculations and CFD simulations, followed by wind tunnel testing, went into the design of a new bumper with a smaller frontal section under the headlights. This has allowed the introduction of a pair of flicks to generate more downforce, making the car more stable without modifying the aero balance thanks in part to turning vanes inside the splitter. Aerodynamic development also extended to other areas of the front of the 488 GT3: the vents on top the wings are larger than the current model and the front section of the door is now more tapered to more efficiently channel lateral flows. The vents on the rear wing have also been completely redesigned.

The 488 GT3’s vehicle dynamics have been key in its success, and this area has been further improved in the new 488 GT3 Evo 2020. The wheelbase is longer, as in the 488 GTE, to optimise tyre use, reduce tyre wear and facilitate the conversion from GT3 to GTE. The engineers also focused on reducing the car’s weight with the result that more ballast can be used to attain the minimum weight imposed by the Balance of Performance, thus lowering the centre of gravity. In addition all the vehicle dynamic controls, including the traction control and ABS, have been optimised.

No performance upgrades have been made to the engine, a twin-turbo V8 with a 90-degree angle between the cylinder banks, nor have any components been modified. However, it does benefit from a new engine management system which improves reliability and guarantees smoother, more precise torque delivery.

Endurance racing has evolved to the extent that it is increasingly resembling extended sprint racing. This demands meticulous attention to detail, including in the cockpit.  The 488 GT3 Evo 2020 debuts a new seat which meets the new FIA safety regulations. Developed jointly with Sabelt for both the GT3 and GTE, it is not only more rigid and robust but is also 2.4 kg lighter with new belts and a new buckle.

The additional 24H/Endurance package is specifically designed for clients interested in that particular type of racing. The basic equipment includes a front bumper with additional headlights, quick-fill couplings for engine oil and coolant, carbon-fibre clutch, brake callipers adopted from the GTE and steel wheel nuts. Optional features include sensors for the coolant level and refuelling completion with warning lights, and Le Mans-type, 4,500 lumen LED main headlights.

The new components and improvements introduced in the 2020 version of the 488 GT3 Evo are also available as upgrade kits for existing cars.

The Bentley Continental GT3 – 1st gen

The first-gen Bentley Continental GT3 car is… a tricky beast to say the least. The car is heavily based on the street version and this translates in certain aspects of its handling characteristics.

Although the big V8 twin turbo engine is placed behind the front wheels, the car still has more front weight bias. This, together with a higher center of gravity than other GT3 cars, makes the car more prone to roll during turns and results in more weight shifting. On the other hand, the Blancpain Balance of Performance (BoP) permits bigger front tyres for FR cars and those do help the Bentley to have a surprisingly good turn in.
The front weight bias provokes a moderate understeer in mid turn, but it is easily manageable by pressing a bit more on the accelerator and letting the big engine rotate the rear end and point the nose towards the exit of the turn.

Speaking of which, the 4.0-liter V8 twin turbo engine is obviously heavily restricted, but the BOP permits higher torque and power outputs for cars with significant frontal area and thus high drag. As a result, the engine delivers more than 650Nm of torque for a very wide range of revs and around 550bhp of maximum power.
This is both a blessing and a curse as they say. The massive amount of torque is putting under big stress the fat rear tyres and more often than not, manages to break traction, aided by the fact that the rear end is lighter than the front. The traction control does help a lot but it is very intrusive doing so. Lower TC levels are needed in order to get all the potential performance of the car, but it seems that its response is not linear and at lower levels the torque and power can be delivered very violently and can make the rear wheels spin a lot before intervening. When this happens, the very big body of the car can become quite a handful to control, showcasing a completely different aspect of its handling characteristics and becoming much more difficult to control.

The aerodynamics, as usual, play a big role in the performance of any GT3 car. The Bentley is big, there is no denying about it. The frontal area creates a lot of drag and this is only partly counterbalanced by the powerful engine. Certainly the car accelerates very fast out of the slow to medium speed turns, but at higher speeds it simply hits a wall. Not much that can be done about it.
The very long front splitter is another aspect that you must consider. Although it produces quite a big amount of downforce, it is very prone to touch the ground and especially the kerbs. The splitter is very strong to be able to sustain the downforce but on the other hand it means that when you hit a kerb with it, if it not breaks, it can make the front end jump and instantly lose all grip from the front end. Take into consideration this fact when setting the front ride height and the rake of the car. A compromise is needed to keep the splitter off the ground while still producing enough downforce. The very same compromise might introduce a moderate understeer at high speed turns, when the power isn’t enough to make the rear end aid the turning.

Finally, the high drag figures, certainly do not help much with fuel consumption, and the tyres might suffer from all the torque available. Nevertheless, with the proper TC and ABS levels, the car can easily achieve impressive laptimes, but in order to find out the extra hidden performance you need to lean less on the electronic systems and more on your driving skills.

For your viewing pleasure, here’s a nice onboard video of a testing session. You can hear the rear end struggling for traction when the driver lowers the TC.

The Bentley Continental GT3 – 2nd gen

After the initial success of the 1st generation Bentley, during 2017 it was clear that the opponents had move to much more aggressive designs, Not even a favourable BoP to the engine power could help the big Bentley against the Blancpain GT series dominators.

Enter the 2nd generation, based on the brand new road model. Completely redesigned to every single part, focusing to maintain the strong points of the old car while improving on everything else, especially some of the most evident shortcomings.

The new car has a transaxle configuration of engine and gearbox. This means that the gearbox has moved back to the rear axle leaving room for the front mounted engine to be installed more rearwards and lower. This lowers the CoG and moves the weight bias backwards, closer to a 50:50 distribution, greatly benefiting traction and handling. It also permits for all the front radiators to move even more backwards, massively improving the aerodynamic design of the front end. Speaking of front end, it now has a much shorter overhang permitting the car to ride lower without risking of breaking the front splitter over kerbs which was one of the big shortcomings of the original car. Even though the car has a shorter front splitter, it manages to achieve the same high levels of downforce while also controlling the flow to the rest of the body of the car.

The rear placed gearbox is not without compromises. The size and depth of rear diffuser is a tiny bit smaller than the old model, but perfect design and development guarantees similar or better downforce levels. The big difference and main focus of the aerodynamic design was to minimise drag. We all know that the Bentley is a massive car with a big frontal area. Many hours in aero testing have been used to make the car as aerodynamic efficient as possible. Incredibly enough, not only they achieve great improvement but they even improved the looks, which was actually a requirement of the manufacturer as they wanted to maintain the elegant looks for their racing clients. Indeed the car is a stunner!

The 2nd generation Bentley also maintains the same twin turbo engine. A well tested engine, reliable, efficient and powerful in all the power band. It now sports even better electronic control and much improved Traction Control, one of the big issues of the old model. It also keeps the costs controlled as there was no need on developing from scratch a brand new engine.

Being a Bentley it remains a very big car, the wheelbase is almost 3 meters long! The improved weight balance, the lower CoG and the downforce, will definitely let you feel the grip in turn in, mid corner lateral grip and traction out of the corners, but the agility is not the best there is. Still, in GT racing, the gained stability from such a long wheelbase is always an advantage, making the car easy to push and exploit its full potential, especially on long fast sweeps.

The chassis is brand new, with improved stiffness while remaining light. The improved suspension geometry helps to get the most out of the big engine. It pays to setup the car in a way to take advantage of its high levels of grip and stability. You can even get alone with more neutral or even oversteery setups and control the car with the steering wheel and accelerator, out of the corners. Try to take round lines with high mid corner speed. You can force the turn in with a bit of trail braking which in the case of the Bentley will slowly over rotate the car. Don’t exaggerate of course, you still have slicks and high downforce to keep under control. The length of the car and the higher inertia will help you to control better a bit of sliding. Point the car to the exit and unleash the generous V8. As with the first Bentley, the new model also has an excellent behaviour over kerbs. Obviously the car isn’t agile and sometimes you need to be aware where the rear end will be after the turn in (sounds like a truck advice), but you can still jump over the kerbs without the car getting too much out of shape

Same powerful engine as the older model, much improved aerodynamics, brakes, chassis, electronics and suspension, one would think that the Bentley was about to dominate the new season. Balance of Performance has a different idea…
In the testing it got evident how the car was improved all around while the big engine could finally push the car in much higher speeds because of the lower aero drag. As you can imagine, the BoP acts precisely to lower the engine output and bring the acceleration and top speed of the car, back to the levels of the rest of the field. It is actually the first “big” frontal area car that has much less than 550bhp (which usually all the big cars are allowed).

Combining the unexpected BoP and the fact that the car was brand new so the team had to explore its potential, it’s not surprising the during 2018 the car performed well but not exceptionally. An updated BoP update at Barcelona, with even less turbo boost for the final race, hints that the team was finding much pace with the car, but the organisation wanted to limit them for the last race and possibly for the future… 2019 is underway and the car already performs very well.

The Audi R8 LMS GT3

The Audi R8 GT3 is undoubtedly one of the dominating cars of the Blancpain GT3 series.
It’s not just that it constantly scores pole positions, fast laps and overall wins in practically every circuit. It gets these results with almost any team and any driver using it. This is the proof that the Audi R8 is a very capable car, always efficient and fast.

You’d been forgotten to think that the Audi R8 is a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in disguise, or vice versa. After all the cars have the same chassis and the same engine. The wheelbase is also identical. But this is where the similarities end. There are differences in suspension geometry, there are differences in the engine tune and power delivery and there are many differences in the aerodynamic efficiency and performance. It is evident by the base setups of the car, that are quite different from the Huracan counterpart.
The Audi usually likes stiffer rear end, it helps it rotate it and it maintains the rear suspension movement under control. Even the rear antiroll bar is pretty stiff as it keeps under control the, lack of, camber gain when the car rolls. A good amount of negative static camber helps.

Obviously when you drive the car, some traits are similar. The power delivery, the electronics, the sound… all things that are truly very similar to the Lamborghini. But then, the differences start to come up to the surface. At turn in the car wants to oversteer like the Huracan but does gives a bit more confidence while doing it. At mid turn and exit the front end is willing to follow the steering inputs better. This means the engineer is not forced to use extreme setup to rotate the car and the driver doesn’t have to abuse the car to follow the line. All in all, where the Huracan is on the edge, the Audi seems more composed and steady. I won’t say it inspires confidence, because it really doesn’t when pushed to the limits, but you have a better idea of where the limit is, or at least that’s the impression.
Is this a better car than the Huracan? Well no, it’s different. The neutral handling in mid turn will bite hard at you when you try to ride kerbs. You can compromise, you can set the car more stable and it works, but if you really want to go fast then watch out riding the inner kerbs. The car will rotate fast and at the very best case scenario you will lose lot’s of time trying to control it. Otherwise you’ll spin out of the track with your tyres flatspotted and many places lost. It’s best to approach turns with a V line. Brake late and go for an early apex without turning it too much to keep the rear end stable. Once you’ve passed the early apex and the speed is slower, rotate the car fast, away from the kerb and point to a second late apex and a straight exit, taking advantage of the rear weight bias traction. This kind of turn approach keeps the mid engine architecture traits under control. Great agility and grip, nasty behaviour when unsettled.

The engine seems a bit less powerful than the fastest Huracan team, which is strange because it should be the same engine, but the feeling is that it is more docile at power application out of the corners at the expense of a somewhat slower acceleration. We’re talking really minimal differences though.

Audi’s great experience in the LMP1 category has paid dividends in the car’s aerodynamic efficiency. As a matter of fact the rear wing comes straight from the LMP1 car design and it has very well documented aero map so it needs less adjustments to be efficient and helps the teams by avoiding unnecessary complexity. The results are evident as the Audi is always on the top of max speed traps at high speed circuits, without losing much downforce. This is indeed a great advantage in the middle of a race. Not only the car can keep up in terms of handling and overall grip, but it can also get out of the slipstream and still keep accelerating, obtaining a great position before the braking zone. If you feel uncomfortable with the aero balance of the car, you can always add a bit of rear wing, confident that your top speed will still stay competitive with the other cars.

Another advantage of having so many cars on the grid, by so many different teams, is that there is a lot of knowledge regarding the car, its traits and the setups needed to go fast. Information does go around in the Blancpain paddock and when the “Audi armada” decides to attack, the combined knowledge does give a competitive advantage.

So is the Audi the car the car to chose if you want to win? It is a good candidate, and with the help of somewhat surprisingly favourable BoP, it can win on almost every track, but it’s not alone and if other cars push it to choose different racing lines, it might show its ugly face. Be sure that there are other cars out there that can really push it to its limits.

The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3

The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 is an anomaly of a supercar. Not recognised with all the glamour and flair of the Ferraris, Lamborghinis, McLarens and Porsches of the world, it is a car that has grittily carved a revered reputation among a wide range of motoring enthusiasts by shunning prestige and instead being a pure tool of performance that is backed up firmly by its race results and championships.

While its DNA is traditionally an all-wheel-drive, turbo-six platform; some of the greatest GT-Rs have been the pure racing specials which demonstrate the versatility of the platform. For example; the great R33 Le Mans GT1 entries of 1995 and the 2011 FIA GT1 winning V8 powered R35 cars – both were RWD!

So, when Nissan decided to properly throw its hat into the fast-growing GT3 ring in 2012, it made many people salivate at the thought of yet another potent race focused GT-R taking on Europe’s best.

Nissan’s commitment was rewarded after only three years, with the GT-R GT3 netting some big results – winning the 2015 Bathurst 12 Hour and the Blancpain Endurance Series. The cars cult-like popularity escalated further – and its entry alone was enough to draw in bigger crowds.

During the 2017 Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour I was given the privilege of being able to visit the garage of small privateer team Hobson Motorsport and get a detailed look at their pair of 2014-specification Nissan GT-R GT3s. Their cars were acquired from Always Evolving/AIM Autosport, who had previously used them in the US based Pirelli World Challenge series through 2015 and 2016 to good effect with several race wins.

Helping them run the cars over the weekend were Wall Racing, an outfit from Sydney, Australia. Before the race weekend had even started, all concerned had pulled off a remarkable effort to get the cars over to Australia by container ship from the US, shaken down and race prepped in only a few weeks. Further augmenting the effort were AIM staff, with Hobson hiring an engineer, Balance of Performance specialist to extract the most out of the cars boost limits, and a senior mechanic to provide an injection of experience and knowledge.

Only a few pit bays down lived the factory run Nissan Australia effort with a pair of 2016 specification GT-R GT3 (based on the heavily revised 2015 model update). Slick and well resourced, this was a doubling of efforts over previous years; a sign of Nissan’s desire to win again at a circuit that has helped elevate the GT-R into rev-head folklore.

The 2017 race provided a rare opportunity of having two iterations of GT-R GT3 competing at the same event, which allowed me to assess the similarities and differences of the package at various stages of its evolution and understand what has influenced its design.

When directly compared to other lithe and exotic GT3 machinery that sit up and down the pit lane, it is obvious that the GT-R GT3 is a large beast of a car. You’d be deceived into thinking its large size must give it some form of deficit to its opponents, but its abilities bely its dimensions. This is not by accident; every part of the car is honed for exceptional performance with JRM providing a very high quality build, as expected to get Nissan’s factory blessing.

Every fully FIA homologated GT3 car must begin life from road car stock; namely the base chassis and engine. In the case of the GT-R, JRM works over the body shell and Nismo Japan heads up development of the race engine.

JRM begins with a bare chassis straight from Nissan, and although it is already a cutting-edge performance item it undergoes extensive modifications.

At the start the build process a significant amount of the chassis is cut away; notably some exterior panelling including the roof, and some of the floor to provide access the transmission. Chassis rails, suspension turrets, firewall, door sills and most of the floor pan are left in place as is required by the GT3 rulebook.

The race-winning mission of the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 means it is also put on a diet to remove a fair chunk of its road going weight. For starters, the race car is now reskinned in full carbon fibre bodywork with aggressively widened wheel arches added to fit the cars now much wider stance, courtesy of fitting of race rubber. The doors, bonnet and boot lid are also tossed away and replaced with full carbon items.

Glass windows are replaced with light weight race plastics and extra parts are thrown in the bin. For instance, the GT3’s rain duties are now handled by a single wiper blade.

After close scrutiny, it appears that not a single part of the cars road going interior trim ever makes it into the race build – all in the name of weight loss.

After every change on the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 is said and done it weighs around 1300 kg, a fair way down from the 1730 kg road car.

The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 rolls on one size tyre on all four corners: 325-705-18. This size is unique among GT3 cars, particularly with its tall sidewalls. This rubber is mounted to a very distinctive set of Rays Engineering created 6 spoke centre lock race wheels – 18” in diameter as mandated by the GT3 regulation. The result is a very light rotating mass, with a JDM look that most GT-R fans will appreciate.

Within the wheels of the 2012 to 2014 spec cars are a set of Brembo racing brakes; GT3 specific six piston callipers out the front and the original GT-R road cars four pistons at the rear. From the 2015 model onward, these changed to AP Racing on all corners (although AP Racing and Brembo are essentially the same brand). These provide plenty of consistent stopping power for the car which is on the upper end of GT3 weights.

As per the GT3 regulations, supposedly implemented to keep costs down, the brake discs are all made from steel and in the case of the GT-R GT3 they are slotted, not drilled. Cooling of the brakes is mostly provided by ducts that take fresh air directly from either the front grille or rear quarter panel vent and direct its flow to the inner arch where it is split across the rotor for maximum effect.

To keep the rubber glued to the ground, the big Nissan relies on Öhlins TTX four-way adjustable dampers front and back – still pinned to the original turrets but reinforced by structural bracing within the engine bay for improved chassis stiffness.

The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 still utilises the famous VR38DET Twin Turbo V6 engine from its road-going sibling. As with everything else on the car it under goes a little bit of work to help it live with the strains of a racing life. New internals such as race specific camshafts are installed and a dry sump lubrication package is also added.

Remarkably for the 2012-2014 models, the turbochargers used are still the road going IHI items, albeit with revised internals for durability under the stresses of racing. For 2015 onwards the GT-R GT3 benefited from the homologation of the GT-R Nismo road car to replace these with new hi-flow units.

With the GT3 regulated Balance of Performance applied, a GT-R GT3 can typically be expected to put down around 550 bhp @ 6.400 RPM, and provide 650 Nm of torque at 4.000 RPM. This motivation is all put out via the rear wheels only – the 4WD of the road car is removed to comply with the GT3 rules.

Such performance comes at the expense of life span however, with Nissan’s quoted figures of a full rebuild at 9.000 km and full replacement at 18.000 km, although sources have quoted less than these.

Unlike the road going car, the GT-R GT3 engine is served by a dual exhaust system which is split evenly left and right. Each branch of exhaust extends from the engine and turbos down behind the front tyre where the catalytic convertors are located. From here the exhaust turns 90° and runs through the side skirts before exiting out the cars side about its middle.

To keep the engine humming along reliably, the GT3 has a specialised cooling package within its large front bumper intake that is split to serve various tasks. The top most part of the air intake feeds an oil cooler which is mounted within an original spec carbon composite cross support. The central part of the intake – which is extended by cutaways made in the original cars front cowling – provides air to the main radiator which is also fan assisted for slow airflow conditions. At either end of the aforementioned front cowling are more cutaways housing the intakes for the engine itself. Finally, the lowest section of the grille supplies air to the turbo intercoolers in its middle, with intakes for the front brake cooling placed either side.

One of the most significant changes made to the GT-R’s mechanicals is the transmission. In place of the road going cog-box is a race-specific Hewland 6-speed pneumatically controlled unit for providing quick and precise shifts to cut down lap times. This unit is placed on the car’s transaxle to help optimise weight distribution to as close to 50/50 as possible. Its rebuild interval is quoted at 5.000 km.

The cooling for the transmission is provided by an oil cooler in the boot space, fed by a cleverly mounted duct placed at the top of the cars boot lid which pulls in airflow from the stream travelling over the cabin.

One of the key challenges facing JRM when designing the GT-R GT3 was enhancing its aerodynamic performance to keep pace with its rivals.

To hone the GT-R into a balanced package and prevent it from being purely horsepower and torque reliant for lap times, an extreme suite of aerodynamic parts is applied.

At the very front of the car juts out an enormous carbon fibre front splitter. This is the GT-R’s first point of contact with the air and it “splits” its flow across the front of the car to prevent stalled air on its top side disturbing the path of high speed air that is forced underneath. A very slight, raised curvature is applied in the centre of the splitter lip to create a small tunnel to increase the volume of air fed under the car. Once underneath, air flows at high speed between a fully flat floor and the road surface creating low pressure and therefore suction and grip, before it is finally dispelled through a six-strake rear diffuser and expands back to higher pressures.

The slower air trapped on the upper side of the splitter feeds the cooling requirements of the car and is fed back into streamlined flow via numerous vents on the bonnet.

To further reduce the amount of air spoiling the under floor of the car, the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 has very large and imposing side skirts. These do more than just house the exhaust; they act like a front splitter by trapping slow air against the side of the car to keep it separated from the faster air going underneath it.

On the corners of the car’s front bumper are carbon fibre dive planes, with a pair either side. These are massive compared to other competitors and are incorporated to provide extra downforce for the front of the car, as well as direct airflow higher up along the side of the car to minimise its disturbance to the floor section. Interestingly, the first iteration of the car (2012) had no dive planes at all; these were added in 2013. The shape of these original planes remained until they were revised in 2015 for better performance.

Spinning wheels and tyres create significant air turbulence which can spill out of the wheel arches, disturbing flow. To control this, the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 features a set of front quarter panel vents. The items on the 2015+ car appears to have shrunk by almost 50-percent when compared to the size of the 2012-2014 models.

At the very rear of the car is a GT3 spec rear wing; and it really is a behemoth! Almost the full width of the car even with its pumped-out wheel arches, it features a single, straight chord design of carbon fibre goodness. Full carbon endplates are sported both ends and are fixed without adjustment. The wing is propped up on very tall mounts that are made from milled aluminium. This places it very high into clear air for optimal downforce contribution. Wing adjustment is performed at the mounting connection to the wing itself.

Even the side mirrors of the cars have also been given the aerodynamic treatment for reduced surface area and drag, with a face area reduction to the FIA mandated 100 mm² minimum mirror area.

As previously mentioned, very little of the GT-R road car interior is retained in the GT3. Only the form of the dashboard remains as it is replaced with a full carbon fibre. The GT-R’s famous comprehensive multi-function display in the centre of the dash is also lost in the weight cull. A void that on the road car would be the passenger glove box now houses the race car’s ECU (a Pectel SQ6M unit).

The GT-R’s dash controls are whittled down to the bare minimum. As was the GT3 style of the time, some of the more advanced functions and controls are located on a raised carbon centre control panel. On the 2015+ models, this console is raised even further to bring the controls closer to the driver – which most likely was done to benefit the pint-sized Katsumasa Chiyo! On this centre panel the driver will find dials to fidget with the ABS (12 settings), traction control (eight settings), brake bias controller and four boost maps. There are also sets of rocket switches for activating safety features and air conditioning.

Most of the other controls for the car are right at the fingertips of the driver on the steering wheel. For 2012-2014 the wheel in question is an alloy hub Sparco item with ten buttons, five each side. These control items such as the drink dispenser, radio, lights, pit limiter, etc.

On the 2015 update, the steering wheel was the target of further aggressive weight loss goals and became a full carbon unit with flat bottom.

All the GT-R’s critical race metrics are displayed to the driver via a Motec ADL3 Dash system.

The pedal set of the car is an AP racing unit sitting on an adjustable pedal box, with the master cylinder arrangement tucked in behind.

In the blazing heat of the Bathurst summer where outdoor temperatures can regularly reach 40°C, the GT-R’s cabin A/C is not strong enough to maintain the 10°C difference to ambient temperature required by the FIA. To ensure the driver is kept comfortable, a dry ice-based cool suit system is typically employed. This is a free choice for the operator and not standard kit from Nissan.

The A/C systems itself can be tailored to suit the conditions. The 2014 model factory entry from the 2015 B12hr featured plumbed seat vents, an adjustable front of body vent and a helmet plumbing system to vent cooled air directly to the driver’s head.

Tucked behind the driver is a 130 litre ATL fuel cell, which is fed from a special inlet located on either side, just behind the doors. This inlet can be swapped over depending on pit configuration, as can the air lance for operating the on-board jacks. The fuel inlet incorporates both a supply and vent pipe arrangement, removing the need for a separate vent pipe handler during stops.

The 2017 Bathurst 12 Hour would prove to be an eventful one for both Nissan teams.

For Brett and Laura Hobson – owners of Hobson Motorsport – their weekend could best be described as hectic. Observing their B12hr experience was like watching a masterclass in juggling tasks.

Despite Brett performing lead driving duties for the number 66 car, co-driven by Always Evolving’s Eric Davis and American Am driver Fred Poordad, and Laura managing the team’s media and cheque book (racing is expensive); both played equal part in hosting the team’s unique fan activations as well as entertaining a stream of media commitments. Judging from the smiling faces leaving their garage they must have put on a great tour – remarkable given the added stress of managing unexpected mechanical issues, organising urgent parts procurement and pouring over the numbers during some back of pit-bay accounting.

The first trial of any GT-R GT3 over the weekend occurred early on the Thursday set-up day in their garage before any running was completed, when the number 66 car sprung a last-minute clutch issue requiring an extensive repair. After a significant amount of hurried spanner swinging by the Wall Racing crew, the car was ready to run alongside the number 38 entry driven by Chris Pither, Daniel Bilski and Adrian Flack for the weekend’s action.

But Hobson’s early issues were simple compared to the experience of the Nissan Australia factory team.

On the Friday, GT-R fans were given some significant things to worry about when the number 24 factory team car (Jann Mardenborough, Florian Strauss and Todd Kelly) nosed into a wall at the top of the mountain with GT Academy graduate Strauss at the wheel. The impact on the right side of the car was hard enough to bend the car significantly and many feared it was done for the weekend. A long night was spent with the local body shop jig, straightening the chassis out for its return mid-Saturday.

Shortly after the number 24 entry returned to the track, the factory Nissan mechanics were very quickly tested once again when Chiyo clipped a wall with the front right tyre of the number 23 car (co-driven by Alex Buncombe and Michael Caruso), tearing the front wheel assembly from the car. It was not enough to rule the car from participating on the Sunday but held it out of qualifying.

Come race day, a record four Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3s took the start of the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour, their distinctive drone like hum filling the darkness before their squarish silhouettes began being exposed by the first rays of the day’s sun.

The morning events went in differing directions for all the entered Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3’s.

For the factory team, the number 23 entry lost bags of laps early with a gearbox issue, whilst in contrast the number 24 car would gain the race lead in the early running.

For Hobson, the number 66 car ran nice and cleanly for numerous hours, whilst the number 38 entry was forced to make a gap where there wasn’t any between the crashed number 74 Jamec Pem Audi and the wall at The Dipper in near darkness about 15 minutes into the race, resulting in serious damage. It would eventually return but its race was already significantly hindered.

Then all the luck ran out.

For Nissan Australia, the number 24 entries gearbox decided to become faulty and ultimately forced it to drop right off the lead lap – finishing in eighth place. Meanwhile, the number 23 car had returned to the track but couldn’t seem to stay out for any reasonable length of time, finally finishing the last of the runners in 32nd place.

A few doors down, the Nissan presence had its most cruel moment of the weekend late in the afternoon when the number 66 car crashed out after multiple heavy hits with the wall at The Esses and The Dipper with Poordad at the wheel – the last of which was a head-on collision. That impact knocked the wind out of Poordad and required him to stay at the local hospital for a few days. Meanwhile, the number 38 Hobson GT-R had enjoyed a much cleaner run to the flag, logging a 31st placed finish.

When I last saw the Hobsons, they had just received the 66 car back in Parc Fermé and were going over the extensive damage. It was a saddening sight to see some genuinely nice privateers looking worryingly over one of their prized possessions. Racing is a cruel mistress.

The Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 was alone in flying the flag for Japan in GT3 competition worldwide until the recent arrival of Honda (NSX) and Lexus (RC-F). Now in its fifth year of operation, the car has earned a strong support base based off its cult-car status.

But GT3 moves fast. The 2016 raft of new cars built to a revised regulation has left the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 trailing in terms of sophistication and build specification. To counter this, Nissan and JRM are developing a heavily revised car for the 2018 season to carry on fighting until the next generation of GT-R appears sometime around 2020. With the level of extreme alteration already done from 2012 to today, there is no doubt this next evolution will likely set a new benchmark in GT3 builds.

Long live Godzilla!

The Honda NSX GT3

The last of the Japanese ‘Big Three’ to jump into GT3, Honda finally committed to the global sportscar platform to help maintain a presence in IMSA racing on release of the latest GT3 regulation back in 2016. This coincided with the all-new hybrid NSX flagship car back in 2017 – the next generation of the model after a 15-year run by the original car, which was famously tested in development by the late great Ayrton Senna.

The Honda NSX GT3’s gestation is an interesting one; in that it features a truly global input from three of Honda’s primary motorsport arms across the world. The pen-on-paper design of the car was done by Honda R&D in Japan, using support and knowledge from long-time Honda WTCC factory partner JAS Motorsport in Italy. The car’s base chassis and 3.5-litre twin turbo V6 powerplant is built in Ohio, USA by Honda Performance Development (HPD) – which is also the lead entity that tested and developed the prototype NSX GT3 prior to locking in its FIA homologation. Final assembly and build is done in Italy by JAS Motorsport.

Honda took its first season of IMSA racing as a test bed against some very established manufacturers in the GT3 space. After just one season of racing, Honda released an Evo (upgrade) version of the car – a year or two earlier than most GT3 upgrade kits are released. This kit furthered the car’s overall performance through aerodynamic and drivability tweaks and the spec will remain in place for several years.

With the NSX as Honda’s performance flagship, the car is built for total performance. Long gone are the Japanese manufacturer’s agreement to build performance cars up to a certain level of power – the NSX is kitted out to compete on a supercar level.

At the heart of the NSX is a hybrid chassis – primarily aluminium with key members done in steel. To give the chassis racing-grade stiffness, an FIA compliant chromoly roll-cage is tungsten inert gas (TIG) welded in to handle the dynamic stresses of racing and also to help increase crash repairability. An access hatch is fitted to the roof for driver helmet removal in the case of a heavy crash.

Body work is done in full carbon fibre – similar to other latest GT3 builds. The car’s stance is widened to suit its racing tyres – to 2040mm. Much of the NSX road car shape is retained, with vents repurposed for racing applications. Once the racing build is complete the NSX GT3 weighs 1240kg.

The LED-based headlight arrangement remains from the road car. Supplementary LED racing lights can be fitted to the outer parts of the front vents and are integrated with the bodywork for clean lines. Rear lighting is also cleanly executed and retains the road car profile. A rain light is added to the rear for compliance with GT3 regulation.

The NSX GT3 is halted by a Brembo brake system, with ventilated steel rotors paired to six-piston front calipers and four-pot rear calipers. These are paired to a Bosch M5 ABS system – a very common GT3 system.

Suspension is provided by double wishbones up front, and multilink system in the rear. Damping is served by five-way adjustable Sachs racing dampers. Mounting points are stiffened courtesy of the roll cage to ensure optimal compliance and sharp handling.

Being mid-engine, rear wheel driven – the NSX GT3 follows the trend of having larger rear rubber than those mounted up front. The front wheels are 315/680 – 18, mounted on 12×18 inch OZ wheel rims, while the rear is 325/705 – 18, on 13×18 inch rims.

With the NSX GT3 being fully compliant with the technical regulations, the hybrid system is removed from the car. The sole source of motivation for the car is a mid-mounted longitudinal 3.5-litre 75 degrees V6 twin turbo based off the J35 engine platform – but known as JNC, which does not come with Vtec and is DOHC – placed behind the driver. While heavily related to the famous J35-based HR35TT that powers the Scuderia Glickenhaus SCG003c racer and various prototype sportscars, the NSX GT3 engine is not the same unit. The J35 JNC can produce 500hp in road trim, and after some love from HPD it becomes a 3501cc, 550+hp unit capable of 15,000km before replacement.

Engine management is via a Cosworth ECU, with 12-level Traction Control.

Putting this power to the rear wheels only is an X-Trac sourced six-speed sequential gearbox, sitting directly behind the engine. It connects to the motor via a Sachs clutch system.

The exhaust system for the engine is rearward discharge, from a space above the rear diffuser via twin exhaust systems, each serving one half of the cylinder bank.

Cooling for the motor is done up the front of the car: an angularly mounted unit served by the main grille on the nose of the car and heated air through the coil is exhausted via a bonnet tunnel to a large vent just before the windshield. Intercooling for the turbos is done in the engine bay and fed air by the large intakes on either side of the car just behind the cockpit doors. Air to the engine is also fed from these side vents.

The sleek shape of the NSX GT3 makes it fit easily into the field – being comparable in size and shape to the Audi R8, Lamborghini Huracán and McLaren 720S. The low-slung roof line allows for less drag.

At the front of the car, the NSX road car’s three-section front grille arrangement is retained, with the two outer grilles serving air to the front brake assemblies. The central grille, composed of two intakes, feeds air to the main radiator in the bonnet. The car has a pronounced front splitter – updated in the Evo kit to produce more downforce which separates lower speed air over the top and funnels faster flow stream under the car for stronger vacuum. Complimenting this are singular dive planes front corners of the car, mounted quite low – a change on the Evo model. The original car had pairs of dive planes.

The widened body of the car allows for significant work to be done around the wheel arches, with louvres above the wheels to help remove wash from the rotating tyres complimented by a rear facing vent just behind the tyres to provide further assistance and send air flow down the flanks of the car.

The car doesn’t have any pronounced side skirts to separate flow from the sides of the car to the under floor – it is assumed the existing items do enough to prevent interruption to the flow to the diffuser system on the flat floored car, and much of the air flows into the engine bay courtesy of large vertical ‘V’ intakes either side of the car. The upper part of the intake feeds air into the engine, the middle feeds intercoolers and the lower feed air to the rear brake ducts.

Following the roof line of the car, the low-slung NSX has few ducts taking flow from the top of the car – however the engine bay is covered by a slotted louvre panel to help dissipate heat into the atmosphere.

The rear of the car is dominated by the high-mounted rear wing, which sits in clear air outside of the flow over the car. Interestingly, it does not appear to be full width of the car – uncommon in GT3 builds – and is an indication that the car produces reasonable rear downforce levels, and that the reduced width minimises overall drag for more efficiency down the straights. It is mounted via a S bend neck struts to the underside of the wing, which is a straight chord with relatively small endplates.

The rear diffuser is quite sizable for the car – with seven wider tunnels provided on the Evo model after a profile change from the release version. The height of the diffuser is quite tall and the transition from the flat floor starts from just between the rear wheels. Width wise, the out tunnels fan out from the centre of the car to give it a wider final appearance.

Wash from the rear wheels is removed from the car via a set of open ducts located just underneath the rear taillights on either side of the car.

The NSX GT3 features a stripped-out interior for minimal weight and optimal functionality for racing operations. Within the bare metal and carbon fibre finishes surrounded by the roll cage are the primary equipment for the driver.

An OMP and Honda-designed racing carbon steering wheel is provided, with ten buttons and five dials to operate the car. Light flash, radio, drinks, wipers and the reverse gear are handled by the buttons, as well as start/stop and pit lane speed limiter. Dials control the level of influence on ABS and Traction Control, as well as various pre-tuned engine maps.

The driver is seated in a fixed carbon racing seat by Sparco and held in place by a six-point harness. Pedals and wheel position can be adjusted during a driver swap courtesy of a floating pedal box and adjustable wheel for fore and aft movement. Metrics are provided to the driver via a Bosch DDU10 display.

The FIA racing-grade fuel cell is squeezed behind the driver and forward of the engine, located just aft of the firewall and keeping it out of the cockpit.

Driver comfort in hot conditions is provided via an air conditioning system – optional equipment from the factory but essential for keeping the internal temps to the mandated 40 degrees Celsius during hot races.

The Honda NSX GT3 is a fairly young car compared to many other offerings on the market.

While almost a decade behind some of the more established competition in GT3 racing, Honda’s arrival comes at an interesting time in the formula, with market dominance from the German brands making it difficult to get established, particularly with customer racing programs.

Long-time rival Nissan has retracted its global involvement in GT3 racing significantly since winning the 2015 Blancpain GT Endurance championship and failing in a bid to race competitively at Le Mans, and Toyota’s Lexus RC F GT3 had a twice-aborted entry into the formula that has led to a very radical final build.

Where all three brands still maintain a stronger presence is their domestic market: Japan. Super GT and to a lesser extent Super Taikyu providing consistent order numbers for the cars to race in front of adoring fans of each brand. For 2020 in Super GT, Lexus has four RC F GT3 cars, Nissan five GT-R GT3s and Honda is represented by three NSX GT3s – one notably by long-time brand stalwart ARTA and another by Honda factory favourite Ryo Michigami – this makes up more than half of the 23 GT3 cars in the field.

Both Lexus and Acura remain racing in the American market in IMSA competition – but with the retraction of GT3 factory involvement in that series it remains to be seen how viable the future is for both brands.

Honda has inherited the role of being the leading Japanese representative in GT3 for the Intercontinental GT Challenge in 2020, with the car’s first foray down to Australia to race in the Bathurst 12 Hour. Without significant numbers of cars to bolster the ranks, Honda finds it difficult to lobby for more effective Balance of Performance against the established brands – but increased operations in Europe should help garner more attention.

The Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3

A long, long time ago, in a garage in Banbury, Oxfordshire, a group of engineers from Prodrive designed and put together Aston Martin’s second iteration of GT3 car: the Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

Its predecessor, the DBRS9, was one of the first GT3 cars to exist, and ended up being a rather long tenured model (2007-2011). So it comes as little surprise that for a company as small and financially tumultuous as Aston Martin; the V12 Vantage would also go on to fly the brand’s flag for many years despite the GT3 game progressing at an alarming pace.

Since its debut back in 2012, the GT3 game has moved on leaps and bounds and the Vantage remains somewhat of a relic when compared against the latest crop of cars with their complex aerodynamics, minimal road car influence and increased operational costs. Further compounding the deficit; the Vantage GT3 program has also always played poor sibling to Aston’s GTE effort–with most development money going to the factory World Endurance Championship cars and trickling out into GT3 package later.

However, it speaks volumes for the V12 Vantage GT3 package that in spite of it going into the 2018 GT3 racing season as easily the most dated modern car, it still holds favour with multiple operators–particularly Pro-Am teams as amateurs still find it relatively easy to extract pace from. Testament to this is the news of at least one Vantage doing the full Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup.

That it still has life in the cutthroat world of Blancpain GT stems from the car’s somewhat simplistic dynamics and the athleticism of its V12 engine which has allowed it to still keep pace relative to the newer machinery. In fact, the Vantage comes from a time when GT3 cars were genuinely built for customers–not Pro efforts–although a few factory-funded trips to the Nürburgring 24 Hours has helped the car build a strong fanbase, not at least for its amazing engine note.

Given its rather small proportions, the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is quite a lithe looking piece of kit (although one that has begun showing its age). The Vantage road car has been around since 2006, so it was already 6 years old when the GT3 came to be.

The Vantage GT3 starts life from a road car shell. Like many famous racing Astons before it (namely the famed DBR9 GT1), Prodrive builds the Vantage GT3 using an Aston Martin VH series bonded aluminium chassis. As with most other GT3 cars, the chassis rails, suspension turrets, firewall, door sills and most of the floor pan are left intact.

Being a traditional RWD sports car, not many changes are required save for a sub-frame which supports the race-specific transaxle-mounted gearbox.

Most of the road car’s external body panels are stripped off and replaced by racing-specific carbon fibre items. Only the aluminium roof is retained. This new bodywork gives the GT3 a much wider stance, with many of the wheel arches flared out to cover some wide racing tyres.

At the front, the nose of the car retains its characteristic Aston grille on a full-carbon bumper. The ends of which flare out and feature extensive cut-away sections just behind the wheel.

The bonnet retains its trademark Vantage air vents, but is now made in full-carbon. It has additional vents added for race-grade cooling requirements such as radiator optimisation and cockpit ventilation.

To stiffen the chassis for racing as well as provide driver safety, an FIA-rated steel roll cage is welded into the shell.

After all the bodywork and equipment changes, the complete car weighs in at 1250 kilogram.

The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 keeps itself planted to the asphalt on 300/679 18” tyres up front and 310/705 18” on the rear. These are fitted to 10-spoke 18” rims from TWS-Forged, a Japanese company who is an official partner to Aston Martin Racing. As per all other GT3 cars, these use a centre-lock hub for fast tyre changes during endurance races–with the upright and hub assembly coming from the GTE model of the same car.

Bringing the Vantage GT3 to a fast halt are Brembo brake sets, front and rear. The front end using six-piston calipers and the rear using four-piston calipers. These are mated to Brembo steel slotted brake discs. The front are fed cooling air from direct ducting originating from the upper intake of car’s front grille, while the rear are not duct fed, instead taking air flow from the underneath of the car.

The car’s braking ability is electronically assisted by a Bosch M4 Race ABS system which offers a wide range of adjustability to dictate its influence, with adjustment at the driver’s fingertips courtesy of dials on the steering wheel.

As with the GTE car, extracting the most of the Vantage GT3’s road holding abilities are a set of Bilstein four-way adjustable dampers, paired to double wishbone suspension in uniball bearings.

The Aston Martin’s engine bay is dominated by the engine itself. A 6-litre Aston Martin V12 capable of around 600hp and around 700nm of torque is somehow shoehorned into the tight confines of the Vantage’s frame. Even more impressively, Prodrive also managed to make it sit lower down and further back than the same unit in the road car for optimal weight distribution. Aiding this is the adoption of a dry-sump oil system which reduces the total engine height.

With the lower engine, a racing specific ‘X’ style stiffening brace an easily be installed within the engine bay for improved frontal rigidity.

The repositioning of the motor allows for more space for cooling, with an angled racing radiator assembly installed within a carbon tunnel at the front of the engine bay. With the bonnet closed, a complete tunnel for cooling airflow is formed, allowing for optimal radiator performance.

In spite of these changes, the Aston’s glorious howling V12 soundtrack is retained, albeit a little muted courtesy of the exhaust system. Many regard the Vantage as being the best sounding GT3 car of the lot!

All motor power runs through a carbon prop shaft to an Xtrac six-speed sequential racing transmission, which is mounted to the rear axle to improve the cars weight bias (it is very close to 50:50). This is a paddle shift operated, semi-auto unit controlled by paddles attached to the steering wheel.

The massive and distinctive Aston Martin front grille is charged with feeding air to almost all parts of the car. The topmost section feeds an oil cooler and front brake ducts. The lower section feeds the engine radiator, as well as the engine air intake which is fed through pod filters located under the headlights.

Being one the oldest operating models of GT3 cars, the Vantage GT3 is not as tricked out aerodynamically as many newer offerings. This has played to the strength of Aston Martin’s customer sports program, as many gentleman drivers still favour the type due to its relatively easy drivability.

The very front of the car sports a large full carbon splitter with a concave lower profile. This juts out ahead of the car, providing a shelf on which to trap low speed, high pressure air to push the car down to the track. Air flowing underneath the splitter’s lip is quickly expanded by a small diffuser section just before the front axle line. Besides a flat pan that bolts to the bottom of the engine bay, there is no flat floor beyond this–a real sign of the car’s 2012 GT3 vintage–and as a result, the Vantage GT3 also has no rear diffuser.

This non-reliance on aerodynamics for grip can be afforded courtesy of GT3’s Balance of Performance (BoP) which allows the Aston to make up any lap deficit created by reduced grip by giving it more power on straight roads, which its pre-BoP adjusted 600hp ceiling allows.

That’s not to say careful aero attention hasn’t been paid to other areas of the car. Up front, two small dive planes are added to the cars corners to provide some extra push down to the road, while at the rear, a ‘pseudo’ diffuser removes turbulent air from under the car and a full width, large single chord rear wing provides plenty of push down through to the rear tyres.

The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 also doesn’t feature large pronounced side skirts either. Typically, these prevent air from the side of the car spilling through to the underside and disrupting flow, however without a flat floor the requirement for clear separation is not critical. They do, however, house the car’s exhaust system.

Behind the flared front wheels are some very large ‘cut-away’ openings that allow significant volumes of air to escape the wheel arches and flow down the side of the car.

The Aston Martin Vantage GT3 forgoes its road-going siblings opulent British interior fittings for a much more Spartan fit-out.

The interior is mostly a sea of bare metal, graced with the occasional carbon fibre panel or exposed wiring loom.

The dashboard is replaced whole sale by a carbon item, with a dash of Alcantara up top to give it a slightly more luxury feel. The centre console is also in carbon, and topped with a simple-to-use flat panel with a number of the cars controls and switches.

All other controls are located on the full carbon, flat bottomed steering wheel which looks very simple compared to the fancy equipment on newer cars! These include buttons for lights, speed limiters, radio and neutral gear, as well as dials for the fuel maps, traction control influence, and ABS influence. Behind the wheel grip are the paddle shifters for easy-to-access gear changes.

Feet controls are all mounted to an adjustable pedal box which allows for fast adjustment when swapping drivers.

The drivers themselves are strapped to a Recaro race seat with 6 point harness, and protected by nets installed on both sides per the latest regulations.

Nestled in the cabin behind the driver is an FIA grade 114 litre ATL fuel cell with bladder.

After a 12 year tenure, the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 is finally being replaced with a new model powered by an AMG-sourced turbo V8 engine, and with it come new racing versions.

Due to the small size of the brand, Aston has opted to first develop the GTE version of the new car for the 2018 WEC season, with the view of trickling down technology and lessons learnt from a year of racing into the customer-focused Vantage GT3 which will be released in 2019.

Sadly, it appears the days of the Aston V12 are coming to a close as the new car will feature the AMG V8.

This comes at a unique time for the British GT3 contingent, with Bentley debuting a new model this year and McLaren joining Aston with a new car in 2019. The 2019 British GT Championship will be most interesting!

Given the advance in the technicality of GT3 cars since the FIA’s 2016 GT3 regulations came into play, it will be interesting to see how different the next generation of Aston GT3 will be from the current package–with aerodynamics and an emphasis on pure racing car tech now being the status quo among the big players.

Regardless, if the brand’s tradition is kept up, it is very likely we will see Aston Martin line up their new car for a shot at the big boys in events such as the Nürburgring 24 Hours and other prestigious endurance races.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT3

The stunning, super-equipped DB5, like many British touring cars, has inspired a seeming-ly endless series of films and races. Others have included the V8 Vantage, the Vanquish V12, the DBS V12 and finally the DB10. The Vantage, regarded by many people as the first real British supercar – an epithet earned by its top speed of over 270 km/h, an impressive performance for a four-seater in 1977 – is the only car, of those mentioned above, with a name that still features in the exclusive Aston Martin price list. The Vantage can also boast an important and probably unbeatable record: that of the best-selling car in the history of the marque.

Last March the Vantage GT3 received authorisation from FIA to compete in the current racing championship. The race version of the new Vantage is powered by the same AMG 4.0 litre V8 turbo engine found on the road model, but has been specifically optimised by the engineers at Aston Martin Racing to achieve 535 horsepower. And so after seven years of success, the era of twelve-cylinder cars is now at an end for gentleman drivers fond of the English brand. Internally the car has a steel roll cage, a central console and carbon dashboard custom-made by Cosworth, a ZF eight-speed sequential gearbox, an Alcon clutch and braking system and Ohlins four-way adjustable shock absorbers. A winning element in this Vantage is undoubtedly its dry weight: at 1245 kg it is approximately 60 kg lighter than the BMW M6 belonging to the same category. Its weight distribution is 50:50.

Compared to the road version this GT3 is significantly wider, has a highly complex aerodynamic kit and is decidedly more aggressive at both front and rear. The front end is slightly more pointed, and two air intakes have been added incorporating horizontal slitted extractor profiles on the muscular bonnet to improve engine-cooling performance. Further down the front spoiler now benefits from two external corners in which two large sections have been carved out to convey the air inwards; the grille in front of the central air intake has been replaced by horizontal splits. The sides of the car feature generous miniskirts and even wider wheel arches, and new-design side mirrors, transparent polycarbonate windows and lateral outlets complete the aggressiveness of the look. At the rear a large, variable-incidence spoiler and an enormous, optimally-shaped carbon extractor profile help to add the finishing touches to a fast, elegant and menacing car.

The new Vantage GT3 has a highly prestigious heritage to uphold. The old Vantage V12 GT3, on the road since 2012, has been successful in winning quite a few races in all four corners of the globe. But thanks to its lighter and more rigid frame, its lower weight and its much more efficient engine, the new weapon in the Aston Martin armoury can certainly match and surpass the performance of its predecessor on the race track.

Mercedes AMG GT3 2020 (Evo)

In the competitive world of GT3 racing, standing still is going backwards. Despite being one of the most successful GT3s at the moment – both from a sporting and business perspective – Mercedes-AMG today presented an evo model of its Mercedes-AMG GT3. With its new weapon, AMG aims to improve on the car’s usability and reducing the running costs by extending the engine’s mileage before a rebuild. Current owners can choose to upgrade their current-spec to the 2020 evo model without buying a completely new car.

The new-for-2020 Mercedes-AMG GT3 features improvements in detail rather than a complete overhaul of the successful GT from Affalterbach, as race car driver and Mercedes-AMG Customer Racing coordinator Thomas Jäger explains: “We’ve put in a lot of detail work. The front and rear are completely different; it has a new face. The front is now easier accessible, the front splitter is easier to adjust, we have a quick adjustment for the rear wing which is very positive. The whole cooling package is protected better in the front. The subframe is different to better protect the engine.

“We’ve put a lot into driver comfort: An optimal seat and helmet cooling system. We have developed a new ABS system that is performing better. The traction control has been retuned which is also a significant change.

“We’ve done many more things that are better for the teams, mechanics and drivers – the whole package is improved.”

With the current GT3, Mercedes-AMG has already created a car that is renowned for its drivability for gentleman drivers. Focus for the 2020 evo model has been on creating the ideal amateur driver race car.

“This is very important for us,” Jäger explains. “We’ve seen that in all of the Pro-Am championships it’s not the Pro driver that is important, but the Am. If the gentleman driver feels really confident and the car is predictable and gives you a lot of feedback, it’s easier to get closer to the limit, like for example here at the Nordschleife.

“We’ve achieved that already with the current GT3 and it will be another step with the new one. You cannot make it much better than the current car is. The traction control and ABS system and ergonomics in the cockpit where we’ve changed the steering wheel a little bit [are specific improvements for gentleman drivers]. Everything has been improved in the details.”

Painted in a beautiful orange colour, the Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020 is now ready to begin a rigorous testing program.

“It’s very important that we have a well-developed and very reliable product when it comes to market. We do close to 30.000 test kilometers in total: A 30-hour test, a 24-hour race and so on. At the end of the year when the first cars will be delivered, we will have a very-very good package.”

The first competitive outing is still being discussed, but Jäger assures it’ll be on the race track sooner rather than later.

“The first race will be soon! At the moment we are checking possibilities – it will be pretty soon. You will have to test at the Nordschleife, that’s for sure, so that will also be the case [for the Mercedes-AMG GT3 2020].”

Maro Engel, one of AMG’s star drivers, has been part of the development program from the beginning, joining Thomas Jäger and Jan Seyffarth in the quest to improve the car that Engel won the 2016 Nürburgring 24 Hours and 2018 Blancpain GT Endurance Cup with.

“I love the look; it looks so cool,”Engel says. “It looks aggressive and what a racing car should look like. We’ve implemented the lessons from the current-spec GT3 into the 2020 AMG GT3 and refined so much. There are no huge differences in the aero but because of the different optics there’s a small difference there.”

One of the lessons learned was Raffaele Marciello’s lost Intercontinental GT Challenge title, when a clogged up air filter kept the Italian from bringing in the trophy for AMG.

“The main focus has been on improving the usability such as being able to change an air filter quickly. Raffaele Marciello was forced into the sand last year at Laguna Seca and he lost a lot of power because of it. There was no solution and he lost the Intercontinental GT Challenge title. Things like that can really make a big difference.

“The front splitter can also be changed quickly. Contact happens and with this new car it’s not the end of your race. The ABS has been refined which gives you a better feeling as a driver on the brakes into the corners.”

With initial development testing out of the way, more AMG works drivers as well as customers will be brought in to share their thoughts on the machine before it’s finalised.

“It still has that amazing character; I loved every minute of the development so far and look forward to continuing develop it with my colleagues and bring it to the race tracks in 2020,” Engel concludes. 

BMW M4 GT3

BMW M Motorsport has finally released the final product of the new for 2022 BMW M4 GT3 after many months of testing.

The long-awaited replacement for the venerable M6 GT3 (which debuted in 2016) is built to the latest 2022 GT3 regulation created by the FIA GT Commission. These are understood to not be as radical a departure from the 2016 regulations were from the previous 2012 regulation which relied on the significant use of production car components. This explains why many manufacturers will be producing Evo kits for current GT3 (2016 regulation) platforms for the purpose of equivalency.

The M4 sees BMW return to its most famous GT/Touring car platform – as the M3 previously championed the small two-door car for the marque, before a model renumbering saw the M4 become the two model and the M3 become the name for 4-doors. BMW’s first official GT3 car – the short wheelbase the Z4 – was very nimble, and some operators say overly so. This led BMW to shift to the longer wheelbase M6 GT3 for platform stability. This stability philosophy remains with the M4 GT3, which despite the seemingly smaller base platform, is actually dimensionally larger than the M6 it replaces.

As the first insight to the 2022 regulations, the M4 offers some view into what might lay ahead from other manufacturers.

Notably, in line with existing homologated GT3 models, the chassis is significantly (150mm overall) widened via external body work (in carbon fibre) to accommodate wider racing tyres. Within these flared dimensions a number of racing-specific cooling vents have been provided, notable around the front headlight surrounds and on the side of the car, just prior to the rear wheel. In the case of the front headlights’ vents – this may be to vent air over the front tyres to assist in aerodynamics within the wheel well before spilling out through large tunnels behind the front wheels. The rearward side ducts are likely for rear brake cooling.

A large duct in the rear boot lid provides entry of cooling air for oil cooling serving the rear axle mounted X-trac 6-speed sequential paddle shift-controlled gearbox, and any air conditioning units.

At the front of the car, a new oversized BMW ‘kidney’ grille dominates the nose. The large grille is split into 3 sections but will mainly serve the engine radiator (laid angular) and intercoolers for the 3.0 litre straight-six turbocharged engine. Air enters towards the bottom of the nose grille and vent out over the car via large tunnels that dominate the bonnet. On the bonnet, other small NACA ducts serve elements such as cockpit ventilation. Front wheel arch vents are also provided to allow for turbulent air to escape.

The aforementioned new engine marks a departure from the M6’s turbo V8 – and a return the spiritual six-cylinder engine configuration the M3/M4 is famous for (albeit with forced induction). It can produce 582 bhp (430kW) of power. It is relocated as far back and low as possible in the engine bay to optimize weight distribution.

Aerodynamic features include a straight-forward front splitter with a wide central raised section breaking the horizontal plane created at its outer edges. This splitter dictates how fast and how much airflow is sent into the engine and under the car. There are no fancy vertical fences for controlling airflow (yet), and it is also important to note the absence of aerodynamic ‘flicks’ on the front corners of the car which have been the standard on GT3 cars for some time. This may represent a return to simpler aerodynamics for 2022 GT3 – indeed it are these small aerodynamic components that are the first things to break off during contact while racing. This would reduce the replacement costs to operators.

However, one cannot say that because of the absence of small elements that the new M4 GT3 is not highly detailed. The level of aerodynamic research performed shows in the rear of the car. A large swan-neck mounted rear wing with central raised chord almost spans the full width of the car, and has been CFD-modelled to pair to the cars’ 3 tunnel rear diffuser that pulls air from the flat floor.

The interior is still very much on par with current GT3 models – with F1 style steering wheel (by Fanatec) and Bosch racing displays.

In line with the previous specification an, FIA grade roll cage, helmet hatch and safety equipment such as dual nets and extinguishers are accommodated.

Overall, the new M4 GT3 is a very clean new design that appears to be a very well-balanced package that has reduced both purchase costs (at 415,000 euro the car is 4,000 euro less than its predecessor) and operating costs versus the outgoing BMW M6 GT3, as well as provide consistency in lap times – a big plus for GT3 customers.

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The technical data are taken from:

• Bentley Continental GT3 – 1st and 2nd gen, Audi R8 LMS GT3, Ferrari 488 GT3, Porsche 991 GT3 R, BMW M6 GT3, Lamborghini Huracán GT3: https://www.assettocorsa.net/forum/index.php?forums/acc-blog.87/&prefix_id=37
• BMW M4 GT3, Honda NSX GT3, Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3, Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3, Mercedes AMG GT3 2020 Evo: https://www.gt-report.com/category/tech-analyses/
• Aston Martin Vantage V8 GT3: https://racingspot.pirelli.com/global/en-ww/race/aston-martin-vantage-gt3-a-world-beating-car
• Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo: https://www.menudeimotori.eu/english/the-ferrari-488-gt3-evo-2020-the-continuing-evolution-of-a-legend/