In the first of his columns he considers how the new look British GT Championship is shaping up:

It’s a very different look to the British GT Championship from 2002. New race format, new class structure, new teams and cars.

First things first though. We now have a Championship with fewer but longer races. Does it work?

The calendar certainly makes more sense for the teams than last year. On balance there were too many races, with a long gap in the middle of the season and then six rounds in nine weeks. When you are racing these kinds of cars on tight budgets, that simply doesn’t make sense. The better spread this year works far better and the paring down of the Championship to 10 rounds (the same as the FIA GT Championship) has relieved some pressure on the teams.

The varied race lengths too make a very positive contribution. We now have a true endurance championship. Yes I know in most cases its only a 15 minute longer race, but that means that some of the cars that are thirstier will be marginal on fuel and will have to take account of that as a factor. The guys (and the girls Ben!) will have to look after their tyres a little more too.

For the three longer races (Snetterton Two Hours, Silverstone Three hours and the Spa 1000km), pit strategy will be / might have been crucial for a team looking to find an advantage. The longer races might also give some teams an opportunity to get other drivers into the cars, important when you are trying to attract new blood and new backers into the sport.

One aspect of the new format that may benefit from a second look though is the pit stop format. Endurance racing is very much a team sport and the current pit-stop rooutine seems to miss a trick.

As it stands at present the cars can be fuelled and a driver change made in a mandatory two minute stop (ie if you need fuel it will take at least two minutes, a rule introduced to ensure that fuel stops were conducted safely). After that two minutes has expired, the team can then do any other work on the car that is necessary. This is fine if everyone has to stop, but the format does mean that any contribution the pit crew can make over a fast turnaround is cancelled out – fuel and a driver change can easily be done in under a minute so there is a lengthy period of dead time, when the pit is eerily quiet. If the format was altered to trim back the two minutes to 60 seconds (for fuel only) but then allow the driver change to take place after the mandatory fuelling period and not during it, this would give the pit crew an opportunity to help the racing effort with a slick changeover.

The other major change is the class structure, the introduction of the new ‘Cup’ class is a major turn around for the Championship. With just one GT class car currently running we in reality have a two class championship.

GT Cup could well prove to be an ideal stepping stone for those looking to find a way into top class GT racing.

GTO is a great format, a great set of rules that provides fantastic racing and is massive worldwide. This really is the class to be in for a team or a driver looking to get noticed, not just in the UK but beyond.

The GT Cup class is a great idea, bringing new teams into GT racing and providing an easier step onto the ladder than GTO. It is however very difficult to get these things right straight away, to attract sufficient entries without changing the emphasis and the direction of the series.

This is a very tricky one to call, but with the deepest of respect for the teams running cars like these, I am really struggling with the concept of a Clio V6 or a turbocharged VW Golf being classified as GT cars. It’s fine if we have a championship like Belcar, where they have accommodated Touring Cars as part of a very successful structure, and it seems to be working well in the EERC here in the UK too, but I just don’t see cars like this as GT racers. It sends a mixed message to spectators too.

The fact though is that if we did have enough traditional GT cars to form decent grids, we wouldn’t be arguing about it. We all want more cars out there but we have to keep an eye on where this is leading to. If we are happy with a new Belcar-like series then fine, if not then tough decisions have to be made if we are to retain the very good image that the British Championship holds around the world.

There are of course plenty of ‘Cup’ type cars out there. Affordable Porsche 911s, Ferraris and Marcos Mantis, the latter perhaps not the very latest spec. but certainly capable of going out there and mixing it with the current pack. All undoubtedly GT cars and all fairly affordable and potentially competitive. Let’s hope we start to see more people putting their toes in the water during the season, it’s a class that deserves to succeed.

There’s been a good start made on reviving the Championship, there’s good racing already and there are signs that it can build on this to get back some of the status it has lost. Its easy to get sidetracked with a numbers game and everyone knows that if we managed to get 15 GTO cars and 15 Cup cars out there on a regular basis we’d have a Championship that can hold its own with the very best of the National series worldwide.

It needs encouragement from the organisers to achieve that and a hard sell, particularly on the jewels in the crown of the Championship, three hours at Silverstone and 1000Kms at Spa: Grand Prix circuits and serious seat time. An attractive proposition, particularly at a time when there are affordable GT cars sitting waiting in workshops up and down the country. If a couple come out and try, others will surely follow. The only way is up.
Ben McLoughlin