With the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship set to debut in 2021, fans can once again look forward to the top level of GT racing being derived from road cars. The very wildest road cars the world has ever seen, limited to only the world's very wealthiest, yes, but road cars nonetheless. While LMP1 cars achieved remarkable things for endurance and efficiency, it's probably not unreasonable to suggest they didn't quite connect with fans in the way that racers with street legal roots often do. See how popular the current GT3 and GTE classes are, for example.
With all motorsport postponed for the moment, there seemed no better time to look back on some GT racing greats. And, for many, 1990s GT1 is a real high point, so that's where we'll start. Specifically, it's going to be (mostly) the early cars, heavily modified but with at least some link to the production vehicle, before we get into the world of purpose-built racers then homologated to try and manipulate the rules. We're looking at you Mercedes, Toyota and Nissan... Anyway, without further ado, here's our top six GT1 sports cars.
6. Porsche 911 GT1
What was that about avoiding the purpose-built cars? Still, as the sportscar racing gamechanger of the 1990s, as the first to do it (and do it so well) the Porsche deserves a spot.
It's said that the McLaren F1 inspired the 911 GT1. With the McLaren having made the Dauer 962s look like the very old racing cars they were at Le Mans in 1995 (despite a victory for them as late as '94), Porsche set about a new factory sports car for the 1990s. It helped that the BPR Global GT Series, the preeminent series for sportscars back then, was growing in popularity, too. For 1996 an engineering team led by Norbert Singer grafted some 993 front onto a 962 rear (that's simplifying it massively), taking a Le Mans class one-two and mullering the BPR field when it arrived at Brands Hatch for round eight.
In 1997 came the GT1-Evo, then the GT1-98 the year after. By then, the opposition had cottoned on, and Mercedes crushed Porsche in the '97 and '98 FIA GT Championship (as the BPR became) with the CLK GTR and CLK LM respectively, but Porsche took its Le Mans victory with GT1 in 1998. Mercedes' dominance was such that everyone else pulled out for '99, and the GT1 class was cancelled - FIA GT would only be contested by GT2 cars from that year.
As for homologation, there was of course the 911 GT1 Street Version. Derived from the 1997 racer (and only just road usable), it's thought that 25 roadgoing GT1s were made. Three were built with the 993-style headlights, the rest like a 996. In 2012, number five of them sold for $1.2m...
5. Lotus Elise GT1
Because we all like a silly one, right? And the proper, road car-derived GT1s are coming, honest. Lotus had in fact been represented in the BPR Global GT Series since its '94 inauguration with the Esprit GT1, though without much success. Much like Porsche, it wanted a more serious competitor as the series gained traction.
For the 1997 FIA GT Championship, the Elise GT1 was entered. It was obviously a newer design than the Esprit, and with an engine borrowed from the Corvette ZR1 that Lotus helped develop (then twin-turbocharged), it made for a 615hp racer. It wouldn't make for the most successful Lotus ever (and that's being polite), but what a wonderfully barmy idea. That's what qualifies the Elise.
Three GT1s were entered in the 1997 FIA GT Championship, though they could only muster up a best finish of 5th all season - it simply wasn't competitive enough, however good it looked. It's believed that seven GT1 chassis were built (with two becoming the V10-engined Bitter GT1s) including one road car. With a completely different engine and gearbox to the race car. Good old Lotus...
4. Venturi 600LM/SLM
Why the Venturi? Why not! While just a single 600LM was built, Venturi had been involved with sportscar racing before then, the 400 GTR being homologated for Le Mans.
The 600LM, moreover, achieved some success. Having debuted in 1993, the year after the 600 took BPR victories at Spa, Dijon and Montlhery, the twin-turbo V6 proving too much for the F40s and 911s also competing that year. 600LMs became updated SLMs for 1995, and one finished 21st at Le Mans.
The 600LM is notable, in addition, for sort of being the end of conventional Venturi motorsport. There was a sole entrant in the 1997 FIA GT Championship, but no more after that, and 1995 was the final appearance of a Venturi at Le Mans. Sadly, and somewhat unfairly, the 400s and 600s were largely forgotten; given the EV focus the brand has taken on in the 21st century, they're unlikely to be remembered anytime soon either. Shame.
3. Jaguar XJ220-C
While the XJ220 did compete as a GT1 car in 1995 BPR GT, its greatest achievement came in 1993: there was a Martini-liveried, slightly modified road car entered in Italian GT. And it looked awesome. Oh yes, and the actual XJ220C racing car won its class at Le Mans, driven by David Brabham, John Nielsen and David Coulthard. Then was disqualified. Now their car is for sale on PH. Quite the year '93 was...
By the time of the 1995 entry, the '220 had been outclassed somewhat by a car still to be mentioned on this list, and its fate was sealed. But by gum did a racing XJ220 look good, long and low and mean as hell. That it also spawned the XJ220-S, where TWR made six 'regular' XJ220s as close to the racers as possible for the road, only helped its cause. Racing cars don't need to be successful to be memorable, they just need to grab the attention - the XJ220 did that with aplomb.
2. Bugatti EB110
An incredible story of what might have been. The Bugatti EB110 story of the early 1990s was rife with peculiar decisions and events - boss Artioli investing in Lotus being just the start. The GT1 Le Mans 1994 entry was similar: not only was it the first Bugatti to compete at Le Mans since 1939, it was privately entered. French publishing magnate Michel Hommell (who also went on to make the Hommell sports car) entered the car under his name and sponsored the team, with Alain Cudini, Eric Helary and Jean-Christophe Boullion doing the driving.
That was more than just the track driving, too, with the plan for the EB110 to drive to Le Mans from Modena and then home again - just like the good old days of sportscar racing. It was a one-way journey for the team in '94, though. The factory had worked flat out to get the car ready, stripping out hundreds of kilos and prepping it for motorsport with the help of Synergie Automobile and Meca Systeme, but it wasn't to be. The four-wheel drive meant the EB110 was still a bit heavy, and it was unreliable: all four turbos needed to be replaced during the race. Eventually tyre failure and a crash meant the EB110 wouldn't complete Bugatti's glorious Le Mans return, and it seems unlikely that Bugatti will be back on La Sarthe anytime soon. However, for somehow managing to get a quad-turbo V12 hypercar ready for Le Mans in next to no time, the Michel Hommell Bugatti team deserves recognition. Little did anyone know back then, either, that it would probably be the last run at Le Mans for Bugatti - sad for a marque with so much history there.
(N.B. There was also an EB110 made for IMSA, the silver car. See it in action at the BPR '95 Suzuka round here.)
1. McLaren F1 GTR
It couldn't be anything else really, could it? The F1, as you'll know, was designed from the outset purely as a road car, but achieved incredible success as a racer, forcing the other manufacturers into their GT1 specials. It simply outclassed the old opposition, and in some style.
Of course, we know about the Le Mans in 1995, but look at its championship successes as well. Entered into the BPR Global GT series in '95 through an assortment of teams - Gulf Racing, GRT Jacadi, West Competition, Mach One Racing - the F1 took victory in every race bar two. In 1996 a GTR in one livery or another won the first five in succession; by the time that pesky 911 GT1 arrived, there was only one BPR GT '96 event a McLaren F1 hadn't won, and it still won both drivers' and team's championships. Again. That's some legacy.
But then, just like that, it was done. Team BMW Motorsport entered the new Longtail GTRs in the '97 FIA GT Championship in an attempt to keep up, and took wins, but the CLK GTRs were already proving their dominance - Bernd Schneider won the driver's title, and Mercedes the same for manufacturers. Sportscar racing had changed forever.
A quarter of a century after that legendary Le Mans victory, however, and the F1's star shines as bright as ever. The looks, the history, that sensational V12 and the famous liveries have ensured that. Apparently the road car wasn't bad, either...
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