JGTC

From WOI Encyclopedia Italia

All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC is a grand touring car race series authorized by the Japan Automobile Federation. In 2005 the series changed its official name to Super GT.

1 History
2 JGTC races
3 The cars
- 3.1 GT500
- 3.2 GT300
4 Parity
5 The drivers
6 2005 Super GT Schedule
7 Champions
8 External links

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History

The JGTC - established in 1993 - replaces the defunct All-Japan Group C Sports Car Championship that was terminated by the end of 1992. Seeking to prevent the spiraling budgets and one-team domination of the old sports-car championship, JGTC imposed strict limits on power, and heavy weight penalties on race winners in an openly-stated objective to keep on-track action close. On December 10, 2004 it was announced that JGTC would now be called Super GT with goals of 'challenge to the world', 'challenge from the world', and 'challenge to entertainment'.

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JGTC races

Races are held as part of a yearly series. Races take place on well known Japanese racetracks like Twin Ring Motegi, Fuji Speedway, and Suzuka Circuit. Races have also been held in Malaysia, China, and most recently California Speedway, although only the races at Sepang International Circuit have counted for points.

Races are held either as a single long endurance race of 500km or greater, or as a set of twinned sprint races.

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The cars

The cars are divided into two groups: GT500 and GT300 (cars with no more than 500 and 300 horsepower [374 and 224 kW], respectively).

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GT500

The top class in Super GT, GT500, is dominated by the Big 3 Japanese automakers: Toyota (Supra), Honda (NSX) and Nissan (Fairlady Z), with some privateer teams running Ferrari, Lamborghini, or other European marques.

Regulations in GT500 are considerably looser than most GT classifications, and teams are free to change engines with other models made by the manufacturer, change the alignment of the engine, or add forced-induction to models which do not normally have it. The chassis may also be heavily modified, with lightweight tube-frame 'clips' being allowed forward and back of the main cockpit, although the car must overall look similar to its road-going variant. These regulations result in cars which Super GT claims are the fastest GT racing cars in the world, but which many sports-car fans spurn as being outside the limits of 'acceptable' modifications.

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GT300

Few works teams participate in GT300, so the field tends to be much more varied in terms of types of cars entered, although here, as in many European and North American events Porsche tends to dominate with 996GT3 model making the bulk of the field. Smaller Japanese carmakers such as Mazda and Subaru also participate in this class, as well as more exotic kit-builder cars from the likes of Vemac and ASL.

GT300 cars are much more regulated than their GT500 counterparts, and much more closely resemble road-going versions. Chassis clips are not allowed, nor are engine substitutions or realignments, which results in a much more affordable racing experience for privateers.

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Parity

Super GT is fairly unique in its open and blunt statement that it is committed to providing exciting racing first, at the expense of runaway investment by works teams. Cars are therefore very heavily tampered with by the governing body. At the start of the season, each car is fitted with an air intake restrictor to limit power to the stated class maximums, thus restricing excessing development to make a more powerful engine. Weight penalties are assigned to the fastest qualifier in each class, as well as the top three finishers. Pitstops and driver changes during the race are done within mandatory windows, to prevent tactics from dominating a race. All regulations and adjustments to the regulations are publicly announced, in contrast to many other better-known racing promotions.

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The drivers

JGTC drivers are very popular in Japan and some are gaining recognition internationally. One of these drivers who has gained international appeal is Keiichi Tsuchiya who raced for team ARTA and now manages the team. Tsuchiya popularized drifting and is frequently seen in Best Motoring International videos. He is also one of the links between JGTC and D1 Grand Prix drift competitions.

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