Synopses & Reviews
Professional automobile racing has always been dominated by sanctioning bodies whose main goal was to ensure fair competition. Today’s major race series--NASCAR, F1, and Champ Car--achieve this by restricting the car’s designers and engineers. NASCAR mandates all their cars’ body shapes conform to a specific template and requires that engines be of a particular size. F1 teams can choose from a limited number of chassis/engine combinations. And Champ Car teams don’t get to choose anything except how to tune the single chassis/engine combination available to them.
While parity might make for “fair” competition, it often creates uninspired racing. So what happens when the rules are slackened? When creativity and novel design is encouraged? Those were the questions posed by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) for its Grand Touring Prototypes (GTP) race series, which ran from 1981 to 1993.
The result was a stunning variety of racing machines, each with its own highly sophisticated technology. Every car was a unique solution to a common problem: getting around the racetrack fastest. In the end, each car was an automotive testimony to its engineer’s philosophy.
Every decision had consequences. A V-12 allowed better ground-effect tunnels, but had a higher center of gravity (CG). A flat six had a low CG, but severely restricted ground-effect tunnels. Each designer used a different combination of wings, air dams, and other aerodynamic tools
to keep his car glued to the track. It was an engineering free-for-all, the culmination of almost a century of automobile racing experience. And, sadly, it was a spectacle unlikely to be duplicated.
Inside IMSA’s Legendary GTP Race Cars tells the full story of these mechanical marvels. Using photography, diagrams, drawings, and first-person accounts from the men who built and raced these highly advanced cars, the authors offer a detailed look at the technology of fourteen of the most competitive cars that contested the series. It’s the story of no-holds-barred racing, the kind true racing enthusiasts can only dream of today.
Synopsis
Professional automobile racing has always been dominated by sanctioning bodies whose main goal was to ensure competition. That has meant seeing that cars are well matched--in body shape or chassis/engine combinations or engine size. But what about an all-out competition, in which one team's idea of the fastest race car could be pitted against another’s, regardless of mechanical “parity”? This was what the International Motor Sports Association’s (IMSA) Grand Touring Prototypes (GTP) race series was about. The Series ran from 1981 to 1993, and it was one of the most exhilarating racing experiences of all time.
This book is the first to profile the amazing machines that resulted from the GTP’s flat-out competition among different--and passionate--ideas about what might be the fastest way around a track: the V-12 with its better ground-effect tunnels but higher center of gravity (CG); the flat six with its low CG but severely-restricted ground-effect tunnels; and others that employed elaborate wings and air dams.
Here are the people behind this engineering free-for-all, the culmination of almost a century of automobile racing experience. And here are eighteen of the most competitive vehicles they designed. Using photography, diagrams, drawings and first-person accounts from the men who built them, Inside IMSA's Legendary GTP Race Cars offers a detailed look at the technology that drove some of the world’s most exciting race cars, the likes of which may never be seen again.
Synopsis
Professional automobile racing has always been dominated by sanctioning bodies whose main goal was to ensure competition. That has meant seeing that cars are well matched--in body shape or chassis/engine combinations or engine size. But what about an all-out competition, in which one team's idea of the fastest race car could be pitted against another's, regardless of mechanical "parity"? This was what the International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) Grand Touring Prototypes (GTP) race series was about. The Series ran from 1981 to 1993, and it was one of the most exhilarating racing experiences of all time.
This book is the first to profile the amazing machines that resulted from the GTP's flat-out competition among different--and passionate--ideas about what might be the fastest way around a track: the V-12 with its better ground-effect tunnels but higher center of gravity (CG); the flat six with its low CG but severely-restricted ground-effect tunnels; and others that employed elaborate wings and air dams.
Here are the people behind this engineering free-for-all, the culmination of almost a century of automobile racing experience. And here are eighteen of the most competitive vehicles they designed. Using photography, diagrams, drawings and first-person accounts from the men who built them, Inside IMSA's Legendary GTP Race Cars offers a detailed look at the technology that drove some of the world's most exciting race cars, the likes of which may never be seen again.
Synopsis
A close-up look at 18 of the amazing machines that competed in the IMSA’s Grand Touring Prototypes race series, which threw out the rules and let differing ideas about race cars compete.
Synopsis
J. A. Martin has been an automotive journalist for over twenty-five years and wrote Prototypes: The History of the IMSA GTP Series for David Bull Publishing. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Michael J. Fuller is a wind tunnel model technician with Panoz/Elan Motorsports Technology. He has previously worked for racing notables Downing/Atlanta, Riley & Scott, Reynard, and C&B International in composite lamination and wind tunnel model making. He lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia.
About the Author
J. A. Martin has been an automotive journalist for over twenty-five years and wrote Prototypes: The History of the IMSA GTP Series for David Bull Publishing. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Michael J. Fuller is a wind tunnel model technician with Panoz/Elan Motorsports Technology. He has previously worked for racing notables Downing/Atlanta, Riley and Scott, Reynard, and C&B International in composite lamination and wind tunnel model making. He lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia. J. A. Martin has been an automotive journalist for over twenty-five years and wrote Prototypes: The History of the IMSA GTP Series for David Bull Publishing. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Michael J. Fuller is a wind tunnel model technician with Panoz/Elan Motorsports Technology. He has previously worked for racing notables Downing/Atlanta, Riley and Scott, Reynard, and C&B International in composite lamination and wind tunnel model making. He lives in Lawrenceville, Georgia. David Hobbs developed a passion for the Subaru Impreza Turbo when he was editor of CarWorld, an early website from CAR magazine. A test drive soon made him realize the Impreza was the car to own and he's never looked back since. His enthusiasm led him to join the UK-based Subaru Impreza Drivers Club where he quickly found himself elected editor of the club magazine, a position he held for three years. He has written on Imprezas and their rally-related exploits for Used Car Buyer, Practical Performance Car, Subiesport and Autosport.com and is the Motoring Editor for AOL (UK) Ltd.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Prologue
1. Lola
2. March
3. Jaguar and Group 44
4. Mustang
5. Porsche
6. Kudzu
7. Corvette
8. Probe
9. Nissan
10. Spice
11. Jaguar and TWR
12. Toyota
13. Intrepid
14. Mazda
Epilogue
Appendix A Specifications
Appendix B Glossary
Appendix C Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index