Here’s How It Might Look If GT1-Style Cars Came Back To Le Mans
The top class of endurance racing has undergone a bit of a wobble in recent years, with first Audi and then Porsche ending their LMP1 programmes. That’s left Toyota as the only manufacturer in the class, and although there’s a sea of new privateer squads, the pinnacle of the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans could probably do with a few more manufacturers at the top end.
To attract them, the FIA has floated the idea of changing the rules to force the cars to look vaguely like road cars, harking back to the legendary GT1-era of the 1990s which gave us fantastically extreme creations such as the Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes CLK-GTR. It could come into effect in the next few years, but what might modern versions of these cars look like?
Livery designer Sean Bull has imagined what manufacturers may be enticed by such rules and created some fantasy designs for a potential future ‘LMGT1’ class.
Pretty great, right? For instance, there’d be no mistaking the McLaren for anything other than a McLaren given that front of the car looks… well, like a McLaren.
Not interested in waiting a few years for the possibility of seeing cars like this? Then don’t worry, because over in the American WeatherTech SportsCar Championship similar rules already exist, giving us stuff like this gorgeous Mazda prototype.
Oh yes. Now we want to see those fantasy designs brought to life even more!
If you want to see more of Sean Bull’s work, you can do so by clicking here.
Comments
Kinda like the old Daytona prototypes
Wait no don’t make them look like the road cars, just slap on some number plates, paint them factory colours, and put them straight on the road as they are. That would be awesome 👏
Not really digging the shark fin on them
*Sees Mazda render
“Yessss… Brap Brap Bra…
Oh yeah, now I remember. Rotary is banned from LeMans. Shat.”
The rotary is not banned it never was . The 1992 rules which mandated 3.5 litre f1 spec engines to be used were formed way before the 787b won . That rule outlawed all non 3.5 litre f1 spec engines not just rotaries . If mazda wanted to they could build a rotary LMP as they are perfectly legal . Whether it would be competitive or not is a different story . The 787b didn’t win le mans because it was the quickest car in fact it was slower than the jags and saubers it only won because it was more reliable , the 787b qualified almost 12 secs behind the lead prototype at le mans this is despite Mazda exploiting a loophole and convincing the fia to let their cars run at a weight of 800kg compared to the 1000kg their competitors had to run .
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