GT Cup & LMP3 Cup Donington Park

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Richard
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Took a trip to Donington on Saturday for the MSVR meeting featuring the GT Cup and very thin field of 6 cars in the LMP3 Cup, Most of the day was horribly grey with awful flat light, so getting images I was happy with was hard work. As always, C&C welcome and appreciated on these.

1, CN class Gibson prototype


2. Focus


3. Famous face


4. Over the edge


5.Even on a grey day I love shooting at Donington


6.Sunshine and spray


7. McLaren


8. Porsche
 
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Some nice shots as per the norm mate.

Really like 7, 5 would be but i just dont like the look of that car but the placement and everything around it is pretty damn spot on IMO.
 
Nice work with the shots.

Having gone to the event last year at Brands Hatch with around 8 LMP3 cars and being told 'the championship will grow' it was frankly laughable this year having 4 or 5 cars this year. One was wrecked in Quali on sunday so didn't even race. I think there were two competitive cars and they gave one of them a drive through penalty which made the race a procession.
Having voiced my opinions on twitter, rather than engage in a discussion, the series just blocked me. Obviously its well run all round...

As for letting the CN cars race, whats the point? its barely an LMP3 championship if there are no LMP3 cars. Just fold the series and save the embarrassment. It stinks of desperation trying to allow more cars to race.
Alternatively, combine the LMP3 cars into the GT cup field and have split categories.

They are fast, noisy and look good in my eyes, just a shame the series never caught on. I cant see it improving next year and wont be there to find out.
 
Some nice shots as per the norm mate.

Really like 7, 5 would be but i just dont like the look of that car but the placement and everything around it is pretty damn spot on IMO.

Thanks Tom much appreciated.

Nice work with the shots.

Having gone to the event last year at Brands Hatch with around 8 LMP3 cars and being told 'the championship will grow' it was frankly laughable this year having 4 or 5 cars this year. One was wrecked in Quali on sunday so didn't even race. I think there were two competitive cars and they gave one of them a drive through penalty which made the race a procession.
Having voiced my opinions on twitter, rather than engage in a discussion, the series just blocked me. Obviously its well run all round...

As for letting the CN cars race, whats the point? its barely an LMP3 championship if there are no LMP3 cars. Just fold the series and save the embarrassment. It stinks of desperation trying to allow more cars to race.
Alternatively, combine the LMP3 cars into the GT cup field and have split categories.

They are fast, noisy and look good in my eyes, just a shame the series never caught on. I cant see it improving next year and wont be there to find out.

It's a shame the grid has fallen to such low numbers. I'm not against adding CN class cars as such, I've always been a fan of lightweight 2-litre prototypes so I don't mind seeing them on the grid. I was discussing this with another photographer at Donington on Saturday, trying to work out the reasons why the series is struggling so much. As I understand it, the running costs for an LMP3 car are cheaper than a GT3 car, so cost isn't a factor. Maybe racing a GT has more attraction for an amateur / gentleman driver? I know if people asked me what I raced I'd rather say a Ferrari or Aston Martin than a Norma. Also LMP3 cars don't have ABS or traction control which may put some drivers off. I guess if you're a team and you own an LMP3 car it's easier to sell seats in 4 hour ELMS or VdeV races in Europe rather than one hour races in Britain. I'd agree the series can't carry on in it's current state. Why not try and link up with the OSS championship and call it the British Prototype Championship? Something like that, anf open it up to anything that falls under the sports prototype banner. Putting them in with the GT Cup seems a good idea, but then the GT cars are no longer the top draw in that championship and I can't see many people being happy with becoming a secondary class.
 
I'm glad I didn't go now! There should be a much bigger field at the British GT weekend after next.
 
I think you have nailed it pretty well there Rich.
British GT was great at Brands. I'm really hoping Flick and Jonny can wrap it up.
Nice to see the McLaren back.

One thing I don't understand is Bob Neville's logic. Why would you run a 2014/2015 spec GTR in the British GT championship knowing it isn't going to be competitive? I know there is BOP but everyone knows the Nissan will struggle around most UK circuits anyway. I am guessing it comes down to cost of the new spec 2018 car? (There was an evo version that came out in 2017 I think too?)
I think RJN probably knew they wouldn't be competitive, hence they have dropped down into Pro-Am and running a limited calendar.

I hope for 2019 they get a new car and a couple of Pro drivers. I am heading out to Bathurst for the 12 hour and would love to see a current spec GT3 Nissan gunning for the victory on the mountain once again.
I will fly the Nissan and Bentley flags proudly.
 
Nice sharp and well exposed set of photos with a lot of interest. :)
 
I think you have nailed it pretty well there Rich.
British GT was great at Brands. I'm really hoping Flick and Jonny can wrap it up.
Nice to see the McLaren back.

One thing I don't understand is Bob Neville's logic. Why would you run a 2014/2015 spec GTR in the British GT championship knowing it isn't going to be competitive? I know there is BOP but everyone knows the Nissan will struggle around most UK circuits anyway. I am guessing it comes down to cost of the new spec 2018 car? (There was an evo version that came out in 2017 I think too?)
I think RJN probably knew they wouldn't be competitive, hence they have dropped down into Pro-Am and running a limited calendar.

I hope for 2019 they get a new car and a couple of Pro drivers. I am heading out to Bathurst for the 12 hour and would love to see a current spec GT3 Nissan gunning for the victory on the mountain once again.
I will fly the Nissan and Bentley flags proudly.

At the end of the day it depends who's paying for the seat in a car like that. If I won the lottery this weekend I'd be on the phone to various GT3 teams trying to get a seat for next year. I wouldn't stand a chance of winning but that's not the point. If you had the money you'd be out there racing.

2,3,4,5 and 6 for me looks like you had the opposite light to me when I went to the Snetterton round was way to bright

Thanks a lot. The light was awful for almost the whole day, really dark and grey. Light like that just sucks the colour and contrast out of everything. Give me bright sunshine any day

Nice sharp and well exposed set of photos with a lot of interest. :)

Thank you. It's nice to hear they look exposed correctly, I was worried they were all a bit too dark
 
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