Sembra davvero un progetto molto interessante, il nuovissimo ProtoGP Mod annunciato oggi e giàin fase di sviluppo avanzato per rFactor: questo mod ci metteràa disposizione tre diverse classi di veicoli di diversa potenza e varie piste americane ed europee. Per tutti i dettagli visitate il sito ufficiale del progetto.
Twelve years after the demise of one of the premier sports car racing series, Group C, top level prototype sports car racing returns in a big way. Canadian entrepreneurs Brandyn Wylie and Ryan Day are pleased to announce the creation of ProtoGP, a three-class sports car endurance racing series that will compete on an international stage.
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The series will commence in 2007, giving manufacturers and privateers an opportunity to fully explore their car's potentials before demonstrating it in front of a public audience. ProtoGP is the accumulation of two years of brainstorming and planning, and it is with great pleasure that it is presented to the public today.
"Sports car racing is such a unique form of racing, since there's so many dimensions to the race other than just pit strategies and battling for a lead," says Wylie, "You have other classes competing at the same time at different speeds, and so overtaking is a much more critical component in this form of racing. Add to it the incredible heat of closed cockpit cars, unlike in an open cockpit, and the physical and mental demands of endurance racing and you have one of the toughest tests on both driver and machinery."
"There is such a great thrill about watching mutli-class racing," says Day, "There is nothing greater than seeing two upper-class cars split a slower car while battling for the lead, heading into a blind corner. It’s just unreal."
As mentioned, ProtoGP is divided into three classes of competition. The most powerful class is the Experimental Grand Prototypes (XGP), which will feature strictly race-bred closed-top cars with few limitations imposed on them. These cars most closely resemble the GTPs raced at Le Mans, and are powered by either a 3.5-litre twin-turbo V8, or a normally-aspirated 6-litre V12. The middle class is Experimental Grand Touring (XGT), the equivalent of the GT1 class at Le Mans. However, these cars are not racing interpretations of street legal cars, rather race cars with similar disposition to street cars. The last class is the Experimental Grand Sport (XGS), a smaller, less powerful version of the XGT class, with a maximum of a V6 power-plant.
ProtoGP will have strong manufacturer support for its first year, with four marques already solidifying their intentions with the sanctioning body. While three of them are currently keeping their plans under wraps, Jaguar, who had a strong presence in sports car racing in the last two decades of the 20th century, makes no secret of its involvement in the series. Jaguar offers the public a glimpse into the future of top-level sports car racing with the Jaguar XJR 20-5. Specific details are still being kept under wraps, however.
The schedule has not yet been finalized, but the aim is to have 12 to 14 events held on 4 different continents. Two or three American tracks are possible, one Canadian, several European dates and events in Japan and Australia are planned. Event lengths will be determined on a track by track basis, with a minimum of 4 hours for the shorter races, with the possibility of two 24 hour events.
More information will be provided when available, and stay tuned to the ProtoGP website for all the latest news on the series.
