German Tuner Wants to Build GT Sport's Beetle Gr.3 Race Car

Ever since i saw the group 3 beetle in gt sport i've been wishing VW does something with the concept, don't know how feasible it is to turn the vw bug into a gt3 but to see it in a 24h race would be quite a entertaining sight.

"There goes the beetle overtaking the bmw..."
 
Last edited:
Isn't there an open class in VLN? It could probably race in that.

Wouldn't fit any other category since it'll be AWD.
 
RacingGrandpa
Why 4x4???
Click to expand...
Probably because it's the easiest way. Five-pot plus DSG plus AWD is basically a complete TT-RS/RS3/RSQ3 drivetrain, so it's essentially putting that under a Beetle.

With front side-exit exhausts. Not sure how he's going to do two per side on a straight five, like...
 
Last edited:
Quite an interesting project. He says that he chose the Beetle because it's nice to look at (which I agree with) but if you think about it there aren't that many other Gr.3 cars anyway that could be reasonably cheap to acquire and modify: I can only think of the Hyundai Genesis and the Peugeot RCZ. Correct me if I'm wrong but everything else is either ludicrously fictional (like the GTI VGT) or it's based on a car that is hugely expensive to acquire in the first place (and probably already exists as a GT3 car).
 
Last edited:
Baka_Marimo
Quite an interesting project. He says that he chose the Beetle because it's nice to look at (which I agree with) but if you think about it there aren't that many other Gr.3 cars anyway that could be reasonably cheap to acquire and modify: I can only think of the Hyundai Genesis and the Peugeot RCZ. Correct me if I'm wrong but everything else is either ludicrously fictional (like the GTI VGT) or it's based on a car that is hugely expensive to acquire in the first place (and probably already exists as a GT3 car).
Click to expand...

I’m surprised Ford never looked at the Mustang as a serious sports car racing option.
 
Baka_Marimo
Quite an interesting project. He says that he chose the Beetle because it's nice to look at (which I agree with) but if you think about it there aren't that many other Gr.3 cars anyway that could be reasonably cheap to acquire and modify: I can only think of the Hyundai Genesis and the Peugeot RCZ. Correct me if I'm wrong but everything else is either ludicrously fictional (like the GTI VGT) or it's based on a car that is hugely expensive to acquire in the first place (and probably already exists as a GT3 car).
Click to expand...
Peugeot, kinda... Bathurst 12H
ge5530853390649951357.jpg



HaydenFan69
I’m surprised Ford never looked at the Mustang as a serious sports car racing option.
Click to expand...
Thank goodness for MARC CARS. :)
images - 2020-12-01T121511.553.jpeg
 
i1MspylqOGasG7E.jpg


https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/vw-golf-vision-gt.308985/page-23


The GTI VGT exists.

I also thought about what it would take to make a real life Gr.3 car or a Gr.3 road car... like a Mustang or Corvette just clad in the fiberglass bodykit to make it look like the car in the game.

There's wacky stuff like the MR RC-Z or the FR Mazda 6 but these are Forza fevered conversion dreams.
 
MisterWaffles
Bring it to the 24 Hour series or GT Open next year, you won’t.

In all seriousness I doubt this will be anything more than a body kit and engine swap. Probably won’t be anywhere near the performance of a GT car.
Click to expand...

Mmm I'd be the opposite opionion. JP Performance is quite capable of building cars with serious expertise. From what it sounds like they will be building the car to the millimeter exact as designed by the LA studio with the exeption of the minimal roofline difference because it would involve a custom windshield and door glass. The data JP has obtained from them is "not very little", so there's no guesswork involved and when they have exact figures to work from and I'm sure the end result will be a perfectly executed replica. Hard to say the driving performance would be a close match, but due to their extensive knowledge in car tuning, you can bet this will be a really high quality build as most things are from this company.
 
Famine
Probably because it's the easiest way. Five-pot plus DSG plus AWD is basically a complete TT-RS/RS3/RSQ3 drivetrain, so it's essentially putting that under a Beetle.
Click to expand...

Isn’t the Beetle built on the same platform, MQB maybe, anyway? My A3 Quattro shares the same platform but it’s FWD first and AWD as needed if I’m not completely mistaken. I never dived deep into technicalities though so I might be wrong.

HaydenFan69
I’m surprised Ford never looked at the Mustang as a serious sports car racing option.
Click to expand...

There was a Mustang GT3 and there’s a current Multimatic-built Mustang GT4 available.
 
Last edited:
Is there a 2 door Atenza anywhere in the world?

Mazda did race a 6 (Atenza rebadge) in Grand-Am in 2013. I think that is one of the cars as SpeedSource did run a number 70. So in effect they did built a 4 door GT car. Though I cannot recall the rules of the GX class in which it ran.
 
Last edited:
HaydenFan69
Is there a 2 door Atenza anywhere in the world?

Mazda did race a 6 (Atenza rebadge) in Grand-Am in 2013. I think that is one of the cars as SpeedSource did run a number 70. So in effect they did built a 4 door GT car. Though I cannot recall the rules of the GX class in which it ran.
Click to expand...
Only two-door "Atenza"(6) was the MX-6 GTU.
images - 2020-12-01T160116.676.jpeg


I believe there was a Mazda 626 that raced in the 24H Lemons.
 
Even if the drivetrain won't be quite identical to the fictional model it's cool that someone is actually trying to make this. To me the Group 3 Beetle has always looked more like a DTM car than a GT3 car.
 
Even more interesting: JP says Prior Design will make the bodykit and they will try to make it production ready for the public. I searched for other bodykits and especially widebody ones, and they kinda look underwhelming. It would be refreshing to see the beetle get more attention with this new GT bodykit and I could imagine it would be seen more often on tuning shows.
 
Baka_Marimo
Quite an interesting project. He says that he chose the Beetle because it's nice to look at (which I agree with) but if you think about it there aren't that many other Gr.3 cars anyway that could be reasonably cheap to acquire and modify: I can only think of the Hyundai Genesis and the Peugeot RCZ. Correct me if I'm wrong but everything else is either ludicrously fictional (like the GTI VGT) or it's based on a car that is hugely expensive to acquire in the first place (and probably already exists as a GT3 car).
Click to expand...

This is actually interesting to look into. Right off, I feel a reasonably conditioned 2015 Mustang with the V8 could be attainable (Doesn't even need to be the premium version). With both the Genesis and RCZ being out of production and not exactly sharing the sort of tuner popularity an S2000 or a Nissan Skyline R34 would have, I feel those should be relatively easy to get. Everything else that doesn't already have a GT3 car (except the Peugeot VGT and the VW) should be interesting to investigate.
 

Latest Posts

Back