Guess i'll tell you my WSC story and indeed the background of this series.
I always liked my classic cars, and I wanted to around may 2011 (IIRC) to run a 1-off Le Mans event of 24 laps for varying cars from Miura's to GT40's to Corvettes on GT5. It was canned and yet I was convinced the concept had some legs to it. So I invented the World Sportscar Masters (WSM) for classic sportscars. Pretty much all the GT-P cars for this season barring the Shelby Daytona (GT6 debutant of course) where entered. Hour and 15 to 1hr 45 event. I even made a created track, Pescara, set in Toscana. 3.56 miles in a high speed triangle. We also ran Le Mans that event, when in a bizarre finish @
Akmuq had to pit a lap or so from end, and @
Sumo098 ran out of fuel at Indianapolis, chasing him down I also spun at Indianapolis but came through to take the win in bizarre circumstances as his engine cried enough out of Arnage. Season 2 was similar but grid never ended up that great.
I decided after a break to relaunch it, after reading up on the FIA World Sportscar Championship (WSC). The WSC was thus born, a lot of the races where similar from the WSM, indeed Le Mans carried over, hence why even though this is Season 7 now, it will be the 9th Le Mans Classic this season. I shifted to limited damage as a I felt that it was putting people off. Classes got broken off, with GT40's joining Corvette C2's and Challenger and Camaro RM's in "C2" class to accompany "C1". Indeed racing was damn epic, Corvettes I remember hanging with the top class with ease on the Mulsanne. There where times in this period I felt like canning it - grids shrunk to around 6-7 at Spa one time. There was a good degree of experimentation then, Pescara was modified and more heavily cambered, however drivers didn't like this and it would be canned to be replaced by a road race track that proved equally unpopular. Le Mans was 50% longer, from 24 laps to a 500k 36 lapper. So things got shaken up again.
Full damage returned, and we moved onto sports tyres from racing compounds. GT tyre physics kept changing in updates a lot as well over time, and sport compounds where not only more accurate in terms of grip levels to real life cars but lasted longer. Also interestingly cars seemed more controllable. I remember a major trait of cars on racing mediums and hards to an extent was massive snap oversteer under power, which I reckon was caused by the tyre model simply having too much grip to put down, nowhere to put it. Sport tyres where not the biggest news however - an entirely new undercard. GT was born with production based cars. Extremely production based. In most cases they just had a minor engine adjustment, adjustable gearing and that was it. Grids shot up with this class, on lower grip tyres than the top class (Now called "Prototype") provided enthralling racing. GT class was responsible for this championships revival.
With the grids going up and the championships profile rocketing I decided the series required more challenges. Drivers seemed more professional, skilled, and competitive whilst still retaining that fun factor. This was a gentleman's series in spirit - spirits including an old tale of @
FlyingFox having a beer down the Mulsanne in Corvette! Le Mans had in itself become the figurehead of the series and a legend in itself. A huge change was afoot - Le Mans became a 50 lap race. 3hrs 10 minutes, longest event I had ever hosted or raced in. Indeed the lobby for Le Mans set a record for me, opening 6pm and with start procedures at 7.50, and not finishing until approx 11.10pm. This also included a standing start procedure, in the spirit of the 60's, lining up against the pit wall and on my call, accelerating away. The noise, the tyre smoke, was something quite special. Watching the replay of that and turning the TV speakers right up was thunderous. Pescara was also in itself a legend, the tracks third tweak had banked turns 1 and 2 making it faster than ever. Apart from pit lane entry, drivers racing in the top class would never drop below 120mph. What made it special as well was how fastest line was the inside lane, but further the inside was, the bumpier. Top of that turn 2 hill, being thrown off 4 wheels in the asideways at over 125mph was a regular occurrence.
GT5 was finishing though, yet WSC bucked the trend for falling grids and interest. The championships first visit to Eiger was a 16 car grid on the narrowest circuit we'd ever raced in. Surely we'd be getting rage quits and angry drivers aplenty. No was the answer. 16 drivers started and in a first ever, all 16 where still circulating on track at the end. credit to everyone involved.
My trusty weapon in all events over these years was the Ford Mk IV. Easy to drive for a 60's car, it's 4 speed box made it easy to put power down and also it had some pulling power. Whilst not as agile as the Jaguar and Ferrari it had bagfuls of cornering grip and was the best on brakes by a mile - @
Tom may remember me overtaking him under braking outside of Mulsanne Corner in that first race
. Through around 5 different chassis, owing to new examples being acquired and losing save data, I covered 35,000+ miles I believe in the Ford. It was always going to be my weapon for GT6. GT6 is a new challenge entirely though. The tyre model is suprising. Grippy, forgiving, yet capable of long stints. I firmly believe La Sarthe this season to be a fuel only race, pitting won't be needed for tyres. La Sarthe goes to a new layout, with chicanes, night-time, and weather. Bathurst, Matterhorn, Brands Hatch make debuts. The car classes have come full circle in effect. In the top GT-P class the original class of the first WSM are present and joined by the Shelby Daytona. GT-O is an evolution of the GT class that made this series so strong, with so many different eligible cars and designs. It is truly an "open" category.
And so when we head to the green at Daytona on sunday, for the 9th time for myself, a new age starts. Proud to have managed to get this to where it is now, and let it last long and successful.
A Toast, to the World Sportscar Championship!
Furi
Thanks bud
) and only managed to get down to 2:02.171 after 6/7 laps with a slightly dodgy run through Skyline/The Dipper.
