Whatever happened to homologation models?

"FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem" (fuelstratifiedinjection) 11/20/2016 at 04:43 • Filed to: None

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Echo51 > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 04:44

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Impossible to have road legal and still be useful on the track/rally, not needed anymore either probably?

MultiplaOrgasms > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 04:46

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Lack of racing series that require homologation.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 04:49

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I think the homologation rules got much more flexible, allowing for different engines(BMW Z4 GT3), and drive line lay-outs(R8 GT3, and all WRC cars), as long as the chassis is somewhat road car derived. Not fully sure why, maybe to lower the costs of being involved in a racing program?

Clemsie McKenzie > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 05:04

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I think there’s a case to be made about this thing being kind of an homologation special, no?

Jobjoris > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 05:08

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Well, the picture shows Group B and we all know what happened to that. There still are homologation specials. What about the GTE-class in Le Mans for example, there’s specific cars made for that. A company needs to make at least one car a week for that, with a minimum of 100 cars in total (for small companies it’s one car a month with a minimum of 25, if I’m not mistaken).

Birddog > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 05:21

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Safety for the most part.

The B cars pictured were built by guys that had no idea, and wouldn’t believe that you’d be able to go to your Dodge store and buy 700hp for under $100,000 in 2016.

Audistein > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 05:25

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Rules are very flexible for homologation these days and the race cars in GT3, WEC, WTCC, DTM, and WRC/rally are far more different from road cars than they used to be. There are still somewhat homologation-special-type cars out there. Some of the more track-oriented cars are like homologation specials too. These come to mind:

BMW M4 GTS

911 GT3 RS

Merc C63 R/black series/whatever they end up calling the top model

VW GTI Clubsport

Ford Focus RS (hardcore though not limited edition I think)

Ford Mustang GT350R

Corvette Z06 with Z07 pack (again not limited technically)

Viper ACR

Bentley Conti GT3-R (That thing is hilarious. I think you can actually spec your 5000 lb and $200k+ Bentley with manual seats!)

I’m sure there are others.

Sam > Echo51 11/20/2016 at 06:04

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Nah, they just started making rally-spec versions of normal cars. Polo WRC, Fiesta and Focus WRC, among others.

jimz > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 06:57

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What happened? Race cars stopped resembling anything you could buy.

Wilsonic > Clemsie McKenzie 11/20/2016 at 08:08

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The new GT is maximum commitment by a manuafacturer to build the fastest thing possible within a set of rules. And sadly, the reward for their commitment is harsh weight penalties. So unfortunately, there really is no incentive to build a radical homologation special when your car will get loaded with bricks for being too fast.

So they either need to go full prototype (expensive and filled with its own politics) or build a Mustang “silhouette” car (boring and proves nothing).

Milky > jimz 11/20/2016 at 09:29

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Which is my biggest complaint against almost all forms of racing. Hell even Australia’s nascar has rear wheel drive Altimas even though they look mostly stock.

Bring back actual stock car racing! Give automakers a reason to make tiny AWD hatches, rear wheel V8 sedans, etc.

Santiago of Escuderia Boricua > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 09:37

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Porsche broke it with GT1

jimz > Milky 11/20/2016 at 11:24

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things used to be different:

Kanaric > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 16:34

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All major racing switched over to what are effectively funny cars.

Kanaric > Clemsie McKenzie 11/20/2016 at 16:35

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Yeah but the days of, for example, Group A homologations where you could buy one for $30,000 is over.

Kanaric > Birddog 11/20/2016 at 16:36

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Ya group B was like that but Group A? Celica Alltrac, STI, Evo, etc are great road cars.

Then you have other non-rally homologation cars like the R32 Skyline GTR and Holden Commodore SS.

Nauraushaun > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/20/2016 at 21:20

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A lot of people have mentioned a lot of reasons, but the root cause of all of it is safety surely. Think about the rally monsters you’ve posted above, what killed them off? It was the deaths that ended Group B. Specialized racing cars rather than homologated road cars means tighter control over safety requirements. Same deal with NASCAR’s “Car of the Future” thing right?

LongbowMkII > Wilsonic 12/30/2016 at 16:31

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You mixed up the corvette and GT.