FIA GT Diecast 1997-1998

1997

After a sucessful 1996, the FIA decided to put their name behind the B.P.R. series and call it the FIA GT. The Mclaren F1 was the jewel of the series, but the Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes CLK came along to take most of the victories.

There were entries representing Porsche, BMW, Lotus, Mercedes, Panoz, Marcos, and Morgan. Such an array of diverse and attractive cars had not been seen since the "golden" age of the 1960's. Unfortunately it has not been seen since...

FIA GT 1997

Place

Car
Sponsor

Car # Class

Model

Ref. #

Image

GT1 Class
Porsche Works Team
0Porsche 911 GT1 'Mobil'
Hans Stuck
Thierry Boutsen
6
GT1
Minichamps
Sports Racing
430 976606
BMW Motorsport Works Team
0McLaren F1 Longtail 'Fina'
J.J. Lehto
Steve Soper
8
GT1
Minichamps
BMW Dealer Ed.
80 42 9 422 191
0McLaren F1 Longtail 'Fina'
Peter Kox
Roberto Ravaglia
9
GT1
Minichamps
BMW Dealer Ed.
80 42 9 422 198
AMG Mercedes Works Team
0Mercedes CLK-GTR 'Warsteiner'
Alessandro Nannini
Marcel Tiemann
10
GT1
Maisto
31504
0Mercedes CLK-GTR 'D2 Privat'
Bernd Schneider
Alexander Wurz
11
GT1
Maisto
31504
0Mercedes CLK-GTR 'CLK Sportswear'
Klaus Ludwig
Bernd Maylander
12
GT1
Maisto
31504
Privateer Teams
0Lotus Elise GT1 'Thai'
J�rome Policand
Ratanakul Prutirat
15
GT1
Spark
S0183
0Porsche 911 GT1 'Wilkinson Sword'
Ralf Kelleners
Pedro Chaves
16
GT1
Minichamps
Sports Racing
430 976632
0Lotus Elise GT1 'Benetton'
Mimmo Schiattarella
Luca Badoer
23
GT1
Spark
S0184
0McLaren F1 Longtail 'Parabolica'
Chris Goodwin
Gary Ayles
27
GT1
Minichamps
McLaren Collection
530 174327 
0Porsche 911 GT1 'G-Force'
John Greasley
Magnus Wallinder
Geoff Lister
30
GT1
Minichamps
Sports Racing
430 976630
GT2 Class
0Dodge Viper GTS-R 'Cica'52
GT2
Eagle's Race
3616 
Spa (Round 5)
6McLaren F1 GTR (Longtail)
'Parabolica'
Gary Ayles
Chris Goodwin
27
GT1
Ixo
GTM072
Suzuka 1000 km (Round 7)
DNFMcLaren F1 GTR (Longtail)
'Parabolica'
Gary Ayles
Chris Goodwin
Stefan Johansson
27
GT1
HPI
8213

1998 - Yawn.

Mercedes won 10 of 10 races in 1998 (Including the season finale at Laguna Seca attended by the webmaster of this site). This domination, outrageous expenses, and the fact that the GT1 cars were no longer "road car based" led to the demise of the GT1 category. The FIA GT continues as a solid European series.

Most of the trouble began when homologation requirements were let loose

One missing name in all of this was Ferrari. In secrecy they built three F50 GT's and developed a very on-again off-again program. It was well into the 1998 season before they finally pulled the plug, and these car never raced in anger. According to http://www.barchetta.cc, three more F50 GT chassis were built, but had to be destroyed by a court order.(?)

Diecast

The Onyx 911 GT1 Porsches come with plastic bodies, but overall the quality is decent for the price. The green Zakspeed car a.k.a "The Cat in the Hat" displays very nicely. For some additional images, see Review from Nardster.

FIA GT 1998

Place

Car
Sponsor

Car # Class

Model

Ref. #

Image

(Early Season)
Mercedes CLK GTR 'D2 Privat'
Bernd Schneider
Mark Webber
1
GT1
Maisto
?
Mercedes CLK GTR 'D2 Privat'
Klaus Ludwig
Ricardo Zonta
2
GT1
Maisto
?
(Full Season)
GT1 Class
Mercedes CLK LM 'D2 Privat'
Bernd Schneider
Mark Webber
1
GT1
Maisto
?
Mercedes CLK LM 'D2 Privat'
Klaus Ludwig
Ricardo Zonta
2
GT1
Maisto
?
Panoz GTR 'Visteon'
Eric Bernard
Mark Webber
3
GT1
Auto Art
69851
TestPorsche 911 GT1
'Mobil'
Yannick Dalmas
Allan McNish
7
GT1
Onyx
XGT99001
HPI
8093
TestPorsche 911 GT1
'Mobil'
J�rg M�ller
Uwe Alzen
8
GT1
Onyx
XGT99002
HPI
8095
Mercedes CLK GTR 'Original-Tiele'
Jean-Marc Gounon
Marcel Tiemann
12
GT1
Maisto
31504
GT2 Class
Chrysler Viper GTS-R 'Mobil 1'
Olivier Beretta
Pedro Lamy
51
GT2
Eagle's Race
3662 
Chrysler Viper GTS-R 'Mobil 1'
Karl Wendlinger
Justin Bell
52
GT2
Eagle's Race
3663 
Marcos LM600 70
GT2
Spark
 
Silverstone (Round 2)
3Porsche 911 GT1 'Jever'
Michael Bartels
Armin Hahne
6
GT1
Onyx
XLM99010
5Porsche 911 GT1 'Jever'
Alexander Grau
Andreas Scheld
5
GT1
Onyx
XLM99011
Suzuka 1000 km (Round 6)
DNFMcLaren F1 GTR (Longtail)
(Davidoff Non-Tobacco)
Thomas Bscher
Geoff Lees
15
GT1
HPI
8215
Laguna Seca (Round 10)
1Mercedes CLK LM 'Goodbye Klaus'
Klaus Ludwig
Ricardo Zonta
2
GT1
Spark