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 |
Car # Class |
Model |
Ref. # |
Image |
GT1 Class | |||||
Porsche Works Team | |||||
0 | Porsche 911 GT1 'Mobil' Hans Stuck ![]() Thierry Boutsen ![]() | 6 GT1 | Minichamps Sports Racing | 430 976606 | ![]() |
BMW Motorsport Works Team | |||||
0 | McLaren F1 Longtail 'Fina' J.J. Lehto ![]() Steve Soper ![]() | 8 GT1 | Minichamps BMW Dealer Ed. | 80 42 9 422 191 | ![]() |
0 | McLaren F1 Longtail 'Fina' Peter Kox ![]() Roberto Ravaglia ![]() | 9 GT1 | Minichamps BMW Dealer Ed. | 80 42 9 422 198 | ![]() |
AMG Mercedes Works Team | |||||
0 | Mercedes CLK-GTR 'Warsteiner' Alessandro Nannini ![]() Marcel Tiemann ![]() | 10 GT1 | Maisto | 31504 | ![]() |
0 | Mercedes CLK-GTR 'D2 Privat' Bernd Schneider ![]() Alexander Wurz ![]() | 11 GT1 | Maisto | 31504 | ![]() |
0 | Mercedes CLK-GTR 'CLK Sportswear' Klaus Ludwig ![]() Bernd Maylander ![]() | 12 GT1 | Maisto | 31504 | ![]() |
Privateer Teams | |||||
0 | Lotus Elise GT1 'Thai' J�rome Policand ![]() Ratanakul Prutirat ![]() | 15 GT1 | Spark | S0183 | ![]() |
0 | Porsche 911 GT1 'Wilkinson Sword' Ralf Kelleners ![]() Pedro Chaves ![]() | 16 GT1 | Minichamps Sports Racing | 430 976632 | ![]() |
0 | Lotus Elise GT1 'Benetton' Mimmo Schiattarella ![]() Luca Badoer ![]() | 23 GT1 | Spark | S0184 | ![]() |
0 | McLaren F1 Longtail 'Parabolica' Chris Goodwin ![]() Gary Ayles ![]() | 27 GT1 | Minichamps McLaren Collection | 530 174327 |   |
0 | Porsche 911 GT1 'G-Force' John Greasley ![]() Magnus Wallinder ![]() Geoff Lister ![]() | 30 GT1 | Minichamps Sports Racing | 430 976630 | ![]() |
GT2 Class | |||||
0 | Dodge Viper GTS-R 'Cica' | 52 GT2 | Eagle's Race | 3616 |   |
Spa (Round 5) | |||||
6 | McLaren F1 GTR (Longtail) 'Parabolica' Gary Ayles ![]() Chris Goodwin ![]() | 27 GT1 | Ixo | GTM072 | ![]() |
Suzuka 1000 km (Round 7) | |||||
DNF | McLaren F1 GTR (Longtail) 'Parabolica' Gary Ayles ![]() Chris Goodwin ![]() Stefan Johansson ![]() | 27 GT1 | HPI | 8213 | ![]() |
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.(?)
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 |
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 | ![]() | |
Test | Porsche 911 GT1 'Mobil' Yannick Dalmas ![]() Allan McNish ![]() | 7 GT1 | Onyx | XGT99001 | ![]() |
HPI | 8093 | ![]() | |||
Test | Porsche 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) | |||||
3 | Porsche 911 GT1 'Jever' Michael Bartels ![]() Armin Hahne ![]() | 6 GT1 | Onyx | XLM99010 | ![]() |
5 | Porsche 911 GT1 'Jever' Alexander Grau ![]() Andreas Scheld ![]() | 5 GT1 | Onyx | XLM99011 | ![]() |
Suzuka 1000 km (Round 6) | |||||
DNF | McLaren F1 GTR (Longtail) (Davidoff Non-Tobacco) Thomas Bscher ![]() Geoff Lees ![]() | 15 GT1 | HPI | 8215 | ![]() |
Laguna Seca (Round 10) | |||||
1 | Mercedes CLK LM 'Goodbye Klaus' Klaus Ludwig ![]() Ricardo Zonta ![]() | 2 GT1 | Spark |   |