Here’s the final – for now – part of our canter through the weird and wonderfully different cars that have – over the past decade and a half, gone head to head with FIA GT3 homologated machinery in some of the races, series and championships that did, and in some cases still do, embrace that difference.
You can find Part 1 HERE
And Part 2 HERE
Praga R1T
Now a series in its own right on the Britcar package, the little Pragas were previously a class within the main Series, and before that, some raced in the GT3 equivalent Class 1.
The Czech-built Praga R1T is powered by a 4-cylinder 2 litre Renault Sport engine, in the case of the R1T turbocharged with c.350 bhp.
In Britcar competition there were overall race wins and the 2020 Britcar Endurance title.
Radical RXC GT3
Produced by UK-based Radical Sportscars, and introduced in 2016 as a modified version of their RXC Turbo rod and track car with a national, but not FIA, GT3 homologation.
The car is powered by a 3.5 Litre V6 Ford EcoBoost engine with c.500 hp. RXC’s have raced in GT Open, Britcar and GT Cup with some success.
A V8-engined version also raced in Britcar’s class 1, taking a class win at the Britcar 24 Hours in 2015.
Renault RS.01 GT3
Renault’s Nissan GTR-engined RS.01 was initially designed as a one-make racer for the Renault Sport Series which took place in 2015 and 2016.
Changed priorities for the brand saw that series cancelled after 2016 with Renault producing a kit that same year to equip the car for GT3-level competition with homologation from FFSA, including a reduction in power and some aero restrictions.
Several cars saw competition in 24H Series races including the 24H Dubai, one car taking an overall win at Mugello in 2016. RS.01s would also race in VdeV, FFS GT Supercar Challenge and a single season of the International GT Open.
A single car also contested the 24 Hours of the Nurburgring in 2017 and 2018 with a best finish of 23rd overall in 2018.
Riley Track Car
The second car in this list owned by Nigel Mustill, and campaigned in Britcar’s broadly GT3-equivalent Class 1 as well as the GT Cup, has its roots in a very different formula, Daytona Prototypes.
The Riley MK XXII is, effectively, a value engineered version of the once-dominant DP car in Grand-Am with fibreglass bodywork and a production Chevy engine.
Mustill and friends used their car between 2013-2015 scoring some good results.
Saker RAPX
A re-bodied version of the original Saker GT, initially designed in New Zealand but, more recently, re-licensed for production in the Netherlands.
It was powered by a 4-cylinder turbocharged Subaru ‘Boxer’ engine in a sub 800kg package! Initial plans for a multi-car Britcar entry eventually distilled down to two cars, one of them a regular front-runner with a single race win to its name in 2018.
Taranis
MacG Racing developed their previous Ultima GTR (see below) into the 7-litre V8-powered Taranis in 2015 with a comprehensive reworking of the aero, suspension, weight and weight distribution etc. coupled to a 6-speed paddle-shift sequential transmission.
Its first test at Donington Park ahead of the 2016 season, on old tyres, saw the car lap a full four seconds faster than the Ultima on which it was based ever had before.
It’s been a front-runner in Britcar pretty much ever since!
Trident Iceni
The diesel-powered GT car remains a relatively rare beast though large capacity V6 and V8 motors in big German coupes are now a ‘thing’. The trailblazer for that trend though was the somewhat unlikely Trident Iceni.
With an initial version making a brief debut during a British GT event in 2005 powered by a turbocharged 6.5 litre Hummer V8, and a later version emerging with a still turbo, but this time three valves per cylinder 6.6-litre Duramax unit, there was no shortage of power, but the car’s reliability was appalling, attempts at British GT and with a later version in Britcar, almost inevitably ending with a pool of transmission oil (the car was an auto) and a bucket of broken dreams.
TVR Sagaris
GTF built four Chevrolet-engined race cars at the TVR factory with factory bodyshells with at least two of the cars seeing action in Britcar as well as club racing.
One of the cars raced and finished, two Britcar 24 Hours races with the car above involved in a huge startline incident at the 2008 Britcar 24 Hours.
Ultima GTR
MacG Racing’s Ultima followed on from Ultima cars in British GT that did battle with GT1 and GT2 levels of machinery and the Britcar Class 1 (GT3 level) car fared little better than its predecessors in terms of reliability.
It was developed into the Taranis for 2016 (see above) to see somewhat less frustration from the team!
Volvo S60
Once upon a time a team owner dreamed up a race car based on an executive saloon usually associated with those more concerned with safety than raw performance.
That car though, which first raced in 2009 in the Pirelli World Challenge, would be treated to significant systems upgrades, a competition 4 Wheel Drive system and turbocharged 5-cylinder inline powerplants producing c.650bhp!
With the bugs worked out the KPAX cars took the 2010 GT championship.
Thereafter ongoing Balance of Performance adjustments progressively reduced the S60’s competitiveness on an annual basis, the team parking the S60s at the end of 2013 in favour of a fleet of McLarens.
