In sportscar racing you can basically distinguish between FIA and ACO (there
are some other like the japanese Super GTs, but Ill put them aside).
The cars in SCC are from Le Mans, European Le Mans Series and the American
Le Mans Series if I remember correctly. That means the cars are mainly based
on the rule-set of the ACO, which is the automobile club that organizes the
24 hours of Le Mans. The European and American Le Mans Series both use the
ACO (Le Mans 24h) regulations with the American Le Mans Seriess rules
having a few variances given from IMSA.
The ACO-classes are (cars based on the first 3 are banned after 2005, maybe
IMSA will do something special again for 2006 and there will be a new
Japanese Le Mans Series, which will still allow LM900/675/LMGTP):
LM900 (open***pit prototypes, 900 indicates min. weight, but weight is not
the only difference between the classes, for example Audi R8)
LM675 (open***pit prototypes, for example Lola EX 257)
LMGTP (closed***pit prototypes, for example Bentley Speed 8)
LMP1 (prototypes, not sure on this one, but I think both open and closed
***pits are allowed, for example Audi R10)
LMP2 (prototypes, not sure on this one, but I think both open and closed
***pits are allowed, for example Porsche RS Spyder)
LMGT1 (cars based on road going versions of which a specified number must
have been built, for example Chevrolet Corvette C6-R)
LMGT2 (cars based on road going versions of which a specified number must
have been built, for example Porsche 911 GT3 RSR)
Note1: LMP1 and LMP2 replace LM900/675/GTP.
Note2: In ALMS the LM900/675/GTP-cars are simply counted towards LMP1
despite not being true LMP1-cars.
Note3: For 2005 Le Mans and the 2005 ELMS the LM900/675/GTP-cars were
penalized with higher weight, less power, smaller fueler capacity and so on
while there were no penalties for those in ALMS. ACO did that to promote
their new LMP1/2 categories.
That are only the rough basics. To learn about the different
horsepower-figures, weights, driving aids and so on you should visit the
ACOs website where the complete rules are offered for download in
pdf-format. You could also go to http://www.racesimcentral.net/
interesting site and when you scroll all the way down you can find at least
the prototype-rules of the ACO, too.
Cars in GTR are based on the FIA rules:
GT1 (cars based on road going versions of which a specified number must have
been built, for example Chevrolet Corvette C5-R)
GT2 (cars based on road going versions of which a specified number must have
been built, for example Porsche 911 GT3 RSR)
other: there are some other, smaller classes that I dont know of exactly,
but all of those racecars must have some road going counterparts, too. Some
time ago in the
FIA GT Championship only GT1 and GT2 were allowed full time while the
smaller classed could only run one race of the championship and that was the
24 hours of Spa. Today those classes seem to be eligible in every race of
the championship.
GT1 and GT2 are similar to LMGT1 and LMGT2 with only small differences (i.
e. LMGT2 does allow traction control, GT2 does not).
Be careful about comparing GT1 cars of today with GT1s from before 1999,
because after the 1998 season the FIA cancelled the original GT1-class and
promoted former GT2 up to GT1. So in 1998 a Corvette C5-R would have been a
GT2.
Those designations are outdated today. They were former used in Le Mans and
the ALMS. GTS became GT1 and GT became GT2.
For complete always visit the official websites of FIA, ACO and ALMS.
FIA and ACO are trying to do a common ruleset since years, but dont seem to
reach an agreement.
I hope I could help!
Bye
Stephan
