Kunimitsu Takahashi was a Japanese professional motorcycle road racer, racing driver, and team manager. Nicknamed "Kuni-san", he is known as the "father of drifting".
The 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 64th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 15 and 16 June 1996. It was won by a Tom Walkinshaw-Porsche prototype run by Joest Racing with drivers Davy Jones, Manuel Reuter and Le Mans rookie Alexander Wurz completing 354 laps. While not being the fastest car on track, it hit the front in the first hour and aside from several pit-stop overlaps, was never headed as other teams hit mechanical troubles during the race. This was Reuter's second Le Mans victory, and the first for Jones and Wurz, who, at 22 years old, became the youngest ever Le Mans overall winner.
Richard Westbrook is a British professional racing driver noted for his success in racing Porsche and International sports cars. As a junior, he attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich. He has won both the Porsche Supercup international championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup in his native Britain (2004). At the end of the 2007 season, Richard signed a factory contract deal with the German marque Porsche, and the British ace proceeded to take on the world's best on the other side of the Atlantic. The next year (2009), Westbrook won the highly coveted FIA GT2 Championship, taking four victories in the process, establishing himself firmly on the World motor sport stage and in the upper echelons of elite sports car drivers.
The McLaren F1 GTR is the racing variant of the McLaren F1 sports car first produced in 1995 for grand touring style racing, such as the BPR Global GT Series, FIA GT Championship, JGTC, and British GT Championship. It was powered by the naturally aspirated BMW S70/2 V12 engine. It is most famous for its overall victory at the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans where it won against faster purpose-built prototypes in very wet conditions. The F1 GTR raced internationally until 2005 when the final race chassis was retired.
The Lotus Elise GT1 is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.
Reiter Engineering GmbH & Co Kg, commonly known simply as Reiter Engineering, is a German racing team and racing car manufacturer established in 2000 by motorsport engineer Hans Reiter.
The Lotus Esprit GT1 was a sports racing car produced by Lotus Engineering, a subsidiary of Lotus Cars formed to develop racing cars to compete in the GT1 class racing. It competed in the BPR Global GT Series in the mid-1990s.
Timothy Philip Sugden is a British racing driver. He is both driver and manager for his own racing team, Tim Sugden Motorsport.
Štefan "Štofi" Rosina is a Slovak racing driver racing in GT cars. He has competed successfully in the FIA GT1 World Championship and Porsche Supercup. He is the incumbent Vice Champion in the Fanatec GT2 European Series, driving for True Racing by Reiter Engineering, the KTM works sportscar effort.
Team Kunimitsu is a racing team founded in 1992 by Kunimitsu Takahashi. The team has competed in the Super GT Series since 1994.
The 1994 All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship was the first full season of premier class GT racing in Japan to be promoted by the new GT Association (GTA). It was marked as well as the twelfth season of a JAF-sanctioned sports car racing championship, dating back to the All Japan Sports Prototype Championship. Recognized as the first season of what is now the Super GT series, the 1994 season introduced the familiar dual-class structure, and the Success Ballast handicap system that would become staples of the series in the years to come.
Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. The GT3 category was initially created in 2005 by the SRO Group as a third rung in the ladder of grand touring motorsport, below the Group GT1 and Group GT2 categories which were utilized in the SRO's FIA GT Championship, and launched its own series in 2006 called the FIA GT3 European Championship. Since then, Group GT3 has expanded to become the de facto category for many national and international grand touring series, although some series modify the ruleset from the FIA standard. By 2013, nearly 20 automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.
The GT2 European Series, organized by SRO Motorsports Group, is an auto racing series for the SRO GT2 class of grand tourer cars, designed for amateur pay drivers in the FIA Bronze category. This target audience is also known in sportscar as "gentleman drivers".
Group GT1, also known simply as GT1, was a set of regulations maintained formerly by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), for Grand Tourer racing. The category was first created in 1993, as the top class of the BPR Global GT Series, and was included in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It fell under FIA regulation from 1997, after the BPR series came under the control of the FIA, becoming known as the FIA GT Championship. The category was dissolved at the end of 2011. The category may be split into four distinctive eras, from its debut in 1993–1996, 1997–1998, 2000–2009, 2010–2011.
SRO GT2 is a class of grand tourer racing cars maintained by the SRO Motorsports Group. Despite the name, this class slots between GT4 and GT3 in terms of performance. It also shouldn’t be confused with the Group GT2 from the early 2000s. The class uses a balance of performance to allow for close competition between competitors.
The Quaife R4 GTS is a grand tourer-style race car, designed, developed and produced by British manufacturer Quaife, and built to FIA's GT1 regulations, in 1998.
The RGS Mirage GT1 is a grand tourer-style race car, designed, developed and built by RGS Motorsport, built to the FIA's GT1 regulations, in 1997. It was based on the Lamborghini Countach, but was powered by a Chevrolet LS1 small-block OHV V8 engine. Between 2000 and 2003, it also notably competed in the GT500 and GT3000 classes of the All-Japan JGTC Championship.
The Sintura S99 is a purpose-built grand tourer-style race car, originally based on the Harrier LR9C, which was designed, developed and produced by British engineer Lester Ray, and tuned by German tuning company Freisinger. It was introduced in 1999, and built to GT1 regulations.
The Stealth B6 is a purpose-built grand tourer-style race car, designed, developed and built to GT1 rules and regulations, and used for sports car racing in 2000.
The Darrian T9, later evolved into the Darrian T90, is a purpose-built grand tourer-style race car, originally designed, developed and built by British manufacturer Davrian, since 1985. It competed in the GT3/GT2 and GT1 class of the British GT Championship, with Swansea Institute Team Darrian (SITD) taking outright honours in the Privilege Insurance British GT Championship, in 1996. Its modern evolution, the T90 GTR, has also competed as a rally car in various rallying events.
