Motorsport Explained: GTE vs GT3 and Balance of Performance (BOP) 

It's important to note that the speed difference between GTE and GT3 comes down to the specific BoP of the series they are racing in. For example, the fastest GT3 around Spa is actually a 2:13.7 from last years GT Open qualifying, much closer to GTE times than GT3 cars running at Spa in SRO. Another example is GTD cars in IMSA run with slightly less HP than GT3 cars in SRO to create a bigger gap between the GTLM cars. Also another thing to note is GT3 has always been a GT3 class since it's inception in 2006. However GTE, back in the day called GT2, didn't rely on it until factory teams started coming in.

7:04 Yes, 100%. Consistently THE best racing of the entire year was Le Mans GTE class. Leaders still nose to tail & going at it like a touring car race 23 hours & 55 minutes in. From 2015 to 2019 the Porsche, Ford, Aston & Corvette battles were epic & honestly it was BOP that made it that way - apart from when it very occasionally was a bit heavy handed AHEMaston2019

Please do a vid about the Trans-Am series.

I dig the background soundtrack on this one.

BOP is [if well dealt] what keeps a series I've fallen in love with from being murdered by cost or a single make keeping other makes from even showing up. The 917/30, Toyota Eagle GTP Mk III, Porche GT1, etc.

I think I speak for everyone when I say: What if Ken Miles didn't crash at Willow Springs testing the J Car

GT3 seems to become the new Group A (older people like me may remember that...) which doesn't have to a bad thing. In history it was always good when manufacturers could build one car and teams could race it around the world in at least a dozen of racing series. That's at least my personal opinion. You all may agree, but you don't have to.

Only a couple of years ago I went to the WEC race at Silverstone and it was Aston V Ferrari V Porsche V Ford V BMW. It was the best part of the race as was the case with all WEC races that year. I'm hoping the series does the sensible thing and switch to GT3s. I've watched them racing in the British GT Championship and Blancpain events at Brands Hatch and you still get good racing. GT isn't about the cars, its about the drivers.

Well done on tackling such a confusing topic in such a short video. Another common BOP change is ride height. A car will be penalised by adding height, and helped by lowering. It's seemed to me that GTE was a way for the factories to charge a whole lot more for the cars (GTE can be double the price of GT3) and build them with more engineering "lattitude" vs the garden variety showroom version. EG the 911 GTE is mid engined, the GT3 rear engined. Then with all the clever thinking applied the car is then BOP'd anyway! Opportunity lost you think? When the current Porsche 911 GTE was designed (by an Australian lead engineeer whose name I forget) they had the philosophy that their peak pace will be BOP'd so the goal was to build the most consistent car they could over a stint. That way their slower laps would be closer to their fastest laps.

Great video but because of the gameplay footage I've gotta say, for the life of me I cannot put together a decent lap around Mount Panorama/Bathurst. When I see it come up on a series schedule I just chalk that one up as a horribly embarrassing loss.

The most versatile GT cars of the last few years have been the Ferrari 488, BMW Z4, BMW M6 because all of them were modular chassis that could be swapped between GTE Spec and GT3 Spec.

I love you Aidan

Aiden, while you're correct that pro drivers will be in GTD cars soon, it's precicisely because of the dwindling interest in IMSA's GTLM class that they're merging it with GTD next year. Granted, the WEC has had LMGTE Pro and Am for a few years.

Can you talk about the potential death of DTM?

For one of these I sort of wish one would be "what's so-and-so? ... No idea. No one does. I've been Aidan Millward, have a great day wherever you are."

omg you used a karl dilkington quote, 'theres a lot of grippage'

As an American who just started sim racing 8 months ago its truky amazing how much incredible racing I have and most of America has been missing out on. All bit it a bit confusing. Lol thanks for the breakdown, and after watching 20 hours out of 24 of le mans apparenlty these hyper cars are really going to explode starting next year.

beautiful series you're bringing to yt, mate, I just subscribed

Next episode Super GT gt500 vs lmp2

I think they should merge the two, rather than just throwing out GTE completely. It'd be nice to keep the extra HP, beefier tires etc. Just keep the rest OEM and add on the ABS for the AMs.

Why is BoP such a contentious subject? It makes the cars equal, so you don't get Mercedes waltzing away with the title every year.

I know this but constantly need a refresher because it's not as clear a performance difference when you watch 30 GT cars go round a track. It is, but it blurs a bit. As opposed to LMP1 vs LMP2 and 5 laps in the difference is obvious.

OG INTRO

Honestly always wanted to know the differences

Can you make a vid, why we have GTLM/GTE and GTD/GT3? I've read, there was some kind of diffrences between Stephane Ratel and the ACO some time ago.

Love that corvette

I think IMSA is doing the right thing getting rid of GTLM and going to full gt3 (gtd) cars. 10hp is definitely not worth 6 seconds - the GTE/GTLM cars have much better aero. As in more downforce.

Really good video!

Don't think I understand your reference regarding balancing the weight vs horsepower reduction for BoP. Clearly the balance of the car is affected with a ballast, but you are easily able to even out the performance based on weight. It is not the worst possible thing to reduce output.

Excellent ...as always

Well done Aiden. Except you sandbagged the drivers reaction to taking horsepower from their car. So, when are you going to do a 'What if' Ken Miles? A bit of local home town video footage of places he would have frequented would be nice. Keep up the good work.

Aston gone from GTE. You can thank Poppa Stroll for that one!

Hey can you do a vid explaining motogp if you know about the series plz.

Didnt really explain the difference between the two categories if we are being honest

Taking the p[turbo his]s with censorship/demonetizaton avoidance.

Great video but just as a suggestion: would be nice to have some number on screen for visual people xD

I'm gonna miss gte/gt3. It's my favourite racing series in endurance.

Are people that complain about BoP the same people that complain F1 isn't competitive?

6:07 The Mercedes GT3 car at the time was the then, brand new AMG GT. Also while the officials decided "they were taking the piss", they wouldn't get penalised for taking the piss. In that situation where a car had been sand bagged that heavily the officials would just chuck some more ballast or a small restrictor if they were REALLY taking the piss. The penalties were acquired for "an illegal ignition timing setting"

awesome video

I don't get why GT3/GTE weren't/aren't bolt on differences between the cars. Take a single chassis, engine, wheels and suspension, then have a 50kg ballast plate, smaller diffuser and an air restrictor to turn a GTE into a GT3. That way you limit the cost of development, plus if the same team wants to race in two classes at different events they need only one car and a relatively cheap parts kit. There's always the risk of shenanigans (oops our GT3 restrictor's too big) but it's motor racing, there will always ben shenanigans.

Random question for you to discuss on your next video. F1 is considering sprint races on the Saturday. What are your views?

Can someone explain to me the difference between the old DTM cars (class one) and the GTE, thanks

I hope the new GT2 category replaces both. More power, less aero

dpi lmp 1/2/3 next please 😏

GT2, GT4, etc?

I would have much rather had a chart in the background organizing all the class...

Monaco Grand Prix Performt wirklich vom aller feinsten. 3 XP Systeme, AMD FX 4100 und zwei Athlon, 5000 und 6000+, 3x 6670, Saitek PS 2700 und 3x P1500 Gamepads. 2x NEC Multisync LCD 1970NX. 1x Fujitsu Siemens Szenicfiew P19-2, 1x dell ultrasharp 1908fpt. Die 4 können 75Hz. 1x NEC Multisync LCD 1760NX. Extreme 500, Superbike World Championship, Superbike 2000 und 2001. Mercedes Benz Truck Racing, Monaco Grand Prix und F1 Racing Championship.

Love the Karl Pilkington call-out. Even if he has a head like a fkng orange.

BOP only exists to make Race Drivers mad. Change my mind.

Don't know about WEC, but GTLM in IMSA became the Corvette class because noone else is racing in it.

How parity works in btcc?

Bop just gives drivers a reason to complain if their car isn’t op in a straight line anymore.

GTD is a pretty misleading name, cuz GT3 is invented and managed by the SRO. They call it GTD because they allow national (american) GT3 cars too, I guess. So the Daytona part is actually pretty minor.

Someone has watched Chris Harris' Bentley Team Parker Racing video of 24hr Spa 😉🤫

off topic but do what if Schumacher never joins Ferrari

BOP shouldn’t exist. If your car isn’t as good as the competition then make it better. BOP is for those who support participation trophies.

GTE is slowly going down

Time to get rid of both and finally* start with a clean sheet approach: GTE is dead and GT3 has grown too expensive. *what happens when rule makers do not prefer a clean sheet approach can be seen in the mess which will be this year's Le Mans race.

I'd prefer to see more manufacturers of gt3 cars at le mans than just gtlm factory cars

I pretty much feel the same way with Aston dropping out of the GTE class. Tempted to start following someone like Corvette simply because IMSA is, by far, my favourite series to watch at the moment. And Porsche just...meh.

BOP, the destroyer of innovation. Why make a faster car if the sanctioning body is just going to slow you down to the lowest performing car on the grid? It would be like making Usain Bolt run in high heels because everyone is slower than him.

With BOP you essentially end up with the same car performance, just with a different body shell, they may as well have a one make chassis series and save everyone the headache. I suppose BOP series are interesting to someone dim enough to believe the balanced cars are different because they look different and just want to watch high speed bumper cars to cheer on a specific driver like their tribal leader, and don't have the intellect to understand the engineering aspect of constructor based racing.

Well maybe this is just what i care about, but isn't it the point of motorsport to build the best car? I'm just so sick of cars that are made to be identical

i dont understand a shit

Easily explained: BOP is shit.