Gt3

A recap of the week in automotive news, including the latest video of Acura's NSX GT3, and the IIHS' most recent Top Safety Pick+ award recipient.

Hopefully this means a track-focused NSX-R.

Renaultsport has changed tracks and developed the RS 01 spec racer for use in GT3 racing, but had to rein it in because it was too fast in testing at Paul Ricard this weekend.

Callaway Competition has introduced the new competition-spec Corvette C7-based GT3-R to replace the old C6-based Z06.R GT3 in racing series around the world. And boy, does it look the part.

Germany's governing body for motorsports has announced new rules for the Nurburgring that will allow GT3 cars to run again after last month's fatal accident.

Porsche, always keen to protect what it views as its own, has lawyered up, leading Aston Martin to drop the "GT3" moniker from its most recent sports car, even though that's also the name of a racing class.

Mercedes-AMG is showing off the first picture of the AMG GT3 race car that will enter competition next year. If its angry face and the track-day excellence of the street-legal AMG GT S are anything to judge by, the 2016 FIA GT3 class is about to get an unruly new entry.

There is only one Porsche 911 GT3 Cup ANDIAL Edition on the planet, and its owner is standing patiently in the hot pits at Oklahoma's Hallett Motor Racing Circuit, watching attentively as his prized possession circles the challenging road course at speed.

Lamborghini is moving on from the Gallardo to the new Huracán, and with it, is taking its racing program in house. But the Bolognese marque's longtime racing partner Reiter Engineering has a thing or two to say about that, and is showing what it can still do with an old platform by introducing the new Gallardo Extenso R-EX.

Most British automakers have some manner of racing program. Aston Martin, Lotus and McLaren race as a matter of course. Bentley recently got back into racing, Morgan has dabbled here and there, even Land Rover has its off-road racing programs. The only one, it seems, that isn't racing these days is Jaguar... but that could be about to change.

There was already a rumor brewing that Cadillac might eschew the CTS as its racecar next season in favor of the ATS Coupe. It turns out that is absolutely the case, and now we know just what this 600-horsepower, future racer looks like. The coupe might not be limited to competing in just the US, though, because it's built to FIA GT3-specifications, meaning that this Caddy is also eligible to race in over 30 series worldwide against the likes of Bentley, McLaren, Audi and other premium brands.

With all the versions of the Gallardo that Lamborghini made over the course of that model's dozen year lifecycle, we knew the debut of the new Huracán would only be the start. And now we're getting an idea of what Sant'Agata has in store. Before too long, there'll be a new Spyder, and likely a rear-drive version as well. But racing teams are more eagerly anticipating the new competition versions. There's the new Super Trofeo spec racer that Lambo unveiled in Monterey a couple of weeks ago

Cadillac has been racking up victories with the CTS.V.R in Pirelli World Challenge racing for two model generations now, including recent GT class championships in 2012 and 2013. However, even winning racers eventually have to retire, and it looks like the CTS may be taking a bow at the end of the season. In its place, Caddy is reportedly working on a new racecar based on the ATS Coupe, and it might even get to compete internationally.

In case you needed more proof that the Lexus RC F is a statement car intended to scream "This is not your father's brand" (yes, we're paraphrasing the tagline of another automaker), here it is: the Lexus RC F GT3 Racing Concept. Lexus introduced a GT500-spec version of the RC F at the Tokyo Auto Salon last month, but this GT3-spec entrant and its Reading Rainbow paint job will get to show off at the Geneva Motor Show to whet the appetites of European racing outfits.

Since 2006, Callaway Competition has been turning the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 into the Z06.R GT3 race car, and in seven years, it has become the most successful team in the series. It will strive to continue that streak, the firm having just announced that Chevrolet has approved it to develop and homologate the GT3 version of the C7 Corvette Stingray. Right now there are more than ten Callaway-built Z06.Rs contesting three different European championships, each car costing somewhere in the area o

While we are always brimming with anticipation when Porsche rolls out a new 911, we've sort of become accustomed to the progression of debuts that follows the new model's initial unveiling. The Carrera and Carrera S are usually followed by Cabriolet and Cabriolet S, then the Carrera 4 S and so on. It's a fun little pulling-back of the curtain, but we usually know what to expect.

Nissan introduced its privateer Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 racecar last year. Unlike GT-Rs competing in other series like GT1 and Japan's Super GT, the GT3 version utilizes the same 3.8-liter twin turbo V6 from the street car, the engine retuned to produce 523 horsepower. Nissan and Nismo engineers are already hard at work on next year's entrant, throwing the development car over the curbs at what looks like Fuji Speedway.

Ten years after unveiling the concept car that ultimately became the Bentley Continental GT, the iconic British company is back at the Paris Motor Show, with another high-performance "concept" car. The newest member of the Bentley family, this Continental GT3 is a concept in name only, as the company is explicit about the fact that its debut marks a return to motorsports for the brand.

There's been debate about whether the 2013 Porsche 911 GT3 will come with a manual transmission or PDK only. Inside Line has said that only one transmission will come to market, and the 911's product chief, August Achleitner, told IL that both transmissions were being tested but that it looked like the PDK would get the nod. Few outside Porsche testing facilities know what the answer final is, but thanks to some spy video, we now know what a PDK-equipped GT3 would sound like.

Now that the 991-series Porsche 911 has been unleashed on the world, it's time for the other twenty-ish variants of the company's halo car to be unveiled. We've seen the 911 Cabriolet, and our spies have caught the Turbo out testing. Now, the even hotter 911 GT3 has been caught in its early stages of development (read: before it gets it's big ol' wing out back).

What would a Nissan GT-R be without the racing pedigree that's helped make it what it is today? The truth is that we don't even want to know. But we don't have to, because the car known as Godzilla is as devastating on the race track as it is on the street.

Hans Reiter, the chap you might know from Reiter Engineering and its winning Lamborghini racecars, started a company called Sareni United for one purpose: to build a Chevrolet Camaro GT3 race car. The resulting silver shockwave is powered by a 7.9-liter Katech V8 rated at up to 650 horsepower and 627 pound-feet, and the racer's lead engineer says it has lap times "similar to the Lamborghini Gallardo" but that there is still a lot of work to do.

If you need a little assistance getting through your annual 80-course meal and various NFL games, may we offer you some GT3 RS à la Rally? Some kind chef has cobbled together 22 minutes of footage of the Porsche that loves to get dirty doing slides and Scandinavian Flicks and making rooster tails.