2013 VDS GT 001-R
After a long career in sports car racing Raphaël van der Straten of VDS Racing Adventures revealed the first race car to carry his own nameplate. Built around a Gillet Vertigo, the GT 001-R will contest GT2 races hosted by Creventic with a goal of reaching Le Mans.
The GT 001-R is largely a Vertigo .5 Spirit and shares the model’s 480 bhp Maserati V8 engine and a lengthened version of its carbon fiber chassis.
Van der Straten’s father raced Mustangs when he was growing up and the influence was extended to the GT 001-R’s overall style.
Talking to endurance-info.com he reveals how the project came about “The initial idea was to produce a Vertigo with a different “touch” (a.6). When talking to Tony Gillet … Tony then introduced me to Charles van den Bosch, to whom I gave a few ideas and requirements. Very quickly he came up with a few projects that were quite unconventional and which up to a point I liked. Then one day, in a series of sketches, the one that was to become MY car appeared. That was it, it couldn’t be anything else. Charles had managed to reproduce on paper something I had in my head. And then came Patrick Bataille, who had studied the project’s feasibility and produced a 1/1 scale model. Then followed a lengthy period of styling tests, proposals, some small dilemmas regarding the car’s details (lights, grill, exit for the exhaust, etc.). Patrick had succeeded in making the project three dimensional. As for Tony Gillet he was the conductor, it was he who introduced me to all the people that have allowed me to make my dream come true today.”
He also revealed the competition details to endurance-info.com “The ultimate project would be to enter the VDS GT 001-R in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This will necessarily take a bit of time. Its racing career will take off at the 24 Hours of Dubai, in January 2013, going out from the principle where the car is directly able to be homologated in the SP2 Class of the 24 Hours Series organised by Creventic. The team will be made known at a later date, based on proposals from the partners. Following that everything will be implemented to allow us to enter the car in the 24 Hours of Spa. This VDS GT 001-R is in the same vein as the Ascari KZ1. I therefore hope that she will be able to integrate a category specifically reserved for the Supercars that do not originate from the mass series. Discussions are in progress …”
Raphaël van der Straten plans to build 22 versions of the road going VDS GT 001 and campaign a similar VDS GT 001-R at the upcoming 24 Hours of Dubai.
In Detail
| submitted by | Official Galleries |
| type | Series Production Car |
| built at | Belgium |
| engine | Maserati 90° V8 |
| position | Front, Longitudinal |
| aspiration | Natural |
| displacement | 4244 cc / 258.98 in³ |
| bore | 92 mm / 3.6 in |
| stroke | 79.8 mm / 3.1 in |
| compression | 11.0:1 |
| power | 357.9 kw / 480 bhp |
| specific output | 113.1 bhp per litre |
| bhp/weight | 505.26 bhp per tonne |
| body / frame | Carbon Fiber Chassis |
| driven wheels | RWD |
| front brakes | AP Ventiled Discs w/6-Piston Calipers |
| rear brakes | AP Ventiled Discs w/6-Piston Calipers |
| f suspension | Wishgbones w/Inboard Spring-Damper Units |
| r suspension | Wishgbones w/Inboard Spring-Damper Units |
| curb weight | 950 kg / 2095 lbs |
| wheelbase | 2340 mm / 92.1 in |
| front track | 1602 mm / 63.1 in |
| rear track | 1706 mm / 67.2 in |
| transmission | 6-Speed Sequential |
