Glickenhaus SCG003C Sets Nurburgring 24 Hours Pole, Wins SPX Class
SCG003C race car sets blistering ‘Ring lap, to start race from first place.
The Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003C has journeyed through several years of race car development. Guided by Jim Glickenhaus and run by Traum Motorsports, the pair of SCG003Cs enjoyed a weekend of ups and downs at the 2017 24 Hours of Nurburgring. American driver Jeff Westphal set the pole lap at the ‘Ring in the #704 car while the second car, the #702, went on to win its class.
Westphal’s second lap in the Top 30 qualifying session came with the sun just peeking over the treetops that line the ‘Ring. If that lap, an 8:15.427, doesn’t sound impressive with street cars running 6:43s now, consider that the N24 layout includes the entire Nordschleife plus most of the Grand Prix circuit layout. That lap put Westphal 0.7 clear of the best-qualifying GT3 car, the Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS driven by another American, Connor de Philippi. Here’s the entire qualifying session with the pole-setting lap starting at 28:30:
The race brought early success for the Glickenhaus crew. The leading #704 led six of the first 16 laps and looked competitive against GT3 machinery. However, contact with a Mercedes just after leaving the pits robbed the team of 10 minutes. From there, the car stood back-footed against the field until a crash in the final few hours knocked the #704 out for good.
Meanwhile, the #702 pressed on to 20th place overall. That took the win in the SP-X class for non-homologated car, which was a disappointment since they had aimed for an overall win. At the front of the field, rain in the final 30 minutes threw a wrench in the works. That allowed the #29 Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS to steal a win thanks to a last-second switch to rain tires.
SCG003C
Glickenhaus intended the SCG003 as a throwback to the early days of post-war racing. In that time, racers would often drive their street cars to a race weekend. Once there, they’d put numbers on their street car, race it, and then drive it home. The SCG003 was designed to be capable of driving to the racetrack, converted within a few hours to racing trim, raced, then converted back to street trim and driven home.
The SCG003C (“Competizione”) version is, at least for now, specifically built for racing. It utilizes the 3.5-liter twin-turbo Honda V6 previously found in Le Mans Porotypes. Because it’s not really a production car, the FIA hasn’t homologated it for GT3 or any other class. Nevertheless, the Nurburgring’s VLN Series and the N24 organizers let it compete in the SPX (“Experimental” or the German equivalent thereof) class. The car has come close to winner VLN races and nearly won the six-hour N24 qualifier but for a late-race mechanical failure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBBZPCgbsRc
[Photo: SCG003 Project]