While the Super GT Series is best known for the super-silhouette versions of Japanese supercars that race in GT500, over the years a number of non-Japanese makes have entered in the top class of the series over the years, from the formative years of the class that began life as “GT-1”, all the way to the Class One era of the 2010s and the technical convergence with the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM).
As it turns out, the history of these international makes in GT500 is quite rich, and includes cars that range from proven champions, including the only foreign-make cars to win races and championships in the category, to some of the most unique oddities ever brought to a race track, from boutique kit cars and one-off racing specials that never left Japan, to Group C prototypes and Group B rally cars racing well outside of their element!
In amongst them is also a car that never raced in GT500, but tested with the intentions of doing so.
Chances are, you’ll have seen a few of these cars before in DSC’s GT1 Week feature earlier this year, chronicling the history of GT1 cars that once raced in the JGTC & Super GT.
In total, we’ve compiled a gallery of 22 such cars, representing 14 different makes from Germany, Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom (including a half-UK, half-Japanese brand).
Photographs of these cars are very rare and hard to find, especially from independent teams that ran in the early years of the JGTC – nonetheless, we have done our level best to ensure that each independent photographer has been credited for their work, and our sincere thanks go out to each of them for their work.
1994 Rain-X/Art Sports Lamborghini Countach: The Japan Lamborghini Owners’ Club (JLOC) began their JGTC/Super GT existence in this racing-modified Countach, which managed a best finish of 8th in the second round of the ’94 season at Sendai Hi-Land Raceway.
1995-1996 Team Taisan Porsche 911 GT2: The gold standard of the early years of GT2 in Europe, Team Taisan had as many as three 911 GT2s entered by the middle of the 1995 season. The trio of Porsches won three races in total, and Team Taisan won the 1995 GT-1 Teams’ Championship; Taisan ran the car through mid-1997 and collected a handful of top-tens, and other privateers ran the 911 GT2 during this period as well.
1997-2000 Team Taisan Chrysler Viper GTS-R: Taisan’s last GT500 effort was with the Viper GTS-R that was a top performer in GT2 – the car debuted with an 8th-place finish at Sugo, then finished 6th in the first leg of the non-championship All-Star Race at Motegi – in total the 8-litre Taisan Viper took three top-10s in three-plus seasons in GT500 before Taisan moved to GT300 permanently by the end of 2000.
2000 RGS Mirage GT-1: This Countach-inspired kit car came to Japan by way of the British GT Championship in 2000, but the 6.7 litre Chevy V8-powered Mirage GT-1 made only four appearances in GT500 and failed to take the starting grid in any of them – thankfully the car made a return to the series in 2003 as a GT300 machine, a cult classic among avid JGTC fans!
2006 Stile Corse Maserati MC12 GT1: Team Goh, two years removed from winning Le Mans, aimed for a Super GT return with the all-conquering MC12 – but after poor pre-season testing results at Suzuka, the ambitious Stile Corse effort withdrew just days before the first race of the season.
2009 Aston Martin Akasaka DBR9 GT1: Hitotsuyama Racing and Nova Engineering ran a limited schedule in 2009 with the Le Mans-winning DBR9, finishing each of its three races in 14th place. Also finished 2nd in class at the 2009 1000km of Okayama, the very first Asian Le Mans Series race.
