sprint championship classes

sprint championship classes

Author
Discussion

eddycerb

Original Poster:

49 posts

214 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
Hi guys this may be a bit out there but does anyone know if you can strip a car of its seats, door panels etc. and still be eligable for the production modified class as thinking of buying a stripped out clio 172 for said purpose.I am sure there will be someone who knows,

Cheers Guys
Edd

CNHSS1

942 posts

224 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
stripped interior immediately puts you in Mod Prod (Modified Production) classes 3 A,B,C, depending on engine size, rather than Roadgoing Production (trim must remain except floor carpets and seats swapped to competition items allowed).
best bet is to contact your local club or preferred championship and see what classes or championships they run. Most venues have a 'club' class, where the scoring for the championship is done irrespective of car or class on the day. Often see people buy or spend months building a car only to find one modification puts them into the next class up which may make the car less competitive. best to 'spec' the car and mods first with your preffered class & championship because you WILL get the bug and be competitive, no matter how much you kid yourself 'its just for abit of fun' biggrin
more car details will be needed for much more in depth answers too possibly.

andye30m3

3,472 posts

261 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
Not sure about the answer to your question but but section S of the blue book might help,

http://www.msauk.org/site/cms/contentviewarticle.a...

Trev450

6,428 posts

179 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
As already said, stripping out the interior will put you into the modified class.

eddycerb

Original Poster:

49 posts

214 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
Thanks alot guys i like the response that i will become competeive, yeah i can see that happening. Really just weighing things up as i have a few cars that i am looking at all in a different state of mods but i would like it for track days as well. I have just got a bit of thinking to do. Would most of you recommend a virtually standard car then to compete in the roadgoing production class.

Cheers

Edd

Trev450

6,428 posts

179 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
I would strongly recommend uprating the brakes, tyres and suspension as these are the biggest areas where improvements can be found imo. Raising engine power is all very well but the old saying " power is nothing without control " comes to mind.

CNHSS1

942 posts

224 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
eddycerb said:
I have just got a bit of thinking to do. Would most of you recommend a virtually standard car then to compete in the roadgoing production class.
Hmmm, personally id think long and hard. If sprints/hillclimbing is/could be a passing whim, then yeah run a std-ish car that could be used for other things or that makes it easier to sell (highly developed cars have a limited market, and sometimes are only saleable in bits). If sprints/hills is a stepping stone to summat you really want to do in motorsport, ie circuits, rallying etc, then again run a boggo car for same reasons as above.

If you like the idea of sprints/hills and want to give it a go, do your research and buy one of many well developed cars. They sell for a fraction of build cost, will be infinitely quicker than anything this side of exotica (just look at the amount of Pug 205s that destroy 911 GT3RS and Fezza 360 times for same venue) and are often cheaper to run. Certainly a damned sight cheaper if the undergrowth attacks you!

For say £5k-10K you can buy a championship winning car, saloon, sports car, road based or even single seater, and go from there. Most of us dont/didnt do it that way and end up spending 5 times as much over a number of years, but learn a helluva lot in the process.

again your choice of weapon ought to be helped by which venue or championship you favour

only my humble opinion of course

CNH

Edited by CNHSS1 on Wednesday 2nd June 14:23

CNHSS1

942 posts

224 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2010
quotequote all
ebay item 250638562579 being a good case in point

nowt to do with me other than i wouldnt mind a blast in it!

CNH

torqueofthedevil

2,088 posts

184 months

Monday 7th June 2010
quotequote all
I started hillclimbing and sprinting this year after wanting to start for a while.

I bought a Peugeot 306 gti-6 at the beginning of the year and have been steadily builing it to a good spec. You could definately save yourself a lot of money buy buying a car with it all done already but it has really become very enjoyable doing all the mods. Some i have paid others to do but i am steadily becoming more confident with doing it myself.

Depending on your current knowledge of cars and racing that may or may not appeal to you. I know that i have bought hi spec cars with loads of mods in the past and being a bit bewildered by everything. As i had not fitted it i didnt really want to change anything or mess about with it. More importantly i couldnt monitor the effect that changes make to the car - lowering, spring rates, damping rates, anti-roll bars, PU bushes, thicker torsion bars etc etc. If this has all alredy been done you won't know what is affecting the ride.

Anyway onto the racing - you will get hooked! It is great, im loving this season. When i started out i thought it wouldnt matter if my car wasn't too competative as it was "just for a laugh" but believe me - you will want it to be competative after your first few events. Each class tends to have 2 or 3 types of cars which are the main class winners so these are the ones to consider really.

With regards to making sure you want to do hillclimbs and not circuit racing - i would suggest you do a year of hillclimbs, much, much cheaper and easier to get into and you will learn a lot about all aspects of the sport this way.

I wouldn't worry about the car being hard to sell, a well spek'd sprint car would be great for a trackday car and even on the road.

As mentioned above, you may find that a car such as the one you have seen will have 1 or 2 mods that put it into a higher class and will make you much less competitive.

If you plan to start out in a very competative class, then the road going class will be cheaper and require less technical knowledge to do well (than the modified production). A (road going) 172 would be in 1B and you'd be racing against me, and cars such as 205 gti's, 206 gti's, renault 5 turbos, mx-5's, celicas, impreza's (non turbo) celicas, MG's, etc etc.

Read the blue book - its free online and explains what is and isnt allowed in each class.

Dan

gary71

1,981 posts

186 months

Tuesday 8th June 2010
quotequote all
As a student I used to run my normal road car Golf Mk2 in the under 1300cc class, unfortunately as I had a suspension kit on it, it dropped into modified, not road going. So I ended up in the same class as fully stripped Novas and Minis. After a while coming last in your class at every event can get to you!

I used to compare my times to the road going class to make me feel better, as I was competitive with people not in my class... smile

I was at Shelsley on Saturday, some of the Pug 205s are incredibly quick, and I did notice a Hayabusa powered OMS (?)wings and slicks single seater for sale for £6000. Faster than any road car for half the cost of preparing your road car to a competitive standard.

torqueofthedevil

2,088 posts

184 months

Tuesday 8th June 2010
quotequote all
must've been some pretty extensive suspension on there - adjustable coilovers are allowed, changes to dampers, springs, torsion bars, ARB's, bushes etc. just cannot change suspension type - e.g. torsion beam to mcphereson strut. and few other things such as adjustable top mounts.

If it bothered you so much surely it wouldnt have been much to change it???

SClarke

546 posts

198 months

Tuesday 8th June 2010
quotequote all
torqueofthedevil said:
and few other things such as adjustable top mounts.
Where did you read that? In my blue book it just says 'suspension configuration must remain standard' Surely adjustable top mounts don't alter the configuration?

gary71

1,981 posts

186 months

Tuesday 8th June 2010
quotequote all
torqueofthedevil said:
must've been some pretty extensive suspension on there - adjustable coilovers are allowed, changes to dampers, springs, torsion bars, ARB's, bushes etc. just cannot change suspension type - e.g. torsion beam to mcphereson strut. and few other things such as adjustable top mounts.

If it bothered you so much surely it wouldnt have been much to change it???
It was a while back ('92). The regulations were pretty explicit that the suspension must remain as standard (springs, dampers, everything). I would imagine this regulation has evolved as suspension kits are more common (and much cheaper!) It was only a Koni kit, I checked with the scrutineers and it was a definite no.

Trev450

6,428 posts

179 months

Wednesday 9th June 2010
quotequote all
SClarke said:
torqueofthedevil said:
and few other things such as adjustable top mounts.
Where did you read that? In my blue book it just says 'suspension configuration must remain standard' Surely adjustable top mounts don't alter the configuration?
Absolutely right. Just about everyone in the class runs adjustable top mounts for the 2 championships that I'm entered in.

torqueofthedevil

2,088 posts

184 months

Wednesday 9th June 2010
quotequote all
hmmmm im not sure i've had a look and you're right i cant find it anywhere - just something i always thought was the case. I was at an event one day and we all got our top mounts photographed as someone had protested about another cars top mounts...hmmmm

i will ask someone.

Kozy

3,169 posts

225 months

Thursday 10th June 2010
quotequote all
Does adjustable top mounts not class as 'moving/altering the standard suspension pickup points'?

Edited by Kozy on Thursday 10th June 19:50

Trev450

6,428 posts

179 months

Friday 11th June 2010
quotequote all
Kozy said:
Does adjustable top mounts not class as 'moving/altering the standard suspension pickup points'?

Edited by Kozy on Thursday 10th June 19:50
I wouldn't have thought so because you are still using the original mountings.

onomatopoeia

3,491 posts

224 months

Friday 11th June 2010
quotequote all
gary71 said:
torqueofthedevil said:
must've been some pretty extensive suspension on there - adjustable coilovers are allowed, changes to dampers, springs, torsion bars, ARB's, bushes etc. just cannot change suspension type - e.g. torsion beam to mcphereson strut. and few other things such as adjustable top mounts.

If it bothered you so much surely it wouldnt have been much to change it???
It was a while back ('92). The regulations were pretty explicit that the suspension must remain as standard (springs, dampers, everything). I would imagine this regulation has evolved as suspension kits are more common (and much cheaper!) It was only a Koni kit, I checked with the scrutineers and it was a definite no.
That sounds like championship regulations in your region then, some had more restrictions in roadgoing than others. In ASWMC land changing dampers and springs has always been fine.

Kozy

3,169 posts

225 months

Friday 23rd July 2010
quotequote all
Ok so I haven been looking into this and cannot definately tell whether my car would classify for Road-Going Series Production or not.

1996 Honda Civic VTi.
Original engine, uprated intake system
OEM Civic Type R mainfold back exhaust system.
Uprated ARBS, springs and dampers
Aftermarket stock size wheels on list 1A tyres
Full road trim.

People I have spoken to have mixed opinions about whether it would have to go into ModProd or not on the basis of the suspension. It is non adjustable apart from the ARB (not from within the car) and retains the original mounting points.

The Blue Book doesn't explicitly state uprated suspension isn't allowed in RGSP, however by the fact that it isn't mentioned there, but does explicitly allow the use of uprated springs/dampers/ARBs in the ModProd sections, it would surely suggest that anything non standard in the suspension would put it in ModProd?

SClarke

546 posts

198 months

Friday 23rd July 2010
quotequote all
Down here in the South West that would definitely be fine in the Road going class. I cannot speak for other areas and their definitions of the rules. The understanding down here is as long as the configuration stays the same the rest can be altered, most run coilovers and have uprated ARBs in the road going classes.