Revised Class Structure for 2023
Autosport International was awesome - we had some great chats with lots of great people, lots of people interested in the sport and lots of FG veterans too!
One subject we’ve been deliberating for some time is how we make it more competitive for those with relatively standard cars, when coming up against very heavily modified cars. We have discussed so many ways of how to do this I’ve forgotten half of them! The challenge is to make it easy to understand and clear cut as to where you fit, without muddying the waters with things like time handicaps or ballast, and definitely NOT control tyres! One proposed solution was whether a car has some kind of engine conversion - as this tends to be a good indicator of overall how “built” a car is. There’s no perfect way of doing it, but after lots of deliberation and debate, that was the preferred option. The conversations with a number of people at ASI prompted us to finally push the button on this rule change.
So, for 2023, we will be trialling splitting the 2WD class in to two - Street, and Pro. Revised class structure wording can be viewed in the Regulations here, but in essence this is how it will work:
Street: for cars that have either their original engine in its original form of aspiration, or other engine from that particular model. E.g. an MX5 that was a 1.6 that is now sporting a 1.8 from the same model would still be in Street class.
Pro: for cars that have had an engine swap to an engine not originally offered in that model (E.g. an LS in an MX5!), or have been boosted when not originally offered as a boosted option.
This classing change is motivated by wanting as many of our drivers to enjoy their day as much as possible – and this includes keeping things competitive for those in entry-level cars. For those of you with more elaborate builds, drift cars, etc, this won’t change much at all for you at all. But hopefully it should make things more fun for those in regular roadgoing cars.
The two classes will be treated as separate championships for the purposes of battles and collecting points.
We know you’ll have lots of questions, so we’ve tried to anticipate and answer some of them below.
FAQS:
Am I able to compete in Pro if my car is technically in Street? Yes! But you won’t be able to compete in Street with a Pro car, regardless of experience.
What if my car breaks during the season and I need to change cars to one of a different class? If you’re already in Pro, and swap to a Street class car, you will have the choice of staying in Pro and trying to collect points, or dropping to Street and starting from zero championship points. If you are in Street, and switch to a Pro class car, you will need to move to Pro and start from zero championship points.
Can you be too fast for the Street class? No, but if you are consistently putting in times that would be competitive in Pro we will talk to you about moving up a class.
Will the technical regs be the same? Yes! Apart from the engine determining which class you will be in, the technical regs will stay as they are so that you are (within reason!) free to modify and tweak your car as you see fit.
I have a turbo MX5 and am a complete novice. Where do I fit in? You will most likely be in Pro class. While it will be challenging for a novice in Pro, only your car determines which class you are in, as with most forms of motorsport.
I have a car with its standard engine configuration but ‘built’ and putting out significantly more power than standard. Would I be in Street or Pro? Technically, you’d be in Street. But you might prefer to compete in Pro where you’ll have much closer competition.
I’m a novice in Pro - am I still eligible for being the day’s Fastest Novice? Yes! However, to share the love, you cannot win the day’s ‘Fastest Novice’ award more than once.
How will practice and qualifying work? As before, you’ll be practicing and qualifying alongside the other classes so that you all have an equal opportunity to get your eye in!
Will AWD be split in to Street and Pro? No - AWD will remain a single class for now. Again, if the numbers increase, we will consider it.
Will you be limiting entries? We want to grow at a pace that is sustainable, maintains a decent amount of track time for the drivers, and does not jeopardise the amazing vibe in the paddock. To that end, we will start by limiting entries to 16 per class, so that everyone gets at least one battle, along with a decent amount of practice time.
Any other questions not answered above? Drop them in the comments!
