Standard Production Racing returns for 2007 - Page 2

carrera · 15 Aug 2006, 19:23 (Ref:1683522)

So how did the tyre evaluation go DK?

DriversKnow · 18 Aug 2006, 06:59 (Ref:1685700)

The evaluation of the standard Dunlop Sport Maxx road tyre took place at Thruxton earlier this month, using the 888 Astra VXR Cup prototype and a Hyundai Coupe V6 with track suspension.

The wear and grip characteristics were excellent. Thruxton, due to its long high speed corners and abrasive surface, is the biggest challenge for any tyre and Dunlop were delighted with the results.

We had deliberated whether to run this series on tyres such as the Dunlop Formula R or Direzza, which are used in many one make series and are a track orientated road legal tyre, but we feel that a pure road tyre such as the Sport Maxx is more appropriate for a production class, even if it is slightly slower in the dry.

The Astra was very well balanced for a 250bhp front wheel drive car. I expected torque steer, but it was very composed. On road tyres, this type of car will reward the smooth driver.

There has been a lot of interest in the Sport Maxx Cup for 2007, and next week we have another preparation expert unveiling an 'off the shelf' car, this time for the lower powered class. Look out for this is the press.

More details at barc.net

gixxer · 18 Aug 2006, 09:25 (Ref:1685810)

As long as the costs are kept in check otherwise the championship will go the way the last few in the past have ie dwindling entry's that's not what us spectators want to see,we want big grids and close racing so is the ballast going to be added?.
It would also be good to see the championship at Castle Combe as due to noise issue's we don't get to see the BTCC so at least a national saloon championship would go a long way to help fill the void

DriversKnow · 18 Aug 2006, 09:42 (Ref:1685827)

Yes, ballast will be added where necessary. With the current boom in the hot hatch market (Focus ST, Volvo C30 T5, Golf GTi, Seat Cupra, VXRs, Clios) plus the junior warm hatches (Fiesta ST, c2 vts, Mini Cooper, Micra 160 etc) and throw in the odd coupe (RX8, TT) there is potential for a very interesting mix of cars.

And we hope to be at Castle Combe too. The dates for the 2007 Dunlop Great and British Festivals will be announced later this year, and Combe was the venue that our teams voted as the one they'd most like to go back to, so we will aim to please!

gixxer · 20 Aug 2006, 18:40 (Ref:1687602)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriversKnow

Yes, ballast will be added where necessary. With the current boom in the hot hatch market (Focus ST, Volvo C30 T5, Golf GTi, Seat Cupra, VXRs, Clios) plus the junior warm hatches (Fiesta ST, c2 vts, Mini Cooper, Micra 160 etc) and throw in the odd coupe (RX8, TT) there is potential for a very interesting mix of cars.

And we hope to be at Castle Combe too. The dates for the 2007 Dunlop Great and British Festivals will be announced later this year, and Combe was the venue that our teams voted as the one they'd most like to go back to, so we will aim to please!

That's good to know we all enjoyed the meeting but perhaps there could be a little more entertainment on the saturday say having one of the radical races on that day instead of both champioships on the sunday which too be honest can get a little boring at times that's only my view though.
For a package to work as well as it has in its first year is an good achivement
hopefully it'll just get better in 2007

DriversKnow · 29 Aug 2006, 08:48 (Ref:1696054)

The potential grid for the 2007 BARC/Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup has been further strengthened with the unveiling of a new customer car to compete in the ‘supermini’ class of the inaugural production car series.

Peugeot/Citroen specialists EJM Preparation, based in Warwickshire, today launched their Citroen C2GT test car for the Cup.

The will compete in Class A of the Cup, alongside potential rivals such as the Mini Cooper, Ford SportKa, Nissan Micra 160SR and MG ZR105.

EJM are taking orders for the Cup contender, which is priced at £14,995 in Dunlop Sport Maxx Cup specification.

The specification includes Tubular exhaust, adjustable dampers and EJM racing springs, comprehensive welded in cage, 195/45R16 Dunlop tyres with a FIA approved seat, six point harness and full safety equipment.

This is a sensibly priced off the shelf race car that will provide a great entry level new car for the Cup, which promises to provide a genuine stepping stone to the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. The class structure will encourage close racing throughout the field, and the C2 looks to be one of the main contenders in Class A for cars up to 110bhp per tonne

The Dunlop SP Sport Maxx road tyre has already been tested on two cars that are expected to grace the grids of the production cup next year. The Hyundai Coupe V6 and Vauxhall Astra VXR Sprint were used at Thruxton earlier this month in a successful tyre test.

Al Weyman · 29 Aug 2006, 10:21 (Ref:1696124)

Yes I read an article on that in yesterdays news of the world (I don't but if folks honest). Looked really good.

R59 · 29 Aug 2006, 17:35 (Ref:1696854)

Are you going to buy one then Al?

Al Weyman · 29 Aug 2006, 17:47 (Ref:1696866)

Joking aside if I did not have three Camaros around me I would look into it further. It would just be nice to race something modern with restricted tuning that did not keep requiring changing or fixing something or other all the time as I am sure you are aware as two hard days in the garage at the weekend I certainly am!

carrera · 29 Sep 2006, 19:39 (Ref:1723312)

Is the race going ahead next week?

Al Weyman · 30 Sep 2006, 09:14 (Ref:1723533)

After my last weekend's expensive debacle this type of racing is beginning to look a bit more tempting.

DriversKnow · 2 Oct 2006, 11:55 (Ref:1725200)

Dunlop are planning a press day to launch the Cup on 20th October at Donington, so we may leave a couple of cars there for the weekend to tempt you!

Al Weyman · 2 Oct 2006, 12:19 (Ref:1725230)

I have entered for the weekend, do you want me to thrash one round for you :-)

carrera · 3 Oct 2006, 19:26 (Ref:1726854)

Quote:

Originally Posted by DriversKnow

Dunlop are planning a press day to launch the Cup on 20th October at Donington, so we may leave a couple of cars there for the weekend to tempt you!

Nice diplomatic side-step to the question of racing at Snetterton. So the Snetterton event is off?

DriversKnow · 10 Oct 2006, 21:09 (Ref:1734532)

Hi Carrera....wasn't sidestepping. BARC announced plans to do a pilot race in 2006 earlier this year, but once we announced that this series was to be part of Dunlop Great and British this fell by the wayside.

The 888 Astra Cup car and EJM Citroen C2 Cup will be launched at Donington on 20-22 October

Prospective competitors who wish to attend a forum on Friday 20th at 1100 to discuss the 2007 series, and meet with Dunlop, BARC and other potential drivers should message me through this site.

James Bailey
Dunlop

DriversKnow · 10 Oct 2006, 21:10 (Ref:1734534)

Oh, and if you are coming to Donington, there is a 2-4-1 free ticket offer for the Great and British Championship finals, featuring:

RADICAL, GINETTA, MINI, CLASSIC TOURING CARS

and 2-4-1 admissionto the Donington Collection - the world's biggest collection of F1 cars.........

Get your vouchers at www.driversknow.co.uk/twoTickets/

Minicross424 · 16 Oct 2006, 18:49 (Ref:1739563)

To Mr Drivers Know.
How will series compare to the clios or cupras in terms of budgets for the season with a team.
Last year i looked at the clios untill i was told of the budget i would require!
Will costs differ much?

DriversKnow · 1 Nov 2006, 13:11 (Ref:1755273)

There will be something to cater for all budgets in this series, unlike one-make series where there is a set price for everything.

We have one competitor planning to buy an off-the-shelf ready built Astra 888 and get a professional team to run it for him. In tha case, the budget is going to be similar to doing Clios.

However, we have several people building their own cars, including one driver who is intending on building a race car from a crash damaged C2 or Punto on a budget of £6K and running it for £6k per year, including entry fees.

That is the beauty of this series - each has an equal chance of glory thanks to the class structure.

The press day at Donington was a huge success. We learnt of several more competitors planning to do this, with a ready built C2, Astra and Clio already on display

alfa57 · 2 Nov 2006, 08:24 (Ref:1755965)

Can someone explain how the Dunlop web site has a new article about a guy who is going to run an ex-Seat Cupra championship car next year.

He says "That makes the ex-one make series Cupra a competitive, yet cost effective choice with minimal changes needed. . . . . "

I can't see how this works looking at the rules on the BARC web site:

"No seam welding"
"The standard manufacturers front and rear anti-roll bar must be retained."
"The standard manufacturers transmission, gear ratios, and final drive must be retained."
"The standard manufacturers brake callipers and discs must be retained"
"The standard manufacturer supplied steel or alloy road wheels must be retained"
"Only the camber angle may be adjusted within the range of the standard part. All other settings must remain as standard."
"The fitting of non standard plastic or composite bushes and rose joints is prohibited"
And the engine/ECU won't be legal

That means it will need a new shell, gearbox, engine, ECU, suspension, brakes and wheels for starters.

I'm building a new car for the Alfa Championship for 2007 and was thinking of trying to make it comply with both sets of regs but don't think it's possible to make a car that would be legal and competitive in both.

Either I am reading the wrong regs, that guys bought a very expensive secondhand seat & harness or are the rules already being bent to allow certain cars in?

nyssa7 · 3 Nov 2006, 06:59 (Ref:1756824)

I remember back in the Auto Italia days we had a Maserati Ghibli Cup ex-one make car running in Production presumably on the basis that 25 of them (or so) were made, so it was standard as far as they went

Maybe the same logic applies to the Seat - all parts on it are standard across the 25 or so that were made for the series

Maybe its me, but do we need yet another expensive production series which is going to take cars/drivers away from existing struggling series (until people realise how expensive its getting, by then the other series may have been demised) when there are already plenty of places these cars could run anyway?

The sort of money I see being bandied about is surely enough to run something at the sharper end of DTRC or LMA Euro Saloons and I'd rather drive something b quick than something that looks and goes like my daily driver

Al Weyman · 3 Nov 2006, 07:57 (Ref:1756859)

As they say some cars will be more standard than others. Does this not always happen in these type of championships with someone always ending up way in front and looking the greatest driver in the world because his car is just a bit less 'standard' than the opposition and when you get two identical cars going down the straight and one pulls away faster than the other, how does that happen?

DriversKnow · 3 Nov 2006, 12:26 (Ref:1757105)

Al, Good policing is vital. The Dunlop BARC/Great+British have three of the closest one-make series (Ginetta, Radical and Mini), and the policing has been excellent. The Sport Maxx Cup will share the same infrastructure.

Regarding the Seat Leon - no it can't run in its current spec. If there were say, a dozen, Leon drivers who wanted to run their cars in Sport Maxx it would be worth debating how they could ballast their cars to be on a par with true prodsaloon spec cars, but I agree that Track And Race Cars would be a better place for the car.

Regarding Nyssa's comment. 'I want to run a faster car than a road car' - well, thats what the Track and Race Cars championship is for. The Sport Maxx Cup is for drivers who are more interested in driving than tuning.

R59 · 3 Nov 2006, 13:52 (Ref:1757140)

Think about it Al,

A lot of it is down to how the engine is run in, the lubricants & additives in the oil, and in the transmission.

You must have driven two cars which are the same model, and one goes better than the other. I often come across that in my work, where two identical cars perform differently, one goes like stink, the other is noticeably slower. If you were to pull the engines apart, you'd find no real difference, but I bet it you analysed the oil, you'd find more metal in one than the other, or bores slightly glazed.

Rob.

Al Weyman · 3 Nov 2006, 14:18 (Ref:1757149)

Yeah right! :-) There was only ever one truely identical race championship and the was IROC and no one owned the cars (apart from the organisers Penske of course) and the drivers drew lots on the day and that is the only way to really sort out a production champion.

R59 · 3 Nov 2006, 21:11 (Ref:1757387)

But that's not going to happen over here is it?

They tried a EuRoc, but it failed (identical Dallara sportscar chassis)

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