[andy97]

Sports 2000 was in the doldrums in the mid 1990s & declined t such an extent that it was part of the "Club Sports 2000" series in 750mc (where Radicals started racing) which was a sub 2 litre libre series really. Thank to the efforts of a few people, Sports 2000 owners were encouraged to bring cars out of their barns to the extent that stand alone races could be run. The series has grown in popularity again & reularly has full grids at BRSCC meetings. In the early part of the decade, the decision was made to modernise the formula with a new engine & the 2 litre Duratec was introduced, whilst the Pinto engined classes were still encouraged.

There are now classes with good strength for new build Duratec cars with aero & sequential boxes; converted cars with Duratecs & aero but (I think) H pattern boxes; original Pinto engine cars & Historic Pinto engined cars from the very early days of the series. Usually the Sports 2000 club has 2 races - one for the Moderns & one for the Pintos/ Historics.

The cars have always tended to follow the style of the cars in Le Mans style races, thus early cars look very similar to the 2 litre Group 6 cars (& Lola & Tiga etc produced cars based on their full house designs). The latest cars follow the trend for swoopy bodywork & "podded" wheel sponsons that you might find in LMP2 type cars.

When the series was in the doldrums, cars could be picked up cheaply. Now a decent Pinto Lola might be 20K plus.

Most races are 20-30 min sprints (including being on the F Ford Festival bill) but the club also runs a small number of endurance races with 2 drivers. They usually have races at Spa in the "Summer Classic" & are eligible for invites to other races that w/e - one even won the 4 hour race against 911s etc.

Great cars in their own right. Where I differ from JTs view slightly is that these cars were originally designed to deliver the 2 litre "Group 6 experience" in an affordable package. They are not 2 litre Group 6 cars, facsimiles maybe, and they did not race in Le Mans (but may have in Interserie, not sure) but in their own way, I would suggest they have helped sustain the interest in these types of cars.

Should they be in the HSCC series? I don't know & their own series is doing very well; but I doubt that the HSCC series will get full grids of 30 (ish) cars, so why not have a Sports 2000 class for the early Pinto cars?