Rallycross weight limits

[Spunky Munky]

Why are people putting wieght limits into our cars?!?!

So, to do the open series you supermodified has to have weight added, then to do the BRDA you will have to take it out to make your car as light as poss again!!
Why do we have to put weight into a supermodifed that we have taken time over to make them as light as poss?
It cant be for safety reasons, as anything heavier takes more stopping and hits things harder.
Is it to make the heavier cars more competitive?
Also, any weight change could also necessitate a change of spring rates and suspension change to make it handle correctly. You cant expect a car to handle the same after sticking loads of extra weight in it, so changes will have to be made.
I really cant understand the reasoning behind this at all, especially in Stockhatch.
So, over to the organisers to explain themselve, and im going to take some convincing as to why the successfull formula need changing!!

[silver bullet]

I think one of the reasons is safety. If a big heavy car hits a ultra light car at speed some serious damage could occur.


As for the weights in Stockhatch, I think most of the drivers are in favour of some sort of weight limits.

[irxcrossi]

cant comment on the need for weight limits in the brda but i will say its a welcome addition if the irish and british championships are to continue sharing dates with regard to the stockhatch class as last season the irish lads had a weight limit but the british didn't as far as i know which doesn't make for a level playing field, not sure how this works for supermodified though.

[leonidas]

I picked up the proposed weight limits for stock hatch at the Autosport show (don't have them with me at moment but someone on here will have them to hand). First impression was that some of the quicker 205s may have to add a few pounds and Metros may start to become more competitive... the limits didn't seem too drastic though. There is a single minimum weight for all supermods, regardless of model.

[Rotweiler]

Originally Posted by Spunky Munky

Why are people putting wieght limits into our cars?!?!

So, to do the open series you supermodified has to have weight added, then to do the BRDA you will have to take it out to make your car as light as poss again!!

The majority of the supermods that ran in the BRDA last year weighed over 800kg so wouldn't need to add any weight to do the open series.

[chris cake]

HI GUYS :

Just to clarify the min weights within the open series.

Div 1 as ERC regs

Super National 800kgs including driver .

Rallycross open series 2000
Front wheel drive no min weight . Rear wheel drive 930kgs without driver inline with ERC Div2.

Standard Stockhatch up to (1600cc) no weight limit as 2006 regs .

Stockhatch 2000 min weight 920 kgs including driver

NB both stockhatch 1600 and 2000 to run on Silverstone control tyres.

[bigted]

are there any regs we can see chris, or are we still to use last years?

[winnie]

it's about time that min weights were biught in for modified cars. Without them it is impossible for front engine rwd cars to be competitive as you can't build one less than about 850kgs unless you spend a fortune or go space frame. The fwd drive cars are all nearly all space framed from the seat backwards as its much easier and cheaper. A fwd car can get down to 700kg's quite easily and cheaply and with similar power should be faster. Problem is most fwd cars are not as exciting to watch as over-powered rwd cars and in my opinion lots of them are not built strong enough.

[golfvanman]

A fwd car can get down to 700kg's quite easily and cheaply and with similar power should be faster. enough.

My car weighs 780 kg ,so im sorry 700kg is not an easy and cheap figure to reach

Problem is most fwd cars are not as exciting

sorry but i try my best to be exciting !!

lots of them are not built strong

look at pictures from lydden 2005 august bank holiday ,a certain yellow spacframed audi tt .......... a total wrek you might think....nope 5 weeks later we were back out and racing and i walked away with only a few bruises and a very dinted wallet

[winnie]

I'm talking about a Corsa sized car, I bet one of the spaceframe Tigra's or Weatleys Metro don't weigh much more than 700kgs.

I said MOST fwd cars are boring, not all. I could watch Turpin, Bellerby or Richardson (who i think was the best driver in a fwd) all day long.

Your car does look like it has been made with saftey in mind, which is proberbly why it weighs so much. Again this proves my point that if fwd had a min weight limit then new cars would not skimp on saftey.

I remember 20 or so BDA escorts and rwd fiesta's racing in modified - every race was brilliant to watch and listen to and there wasn't too much contact apart from a little door-handling. These days have gone and replaced with boring fwd shopping cars that. Have a look at rallying and the revival of historic escorts and the modern mk11 escort - they have three things in common - too much power, not enough grip and rwd.

[BertMk2]

There seems to be something of a move back to RWD though don't you think? Obviously there's the Lotus but there's also Bellerbys 206, the plethora of Clios, Watsons Focus, Harbours Escort, Browns Mazda and there's Turpins VX220 on the way. Surely it's good to have a mix of car types and drivetrains out there competing?

[leonidas]

The ERC is also going RWD with its cup class. The problem is that it would be very difficult to build a RWD car to ERC cup regs which could compete in Britain with the spaceframes and GT machinery. There's something to be said for using weight limits to encourage the introduction of newer ERC-type RWD - but as we've seen before the whole ERC parity issue is very controversial...

[DCS]

I still believe that weight limits are "needed". But I also believe that they over do this, especially in Div 1: first handicapping the engine with a 45mm restrictor and than give it an extra 1.7 weight handicap + handicap for 4wd. All resulting in over 1200 kg, thats 200 more than in 1996! And even a lot more than in the Group B era. 1.050 kg now that would be a much nicer figure!

While a S1600 weighs as much as a fag packet, no wonder the difference with WRC or Div 1 is not that big anymore. No doubt that without the ALS and massive torque and fancy diffs they would be equalled by the S1600's or S2000's.

In fact the 34mm WRC's are now so boringly slow on tarmac that I don't even have the urge to travel a lot of km's to watch that in real life.