mazmad wrote:Out of interest, why does the club define the classes differently from the Cams classifications?
That's a question best asked of Mike Hicks, since he alone decides the class rules for our club trackdays. But I'll attempt an explanation ...
1) Standard classes (1, 2, 3) are essentially the same as Type 1 except that the tyres need to be similar to OEM specification. It's essentially a showroom category with no performance enhancing mods allowed, including R-specs. It's the best entry point as you don't need to do
anything to a stock car.
2) The engine capacity class divisions of CAMS are not followed because it makes more sense to divide our classes by model variant, NA, NB, NC, turbos, etc., or with more capacity divisions (splitting class B 1601-2000cc into 1.8L and 2.0L) since we get more cars than at Supersprints.
3) Our race car classes have always been poorly attended at club track days. Mike wanted to have more cars in it and also reduce the numbers in modified classes. So ...
4) The modified classes were the same as Class 2A and Class 2B until 18 months ago. Modified 1.8-2.0L class was getting huge with 15-20 cars at times. The changes made were done to ensure our fastest cars were competing against each other in the race car class, and the new breed of drivers in modified were given a chance to win something. Also 1.8L and 2.0L modified was split since the number of entrants warranted it.
5) Clubman class was added to give better alignment with the Victorian club classes. It is also an excellent entry level class which delivers performance parity for NA6, NA8, NB8A, NB8B, 10AE, etc. with only a handful of mods allowed. Having the top 5 cars all within a second proves how competitive this class is.
6) The more experienced Supersprint drivers tend to get "encouraged" to move up a class, even if their car is still eligible for a standard class. Examples are Ian Vickers and myself, and I suspect Glenn Thomas might be next. We still enjoy the close competition we find in Clubman class.
Essentially, the idea at our club trackdays is to have a range of evenly populated classes with the leading drivers doing similar times so there's some competition. It's more fun that way. And there are no sheep stations on the line!
