Historic Saloon needs a clarification
Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 9:45 pm
Guys,
Our HS rules state that the period covered by the class is 1960 to 1979. This means that cars like the 4th generation FIA Group 5 saloon cars (initiated in 1976) are legal for the class. These include wide-bodied cars like the Racer Zakspeed Capris, BMW320s, Mustangs, Lancia Beta Montecarlos and others.
Some of us have already discussed this (largely via email), concerned that these wide-bodied cars would make most of our current HS cars obsolete since they have the potential to out-perform the cars of the earlier era, largely because of their extra-wide bodies. The HS class was really intended for cars of an earlier period, specifically the '60s. The aforementioned Group 5 cars are all legal for our Modified Production class, so they have a place to race.
If we are going to exclude these Group 5 cars from HS, the rules need to be clear. I would like to suggest that either we change the period covered in HS be 1960 to 1975 or state that a car's width be limited to a figure that makes sense which is less then these super-wide cars. Steve and I have been doing some research on the widths of several standard and reasonably-flared cars of the '60s and converted them to 1/32 scale and have found that a maximum width limit of 60 mm is about right to include the Escorts and Capris we currently race in HS, but exclude the wide Group 5 cars. Checking the era of a car requires research, whereas checking its width is easily done - even on race night - so perhaps this is the best option.
Gordon
Our HS rules state that the period covered by the class is 1960 to 1979. This means that cars like the 4th generation FIA Group 5 saloon cars (initiated in 1976) are legal for the class. These include wide-bodied cars like the Racer Zakspeed Capris, BMW320s, Mustangs, Lancia Beta Montecarlos and others.
Some of us have already discussed this (largely via email), concerned that these wide-bodied cars would make most of our current HS cars obsolete since they have the potential to out-perform the cars of the earlier era, largely because of their extra-wide bodies. The HS class was really intended for cars of an earlier period, specifically the '60s. The aforementioned Group 5 cars are all legal for our Modified Production class, so they have a place to race.
If we are going to exclude these Group 5 cars from HS, the rules need to be clear. I would like to suggest that either we change the period covered in HS be 1960 to 1975 or state that a car's width be limited to a figure that makes sense which is less then these super-wide cars. Steve and I have been doing some research on the widths of several standard and reasonably-flared cars of the '60s and converted them to 1/32 scale and have found that a maximum width limit of 60 mm is about right to include the Escorts and Capris we currently race in HS, but exclude the wide Group 5 cars. Checking the era of a car requires research, whereas checking its width is easily done - even on race night - so perhaps this is the best option.
Gordon