Hi all

There are a couple of new Regs just announced by Motor Sports Council for 1 January 2017 and which may or will affect us:

1. Changes to the ride height regs to include a mandatory FIA requirement to prevent 'sledging' when a car has 2 tyres deflated on one side: thus the 2017 regs will read as follows:

Q. 5.20.11. No part of the bodywork, or of the suspended part of the car, can be below a horizontal plane passing 4cm above the ground (Unless stated otherwise in SRs), and no part of the vehicle must touch the ground when all the tyres on one side are deflated, the car being in normal racing trim with the occupants aboard.

2. They have introduced a 60 Flag which may replace the safety car and requires us to lift off the throttle (yes, it says that ..) and reduce speed to 60KPH no overtaking etc. There is much more, in the spirit of loadsaregs but it is too long a reg to copy and paste to here but do look out for it when you get your blue books for 2017. I am sure some wag or other will want to serve up a code 60 to us, probably in the wet. The wording has been taken from the Dutch regs with a few small changes, so at least our good mate Onno will feel at home although hopefully NOT as he watches us circulate at 60KPH past his stricken Mallock!!

Enjoy.

For my sins I have been invited to sit on the MSA Judicial Advisory Panel (again) in 2017.

Phew - I thought that flag was to ban all drivers over 60.....! That would have reduced the Clubmans field dramatically!

I do think the ground clearance wording should refer to BOTH tyres on one side rather than ALL, as we are only allowed four wheels!

For those sad enough to want to read all the rule changes they can be found here;

https://www.msauk.org/assets/rulechangesseptember2016.pdf

Is the power to weight ratio still being brought in in 2017 meaning you will need a national A licence to drive A class and Proto cars?

I am new to Clubmans but, I dont recall any cars with, for instance, the possibility 40mm gaps under noses of the cars. The EB cars will struggle with this, or am I missing something?

Hi Pete

With regard to number of wheels, I imagine the FIA has legislated for the appearance here and there of the Tyrrell P34.....not to forget the Williams of course as that has appeared again in the last 18 months or so

Hi Steve

I am not aware of MSC (Motor Sport Council makes the rules not MSA) having reversed the power to weight licence decision therefore it would be best to assume that Nat A will be required for CSP1 as we expect it to be called wef 2017.

Of course, this is another change that has effectively been mandated by FIA. It is not a bad idea as otherwise and as things were an inexperienced driver could jump straight into a light or powerful car or both and wreak a lot of unsafe driving; living as we do in the age of the 'gentleman driver'.

In any event, obtaining Nat A is hardly a bank breaker and worthwhile having because (a) you can then race abroad in suitable events in EU should opportunity arise and (b) it automatically entitles you to an International D race Licence (for no major fee payable) which opens other opportunities globally.

On the Int D front, I have very recently had a case where it was necessary to point out to the National Court that MSA Licence Regs do not conform to the FIA International Code on driver licences... This is because Int D is a lower category of int'l licence specifically aimed at non-professional type events and drivers that want to accept entries from everywhere. MSA alone has wrongly interpreted this as meaning that Int D is only for race historic and which is hopelessly incorrect. i.e Creventec 24H series rightly states in its FIA approved regs that Int D is the min' grade accepted.

Int' C is now viewed by FIA as more specifically the path to higher Int'l grades hence requiring the upgrade signatures to get there from Nat A or Int D via relevant classes of event. The lower the category event, the more upgrade signatures are needed and this is also important because it depends what Permit Licence has been granted to the event; i.e our races are the lowest grade of race event so that BARC can pay a lower Permit Fee to MSA, but it means we competitors have to get more signatures for the licence upgrades, so watch out for that one folks!!

You can also obtain upgrades by the provision of verifiable (i.e TSL or similar official..) results. 'We' did this a couple of years back when upgrading Alex to Int. B.

I know I may be considered sad as a regs reader, but in many instances the regs do assist as well and of course not knowing the bits that help you when the scrute is busy getting it all wrong while your session is going to circuit for quali because you are late or they were slow can be a major headache ... not to mention blow to the wallet

Hi Jack

The reg is basically a ride height rule; FIA has dictated 40mm for a long time. That is all this says except that by the FIA mandated amendment it is now expecting the no-sledging when all tyres on one side are deflated... quite how that might easily be measured or assessed at scrute I am unsure. I suspect it may get honoured more in the breach .. Just like the 40mm rule as that can only be measured static with driver aboard by and large because there is no effective means for scrutes to add weight that accurately reflects the effect of aero. Frankly this could only work properly if all kerbs were flat level Moto GP type kerbs....

Set your car up to respect the static 40mm ride height test ...

Thanks Jamie

As someone who was sad enough, can I ask a few severely practical questions?

When the '60' flag goes out everyone has to drive at 60 kmh, and no overtaking is allowed. That is in spite of the cars not having a kph-o-meter. Is the idea that the leading car can set a speed somewhere in the vicinity of 60 and that is all right, or is there some mechanism to indicate to the leading car that the speed should be adjusted?

When a '60' incident is over, the green flag has to be deployed for a lap. If another incident occurs within that lap it seems that the flag for that incident has to be deployed alongside the green flag. (So you could get a red and a green, a yellow and a green, or a chequer and an green simultaneously; would everyone do the right thing?) Is that really the intention, or is there some get-out for that (admittedly relatively rare, unless you are in a Clio, when it will happen every race) circumstance?

Surely the green ought to be cancelled by a subsequent incident if one occurs?

The 'anti-sledging' regulation: any idea how that will be implemented? I can't see that being very popular, if they force people to deflate two tyres just before the race start. On the other hand if they just use a block under the car, surely people will object that this does not accurately represent what happens to their car when the tyres deflate (unless the sporting regs for the series say something more definitive).