If you are a die-hard motorsport nut and spent the early 1990s watching any racing on local television you would not doubt recall fields chock-full of hot hatches battling each other at various tracks around the country. The fields ranged from Class A with the fearsome Opel GSI 16V S "Superboss" right down to Class E Opel Corsas.
These races were the stuff of legend as no fewer than forty cars jockeyed for position and fans wore their colours proudly and often cheered their camp from trackside fuelled by beer and boerewors.
Over the years the spectacle of this Group N class (for production-based cars) and more recently, Production Cars, has dwindled somewhat. The current specifications of racing cars run close to touring car rules and, while the action is spectacularly fast, escalating costs have driven the privateers and hobby racers away from the sport that they love, and Production Car racing only sees sporadic manufacturer involvement.
However, the Bridgestone Production Car management committee has realised that to increase the number of competitors it has to create a more budget-friendly class to attract new entrants to the national level.
To this end 2012 will see the introduction of Production Car Lights. This category will cater for cars such as the Opel Corsa 1,6 OPC, Mini Cooper S, Citroën DS3 and Alfa Mito Quadrifoglio, among others.
Limited modifications will be allowed, with the emphasis on utilising low cost over-the-counter parts and supplied dampers, brakes and wiring looms. Supplying these parts will no doubt reduce the R&D budgets of race teams, which is one of the most expensive aspects of any race outfit.
Hopefully the new class will appeal to youngsters who are looking to move up from karting into national circuit racing and those who currently race at a club or regional level. A more comprehensive look at the rules and costs can be found on the website www.productioncars.co.za in the regulations section under the Production Car Lights heading.
Interested parties can drop Dick Sorensen a line at [email protected] for more info.
