Proposed 2022 Regulation Changes

[Comp Sec]

This has been sent as an email to all 2021 registered competitors. Please leave your comments here for all to see.

We are proposing the following changes in the championship regulations for 2022. All changes are guided by the following principles:

 

• Remove unnecessary restrictions and simplify the rules to encourage participation with all different types of Caterham and Lotus 7.
• Make the rules as fair as possible to encourage competition.
• Encourage newcomers to the sport.

 

We have tried to follow these principles in formulating these changes.

 

Technical

 

Class 1. Simplify the engine regulations as we have already successfully done in classes 2 and 3 with a simple power limit.

 

This class is for Lotus or Caterham Seven, road cars – specialist production and has a maximum power limit of 130bhp.

They shall be powered by:

1. Any normally aspirated car derived engine up to 1600 cc
2. The 3 cylinder turbocharged 660cc engine as fitted to the Caterham 160, 165 and 170 models.

 

Class 2 and 3.

 

Further simplify the engine regulations by removing the higher power limit for single cam engines.

 

Remove

“Single cam engines of 1601cc and greater. Power for these engines is limited to 160bhp”

 

Class 4 and 5

 

We now find ourselves in a tricky situation with class 4. The lack of supply of the preferred list 1C tyres means that just about everybody with engines producing more that 155bhp will end up in class 4. We propose putting a power limit of 220bhp (no tolerance) on class 4 and making class 5 an equivalent class for cars with more than 220bhp.

 

The most difficult part of this is what to use as a basis for records of the new class 5 needed for overall championship calculations. We have looked at the times achieved by the 3 drivers competing in class 4 in 2021 who previously competed in class 5. Comparing these shows an average time loss of 2% between 1B and 1C tyres. We propose therefore to add 2% to class 6 records and use these as notional records in the new class 5. We will review this before  2023. For Veterans, Novice and Ladies Championship calculations we will use the winners time on the day.

 

Class 4:

Any Lotus or Caterham Seven, road cars – specialist production and has a maximum power limit of 220bhp.

All cars must be fitted with an operational reverse gear.

Tyres to be any road legal E-marked radial tyre or listed in the current Motorsport UK General Regulations Permitted Tyres (L) Lists 1A and 1B .

Cars powered by non-car derived engines or equipped with sequential gearboxes are not allowed in this class.

 

Driver Aids are not permitted in this class.

 

Class 5:

Any Lotus or Caterham Seven, road cars – specialist production not meeting the engine requirements of Class 4 including those with forced induction.

All cars must be fitted with an operational reverse gear.

Tyres to be any road legal E-marked radial tyre or listed in the current Motorsport UK General Regulations Permitted Tyres (L) Lists 1A and 1B .

 

All Driver Aids are permitted in this class.

 

Classes 6 and 7 to remain unchanged, although we are not expecting any entries in Class 6.

 

 

Nominated events for overall championship scoring.

Add Aintree and  Blyton Outer

 

Dual Drives:

 

The driver who finished higher in the previous year’s championship will run first or in the previous batch wherever possible.

This is to reduce  any possible advantage for the faster driver by running on warm tyres.

 

Eligibilty for scoring championship points.

 

Only drivers entered in the Caterham and Lotus Seven Club Classes will be eligible to score points.

This is to reduce the likelihood of competitors competing in different conditions

 

 

 

 

Scoring for novices, veterans and ladies.

 

Based on whichever is the faster time of the existing class record or the class winning time in the day. 

This avoids situation at 3 Sisters this year where existing records were set in wet conditions.

 

 

 

 

Curborough Events

 

We have the option to have only one practice run meaning that the second run will be a timed run. We would like your opinion and will probably have an online vote. This can be decided after publication of our regulations.

 

 

[Mcalvert]

Thanks for the hard work that had obviously gone into this Graham / team.  Can I get the ball rolling with a few suggestions?

Class 1 "The 3 cylinder turbocharged 660cc engine as fitted to the Caterham 160, 165 and 170 models."

I suggest changing this to "A 3 cylinder... " since the engine used in the 160/165 and the 170 are different.

 Remove “Single cam engines of 1601cc and greater. Power for these engines is limited to 160bhp”

There is no doubt that single cam engines are today in a tiny minority, but as I understand it, this exemption was very specifically put in to create a more level playing field between the power delivery characteristics of older single cam engines against more modern twin cam engines.  I’m not aware of it ever having caused an issue so why remove a provision that supports the aim of making the rules “as fair as possible to encourage competition” as per the preamble? (for the avoidance of any doubt, this is not currently of any benefit / advantage to me personally).

Driver Aids

We talk about classes where these are and aren’t allowed, but do not seem define what we mean by them, which I suspect might be confusing for anyone outside of the competition.  Worth clarifying?

Club name

Will need to be updated throughout   

[Comp Sec]

Thanks Michael for your comments.

We are guilty of not studying the specification of the Caterham 170 thoroughly enough! We will do as you suggest.

Removing the increased power limit for single cam engines is all about simplifying the rules and it is highly unlikely that anybody now will take advantage of this, so it seems redundant. What are the chances of anybody wanting to compete with a 160 bhp cross flow? We took out a similar dispensation for Lotus twin cam and Cosworth BD series engines last year and nobody noticed. 
 

Perhaps "Mr Driver Aids" Simon Rogers would like to comment on the subject of driver aids. The 2 that come to mind are traction control and any kind of sequential or automatic gear change.

And yes it is a given that the Club Name will be updated throughout the regulations.

 

[Grahame W]

Further excellent work in solving the conundrum of many different specs offered by Caterham over the years, popular modifications to those cars all distilled into 6 or 7 easy to comprehend classes

Whilst it clearly does not directly affect me my only question is the choice of 220BHP for the class break. As 210 would cover the current 420 model and many of the R400 type models from the past is there a particular reason for this. I know it is only 10bhp but you know how competitive we all get so if there is not a good reason it just seems to open the door to competitors feeling obliged to upgrade to be competitive

 

Grahame

[Richard Price]

Yes, I think these are appropriate changes to simplify and clarify the championship regulations. 

However, there is a line in section 3.3 the 2021 regulations that reads:- 

Cars in any class may use engine modifications that improve engine reliability and longevity, e.g. forged pistons, uprated valve springs, gaskets and bearings, providing no performance gain is achieved.

As all other modifications are free, that line seems to be redundant. 

On the subject of "driver aids", I suggest specifying "traction control", "Launch control", and "flat shift" (to cover either manual change with shift cut or and integrated paddle shift system), as specific "driver aids"

[robmar]

Driver aids?

Launch control

Traction Control

Electronically adjustable suspension

 

[Simon.Rogers]

I think we need to be careful in the new class 5 of excluding one or two cars.

The 620 comes with Launch control as standard I think????

There are also quite a few 620's being upgraded to paddle shift.  They already have a sequential and with the lack of suitable tyres for Class 6 and FHR etc I think Class 5 should be open to driver aids of any description.

Class 5 should be our catch all anything goes Road Going. List 1B  We always had a catch all anything goes class and believe we should retain it.

Absolutely Class 4 can exclude them.  
 

I don't think Semi Active provides a performance gain in sprint and hill climb.  Yes I am selling them to lots of road guys and again I would just not want to prevent one of those cars joining the fun.  If I thought there was a gain aI would be using it!

Back to the as few rules as possible stance for me.

 

Richards comment above is perfectly sensible.

 

[Alan Bowler]

"Autopilot"?

220 is selected as its 210 "plus a bit" in case a factory 210 on the rollers comes out slightly above 210.

We previously had 150 "plus a bit"  in class 2/3, and found it better to say 155 full stop.

 

[Richard Price]

I agree with Simon ( yes, I know that's unusual  ). I don't think electrically adjustable suspension will offer any performance advantage for speed events. If it did, we would have seen all the top cars in the British hillclimb championship using it! (which they are not!)

[Simon.Rogers]

Yet.  

  Hi Wallace.... Yes Alex is on the way over.......

[Shaun_E]

Dual Drives:

 

The driver who finished higher in the previous year’s championship will run first or in the previous batch wherever possible.

This is to reduce  any possible advantage for the faster driver by running on warm tyres.

The problem then is that the faster driver is then running out of class which could result in an advantage/disadvantage depending on weather changes so in direct conflict with the suggested rule for drivers competing in other championships. In the past we have agreed that the warm tyres benefit is minimal due to the normal gap between batches.

[andy_harries]

Have you considered adding a rule that drivers from Watford whose first name starts with A get a 2 second benefit because they are slower than the others?

Asking for a friend 

[david nelson]

Duel drives: fastest goes first. Thought this was sorted years ago. Warm tyres must have an advantage. It used too.

 

Class 4 clarification. Are bike engines allowed? I read it as they are not?

 

Class 210bhp sound about right. If you have a 220bhp can be detuned. Agree about where it sits in the previous Caterham and current Caterham range.

 

Class 5 should allow factory car to run, so if they have sequel gears and traction control should run in this class.

Any non standard things like paddle shift should not be allowed.

 

 

[Comp Sec]

Just to clarify....Class 4: no bike engines, no driver aids, 220 bhp. Class 5 anything goes including driver aids and bike engines.

As AB has said we have set the power limit slightly above the factory 210 bhp for a 420R just as we have done in classes 1,2 and 3 with the standard cars which fit into those classes.

There seems to split support for the proposed order of dual drives. The current regs are a little ambiguous:

Dual drives shall run with the secondary driver at the start of the Championship classes in reverse order with the fastest driver first. All other competitors shall be scheduled to run in ascending class & ascending competitor number order.

If we go with the proposal we will allocate competition numbers to control the running order as far as possible. So far dual drivers are saying that there is little advantage with warm tyres, others think differently. What we would expect I suppose! Any other views on this?

And Andy, we can have a vote on your proposal! Would it  be worth moving to Watford?

 

 

[Alan Bowler]

I'm moving to Watford.
See you next year at Gurston Andy!

Order for dual drives... yes, weather can change between batches, between cars even, plus re-runs are a wildcard. But overall I support the change as likely to level things as much as possible. For most events its not an issue, but clearly it is an advantage at some.

I look forward to seeing more opinions on the proposal.

AB

[Richard Price]

I'm pretty sure there is a significant advantage for the second driver of any car that is dual driven, particularly when using the current generation of list 1b tyres without pre start tyre warming.

Additionally, the shorter the time between these runs, the greater that advantage is.

I fully support the proposed change.

[david nelson]

I am with Richard on this. Having previously competed in classes where there have been duel drives my impression has always been that I was disadvantaged. With the loss of tyre warming and the change of compounds it appears to be a logical step, one that I thought had been sorted. 

I can except that if it rain after the fastest duel driver and the rest are slower its an act of God. (sorry if you do not believe) lets say is just unlucky. 

The only time I think this does not work is when you have a shared drive with both being far to fast and not sure who is quickest, eg Tom or Richard Then it should be down to their position the previous year.

 

[Nigel Fox]

Thanks to the Comp Sec and team, obviously a lot of thought has gone into this. Some useful comments have been added here.

I will be happy to compete in Class 5 next year.

[robj]

For the dual drives, the ideal solution is that the faster driver runs in class position, and the second driver runs after the class in the next batch. Our number even suggest this 500s run before 600s.

[Simon.Rogers]

   Richard agrees with me an now I am agreeing with everything he said above 

Oh and I also have to agree with the returning "Troublemaker"

robj has the solution we would like to see.  The difficulty will be for the CompSec Team to inform the event organizers of this Championship Rule.

I am sure they can draft up some words of explanation that can be sent to all organizers highlighting this rule and our suggested running order.   The difficulty will always be with the later classes when we are the last of a Run and there are no more runners.  But generally the majority of double drives seem to be lower in the number order.

We should also make this clear to the guys at Longton who seem to always run us in reverse order.  They can not absolve themselves of our Championship Regs.  

[Roy Blyth]

Dual drive running order:

Don't you think this is all getting a bit too serious here, for something that is meant to be fun?  There are far too many variables involved to say that the second driver has an advantage because of the tyres being warmed up by the previous runner - weather, incident delays, class size, etc...  Next you'll be having Official Tyre Temperature checks carried out at the start just because it was sunny one minute and cloudy the next.  I think you're trying to 'level up' a small bump in the road, compared to something like the extremes of engine power output in a single class.

[david nelson]

Roy Blyth

Sorry but disagree with you. Good thing we live in a country where we are aloud to have differences.  If you happy to turn up and have a bit of fun that's great each to there own.

For me I want a far as possible , level playing field. Many years ago when I was relatively quick having a tyre warmer was an advantage, I am sure it is still so today. Sprinting is a competition, not a primary school sports day where everyone wins.  If I want fun I go skiing, or fishing or something that is not a competition. 

Just show we all do thing for different reasons.

Engine power has also been a topic I enjoy discussing, but lets just say the current rules mean that we all can all have a level playing field; class 1 130BHP, Class 2,3 155BHP, Class 4 TBC ? 210 or 220BHP Class 5: ect ect . The ambiguity of I have these cams, with this ecu and should make X has been removed. Each competitor has a duty not to cheat, and to abide to the rules. 

 

[Dobson_justin]

I agree with Richard's and Rob's comments on the proposed change to dual driver order, so support the change. 

[Englishmaninwales]

I agree with the proposal, even although my tyre warmer beat me 50% of the time

Roy, you're talking 

Malcolm

[rob spencer]

I agree that whilst sprinting and hillclimbing is fun, it's also more than that; I agree with David's comments #22. 

Warm tyres have a marked impact on grip, and at the sharp end of the classes can provide a significant advantage to the "second" driver.  There will be relatively few occasions when changing conditions will impact an "out of class" driver, and then it will be win some, lose some.  Warm tyres give an advantage every time.  I support the spirit of the change proposal however it is worded to ensure the principle is achieved. 

I also agree with the proposed power limit of 220bhp for Class 4 for the reasons AB has given.

Rob