2017 NSW Supersprint Championship

30 October 2016 / Ed Cory

The schedule and regulations for the 2017 NSW Supersprint Championship have just been released, and the rule changes will significanlty affect some MX-5 Club members for 2017.

First the good news. If you compete in Supersprint Type 1 or Type 2, these regs are 'virtually unchanged'.

If you ran an MX-5 (or Lotus) in Supersprint Type 3 in 2016, you will now be ineligible, as the 2017 Supersprint Type 3 is now restricted to cars meeting the FIA touring car definition (four seats), plus vehicles such as utes. Two seater 'sports cars' are now catered for in a new Type 4 (CAMS 2F Prodsports), which is the closest classification for those who ran Supersprint Type 3 in 2016 - if you ran Type 3 this year you should probably look first at the new Type 4.

There is a new Supersprint Type 5, which incorporates the CAMS 3D Sports Sedans based Type 4 from 2016, and also includes separate classes for CAMS 2B sportscars.  However, the class structure is under/over 4 litres, which is not very friendly to non-turbo MX-5s!  If you ran in Supersprint Type 4 this year, note that CAMS 2F/2B is more restrictive in what mods are allowed, particularly aero/bodywork - if this is an issue for you the WTAC class may be worth a look.  The freedom we had to run sports cars under CAMS 3D rules has been revoked, it is for closed cars only.

In other changes, the Supersprint SV type has been deleted (incorporated into other classes), and the time attack classes have been tweaked.

The two most relevant documents are on the club website::

SSP 02 2017 Sporting Regulations

SSP 03 2017 Technical Regulations

The regulations for CAMS 2F and 2B sportscars are on the CAMS website at http://docs.cams.com.au/Manual/Race/RA16-Group-2B2FEligibleComb-2016-1.pdf

WTAC rules are here http://www.worldtimeattack.com/index.php/competitors/wtac-2016-rules/

The event schedule for 2017 is:

Round 1, Sunday 12th March – Gardner / GP (ARDC)

Round 2, Sunday 14th May – Wakefield Park (MX-5)

Round 3, Sunday 18th June – Druitt / North (NSWRRC)

Round 4, Sunday 16th July – Brabham or GP (ARDC)

Round 5, Sunday 27th August – Amaroo / South (NSWRRC)

Round 6, Saturday 9th September – Wakefield Park (Mini)

Round 7, Sunday 15th October – Gardner / GP (ARDC)

Now that this announcement is out, we can expect registrations to be opened shortly.  If you are planning on competing in 2017, we encourage you to register early.  Those who are affected by the changes in classes may feel reluctant to move quickly, however the important thing is to get your registration accepted before the numbers reach the cutoff.  You will have the opportunity to change Type/Class at any time up to the commencement of Round 1 (Sporting Regulations 9(i)).

These changes are not going to make it easier for us to defend our Club Champion title.  However the fighting spirit of the Club was on show as we responded to the ARDC challenge this year, and that gives us a great platform for next year.  No club has won four on the trot yet, but we are positioned to do it in 2017.  Can we do it? That is up to you ...

I hope to see you on the grid at SMP on 12 March!!