What class of cars has been forlorn? Need a place to race?

Here's a question, as the hive knows all!  

I recently had a conversation with a racing organizer, and they were wondering what class of cars has been overlooked, or has had rules changes that has made the cars uncompetitive?   This organization is looking to add classes to their endurance racing group, and would like to reach out to those who have been overlooked, or forlorn.  

My first thought was Spec Racer Ford and Formula Vee---- but I know those classes are still pretty popular in some areas.   Any suggestions??   

Convertibles not named the Mazda Miata.

Trucks

We also need something like a spec Nissan Versa series.

Cheap, widely available, durable, proven in millions of miles of hard use, and has Factory high performance versions...

late Corvairs used to run in ITA (mild) or GT3 (wild).   Not sure if they're still eligible, but they sure are outgunned.  

i wish there was an Prototype Endurance class that could be run (ala Champcar/Lemons) with relatively low power (less than 200 hp) on a steel tube frame with cost control rules like Champcar.  Think D-Sport on steroids...

I've always heard that stock cars and making them go roundy round was a cheap way to get speed, I would like to see some sort of class for endurance racing built off other racing series cast offs.

everything that was good in STF. Butchered that E36 M3. 

I'm thinking old showroom stock cars from the scca classes in the 80s and 90s. In the south there were a lot of I T trucks back in the day. Of course you could always suggest Renault cup cars.

WRL South East is racing NP01, Radicals, older challenge/cup to chumpcars.  

Full-Size SUVs. Must have a frame and 4 doors. May not be lowered.

Spec land yacht? Stock suspension, whitewalls only, must be more than 17 feet long , RWD, built between 1973 and 1990 and have all of the original smog equipment.

MrChaos said:

We also need something like a spec Nissan Versa series.

What about Spec Mirage?

Spec Racer Ford is the second biggest class out here in Cali. 

Formula Vee is definitely dying off.  Modern sized humans don't seem to fit in them very well but there are probably other reasons as well...

Between NASA and SCCA, there are a lot of different classes for sprint races.  Lemons has the 'race funky themed junk' in an enduro down.  Lucky Dog and Champ / Chump focus on offering enduro racing w/o the funk and less emphasis on cars that look every bit of the $500 junk moniker.  SVRA and another org cover vintage cars.

From what I see looking at the local fields and the occasional race car classifieds, the gap is in:

1. the older cars (think ITB Rabbits, 510, Z-cars, 1st gen RX7, C4 Vette) that are few on the ground, cheap as hell but just too much work to keep an old, no longer really competitive chassis going.  Not sure if these are welcome in vintage due to lack of provenance or whatever...

2. various forms of Formula cars (D,C sports, Atlantics, F2000, FVee)

3. I haven't seen a lot of Subarus, modern Z cars, Frisbee twins, RX8s out there for some reason

4. Custom tube framed 'Prod' type cars don't see super popular anymore either.  Probably too expensive to run and too fast for most people to really take to the limit of the car.

In reply to MrChaos :

Spec B (sadly) never took off.

The issue with formula vee and formula Ford from an Enduro sanctioning body standpoint is that you really can't have open wheel cars on a hot track with sports cars. 

ITA/ITC class is where I'd consider looking as a starting point. Consider allowing for more relaxation of engine modification and change in suspension geometry. The cars are cheap to campaign, so for Enduro racing they're pretty ideal. 

I was just talking to my cousin the other day;  He's a customer service rep for the Spec Racer Ford, and he said business has been pretty good now that they're updating the cars to the Gen 3 version (more horsepower is probably a big factor in that.)

WDCR SCCA hasa bracket racing. as ling as your car passes tech, you have a bracket to race in.

Spec Smart fortwo.

Well, here is a good bit of good news for some of the above mentioned cars.  The old ITA/B/C cars are able to race in WRL with proper roll cage & harness, and modifications are more open.  Since the classing is based on HP/Weight, you can do things like throw some headers, cam, etc., on your old car and have some fun.  

Got an old police car with the safety gear?  With the heavier weight, you might be in a class that's surprisingly competitive due to lower hp.  It would be interesting to see something like that wound up on the banking at Daytona last weekend.  

We did have an RX8 out there, but yes, you don't see that many any more.  

Old stock cars are good, you'd just have to possibly go with a lower output motor to stay legal, like possibly a crate motor instead of a race motor.  

Spec B would be welcome as well.  

Is it possible that WRL is simply not being effective enough in reaching these markets?  What suggestions would y'all make on how to reach out to those groups & let them know there is a place to race?  

For those of you that this gives some hope to, there is a race at Road Atlanta July 14th, if you don't have a car ready, come on out and check out the event.  See how it's run, and feel free to share any feedback or suggestions.  

Just to clarify---- HoserRacing works with the World Racing League.  They are the folks I was referring to when I started this thread.   Let them know what kinds of cars / classes you'd like to see added, as they are eager to "fill the gaps" left by other racing series. 

Thanks Joe!  Yep, we'd LOVE to see some of those old ITB cars come out & join us, the Spec 7's, Sec E30's, etc., the NP01's, anything that is safe & doesn't go below the 9:1 weight to power ratio we use for GTO is welcome to come out.  I know we're missing the boat on some cars out there, and we want to reach out to them.  Give us your tired, your poor, your racing masses yearning to be out on track!  Heck, we'll even take your well rested & rich   Seriously though, we need your help.  Who can we reach out to, and how do we reach out to them?  I know there's a bunch of old cars that could be resurrected to come out and play inexpensively, and still have fun in a competitive class.  How do we get the word out to them?  

On another note - one of the things that we talked about Friday night was the misconception that it's difficult to build a race car on a budget.  I've been racing on the cheap with other people's hand-me-downs for years.  What would the GRM hordes think about a "build a race car on a budget" thread from different teams, with a chance to win a free race entry?  Something semi-common, not crazy expensive, say build a car for $5,000 - $7,500 dollars that can be competitive, reliable, and fun.  Or even updating a retired race car that just needs updates on a cage, throwing some extra horsepower on an outdated ITC car so that it's more fun than it was in the ITC classification, and able to run with newer cars.  I've seen the writing ability of a lot of the guys on here, do the pictures, keep a list of what is done, reasons why things are done, how they're done, how much it costs, how long it takes, and then the experience at the track.  Submit something to GRM for an article (preferably that only needs light editing ), run some nicely sized GRM & WRL graphics on the car, get some pictures in action, and have some fun.   Thoughts?

Spec Accent...time to give the Koreans some racing love.  

If you build it, it can race..... 

pinchvalve said:

Spec Accent...time to give the Koreans some racing love.  

I think that is a thing in Australia

In reply to HoserRacing : Is it possible that WRL is simply not being effective enough in reaching these markets?  What suggestions would y'all make on how to reach out to those groups & let them know there is a place to race?  

For promotional purposes in general I'll suggest you at least put a link to the WORLD RACING LEAGUE (WRL)  home page as a signature on any forums like this you frequent to increase traffic/exposure.. http://www.worldracingleague.org/

Perhaps also consider World racing League as a screen name for forums. HoserRacing makes me think you're probably part of a Canadian Lemons racing team.