New Classing Structure for 2012

[JimPerrin]

In the 2012 Supps, I outlined the new classing structure for this season.  Here is the section from the supps:

Classes    
Car classification is the responsibility of the competitor. Assistance is available at Technical Inspection or at the registration table, but not in the timing van.
   
Current SCCA National classing will be used, but grouped into index classes, based on current PAX values:

The following classes will only allow a tire with 140 treadwear rating or higher:
Stock (SS,AS,BS,CS,DS,ES,FS,GS,HS)
Street Prepared (SSP, ASP, BSP, CSP, DSP, ESP, FSP)
Street Touring (STF, STC, STS, STR, STX, STU)
Novice (ALL CLASSES)

The following classes will allow the use of any tire allowed by class rules:
Prepared/Modified (XP, BP, CP, DP, EP, FP, GP, AM, BM, CM, DM, EM, FM, KM, FSAE)
Street Modified (SM, SMF, SSM)
Karts (JA, JB, JC)
Pro (ALL CLASSES)
   
Classes will be run per SCCA National Solo Rules except:

Pro Class:
The Pro Class will be an indexed class.  It is intended to be a class for top level competition.  There will be no requirements for entry, and no compulsory inclusion, however, a car in the Stock or Street Prepared class on R-compound tires will be required to run in Pro, or its appropriate Prepared/Modified class.

Ladies Class:
There will be no ladies class.

Novice Class:
The Novice class will be for those competitors that are starting out. We don’t anticipate instituting hard and fast rules about what constitutes a “novice,” but we will reserve the right to “graduate” a competitor that regularly wins in Novice for an extended period of time. R-compound tires are not allowed.

Bumped Class:
All single car classes will be bumped to “bump class”, which will run as an indexed class. Drivers will continue to accumulate points for their respective classes. If there is only one single car class, it will be bumped according to the rulebook.

Jr. Driver Classes:
Formula Jr. classes will be indexed as “Karts”.  [See rule book for full details.]  Any adults driving a Jr. Kart MUST run in KM.

So basically, what this means is that if you are on R Compound tires, you'll be running in SM, P, M, or Pro, even if you are driving a Stock classed car.  There is no more "Road Tire" class. All eligible cars on street tires will run in an indexed class based on their prep level.

The reason for this: RT accounted for a large portion of attendance.  However, the PAX used for RT wasn't fair by any stretch.  An HS car had a distinct advantage over an SM car when on street tires.  So, in accordance with the new National rules for Stock Street Tire classes, I decided to make bump classes based on prep levels.  This *should* somewhat even out the competition, and allow for some better match ups.  This is by no means intended to be the perfect solution, and there is bound to be someone out there that will not like it.  I took the results from last season and redistributed them according to this classing structure.  The end result looked right to me, so I think it should be fair.

So, if you have some feedback, or you have any questions, please let me know.  I'm interested to hear it.

[Dave D]

Jim,
I'm confused, the site has 2 documents one says the bumped class is deleted the other says its not. Which is it going to be?

Dave

[JimPerrin]

Sorry about that - I copied it from the PDF that is listed under the "Rules and Supps" section on the site, which includes some strike throughs for the rule changes from last season.  When I pasted it, it lost the formatting.  I have fixed it in the first post.

[Scootin159]

I like the idea, interested to see how it goes before proposing something similar for our region

[JimPerrin]

Dave, to specifically address your question about the bump class:

I've decided to do away with the idea of the bump class in the hopes that this restructuring will no have any single car classes.  In the event that there is a single car class still, bumping will be according to the rule book.

[dale]

I'm really surprised that this topic has not received much in the way of comments. Is there that little interest, or doesn't anybody read the site, or ?

[JimPerrin]

I've always just assumed that no one looks at the site.  I guess all the effort redesigning it wasn't necessary?

[fairgentleman Z]

Ladies Class:
There will be no ladies class.

Wait are we saying Ladies are not allowed to run in WNY-SCCA?  Or are there provisions that they can run in their respective class (but obviously required to remove the "L" from their car and place it on their forehead).

 

[amaptn2]

Maybe people just want to "Shut up and drive".
 
Mike (from the middle of no where)

[JimPerrin]

No, that can't possibly be it...

[TOMstir62]

Looks promising to me.  Should help reduce the number of small uncompetitive classes and give everyone the chance to play in a bigger sandbox.

With the proliferation of classes both nationally and locally is there going to be any attempts to limit the alphabet soup currently showing up on each car? Any possibility of limiting the classing letters on each car to just the index class in which they compete? For example, all entrants competing in the stock index class would use the class letter 'S' and would be differentiated solely by their number.  This would help reduce cone call miss communication during events and make it slightly easier for the timing workers.

[JimPerrin]

I wasn't intending on the classes competing RAW, so they'd have to retain their regular class for indexing purposes.

[TOMstir62]

They would clearly still be indexed but can't the software keep track of the individual class information separately?

[JimPerrin]

Aren't you a timing chief too?  Can't you answer that question?  (Hint: answer is no)

[TOMstir62]

Haha indeed.  I guess i imagined the option of assigning unique car numbers per pax class