From reading the January Fastrack form the SCCA, it looks like there may be a new provisional class under the SM heading.

For 2009, there is a proposed SMF class. To summarize the document, the new class would be FWD only, otherwise almost all other SM items would apply. The intent of this rule seems to be to create a class in order to increase participation in a class where FWD cars are perceived as not being competitive.

It appears that for the 2009 season, this class would run within SM as a supplemental class to gauge support.

Thoughts, and do you think something this rule would increase participation of Mini drivers?

http://www.scca.com/documents/Fastra...k-jan-solo.pdf See second page for discussion.

 

I would welcome SMF but I don't know what cars would be favored either than the MINI.

Common SM cars in my region that are FWD

MINI Cooper S
Honda Civic
Dodge Neon R/T
Acura Integra

The competition is RWD and AWD
BMW M3
Subaru WRX STi
RX8
BMW 135i

 

Where I'm from I'm the only Fwd car in SM. But I think I would still like the idea of a Front Wheel Drive only so maybe a Mini could try for a National SMF run. AS for now it looks like it is still only SM for Nationals.

 

I thought I would check back and see if anyone has heard anymore about this. I got my local club talking about it. I know that all the Mini owner that Auto Cross might go to SMF if they could. Because they all want More Mods but don't want to run against the WRX's and so on. I have never been any other class so I have just had to deal with it.

 

I heard about it last summer from a Honda guy who was understandably very interested.

Locally, SM is always one of the most popular classes, and a SMF would probably net 2-3 on average, sometimes a lot more. I think the MINI would be an OK platform, but the old Honduh Civics will dominate the class. They have less weight, more power with an engine swap, and they're routinely running the 275/35/15 A6s. At a Divisional I was 2-3 seconds off of two of them, 70 second course, they were better drivers. I ran close to a co-driver of one. I think we need wider tires to become more competitive. Those A6s are just way too expensive for me.

 

This appears to be at best a provisional class this year with the SCCA judging support from letters and from provisional classifications at regional/national events.

There seems to be a push (at least over at SCCAForums) to change the weight regulation for SMF from being displacement based to being tire based (something like width x 9 seems to be popular)

To put this into the Mini world, the current minimum weight for a Mini is 1,925lbs (1550 + (1.6*125)+(.4*125))

The new weight would be based on tires, so for 205 profile tires the weight would be 1,845; 215 tires would be 1,935 and so on.

The thought behind this is that in FWD displacement is somewhat meaningless as you can only get so much power effectively to the ground and that cars can make up for this fact by running wider tires.

Plus side for the heavier Minis is that we would be able to pretty easily balance tire size and weight (a non lightened mini would be able to run any tire). Minus side for older, current SM class Civics running 275 or 315 tires would no longer make sense as they would have to add a a 1/2 ton of ballast their cars.

 

Thanks for the news MJCMini.

 

I am about to register SMF for the June 13-14 National Tour stop at Seneca Army Depot. Who else is attending any tour stops?