The official rules are now published....

http://www.scca.com/...aspx?content=69

It will be interesting to see how many current GT1/TA racecars will meet the left side doorbar requirement. It calls for minimum dimensions of 1.50 inch X 0.083 inch in wall thickness....which does not meet the GT1 doorbar requirement for tube diameter.

One good thing...any Goodyear Tire can be used....not just one Goodyear tire.

The floorpan behind the rear wheels is to be angled upwards...includes the bottom of the fuel cell.

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They also added to the drivers side rollbars for Trans-Am cars.

Didn't I read that when Trans-Am was brought back, it would follow GT-1 rules,

now with the drivers right side net and the rollbars, am I wrong in thinking that it seems SCCA doesn't want Gt-1 guys coming into Trans-Am with their cars now?

mitch

2010 Pro racing Rules
5.3.8.14.3: The fuel cell bottom and/or floor behind the rear wheel opening shall be flat, angled upwards, and shall follow, but not exceed, the line of the rear fender bottom.

The door bars rule are the same that were enacted in 2009.
RH side nets were required in 2009.

I'm not so sure that door bar requirement was used in 2009. I know the first set of rules that were....basically thrown in the trash and discarded...had that doorbar rule. I do know....MANY chassis did not have that door bar configuration in 2009....and tech was not an issue.

It's not a GT1 friendly rule...anyway,TransAm is slowly getting away from GT1 compliant cars.

I wonder how many GT1/TransAm cars have the fuel cell mounted below the rear fender bottom.... (not exceed).

FWIW, Dosen't most of the current GT1 bodywork cover the fuel cells. Not many cars have the fuel cell hanging below the body , and if they do, it probably dosen't do much for the aero......(as big a deal as they were making a couple years back about the rear difussers) As far as door bars.....most upper and lower square tube style cars ( ie: Weaver, R & S, Ave, Derhaag) have the required bars (although the A pillar down tubes usually don't extend lower than the upper square tube, so the cage can be moved when body styles change). There is a diaganal bar in most, and most also have the 3 horizontal and vertical door bars required (at least our Weaver does) and it was certainly "teched" at the TA tech in 09. Sizes and tubing thickness I can't say for sure. The right side net isn't really a deal breaker (although with our full containment type seat, it's unlikely the drivers head coukl make contact with it on the right side net, it's hung in there in the proper postion) Hopefully they'll work out any issues, and it won't be a deterrent for any GT1 racers. Once again, we'll have to wait and see..............SC

My car...with the C6 bodywork....has the fuel cell lower than the rear bodywork. It still has the diffusers but according to the GT1 rules, the diffusers can simply be removed. However, I'm not ready to run TransAm anyway....and may never...but others that have the same bodywork might need to take a closer look at their cars and/or request a rule change.

I've said enough about the doorbar requirement...I'm sure many cars are constructed the way the rule is written and I'm sure many cars are not. As we speak, a prominent chassis builder is working with SCCA Pro concerning the door bar requirement.

My bad on the bodywork deal..... Both cars we've had (Speedway perimeter style and Weaver), and most that I know about in this area, all have the cell above the standard GT1 rear undertray........"Prominent", now see, that's the important part, not just the "average joe" That's probably what it will take to get things motivated for any changes. And just what IS wrong with the GT1 rules as written? I had the same conversations early last year with Pro about the added TA rules, and we made the sure the car conformed. I'm all for the safety aspect, but changes, just for the sake of changes, are really questionable. There is strength in numbers, and you'd think they'd want as big of fields as possible. The cars are out there. There are different regions with plenty of cars to easily have 20+ car fields at most events......They just need races close enough to the where the large car count areas are , and user friendly rules, without it being any more cost prohibitive than it already is. AND, most importantly IMO, ........a better basis of communication of whats going on to those involved with the series. And by the way...What's this I hear about an open wheel modified? , oval track?, dirt or asphalt? You must love replacing bodywork and suspension parts on a regular basis LOL. One thing for sure, the racing IS wheel to wheel. Been there, done that, too many years ago. Don't give up on the TA car though..............SC

Very interesting replies guys, my chassis would need to be rework if I thought of running a trans-am, my nascar bars only have two vertical bars and four horiz., the other item I notice, which is not a big deal for teams with scales but I don't have them yet, I take the car to a race shop that builds stock cars and get it set up, but the weight for a GT-1 car with a 355 is 2880# and for the trans-am car it's 2780#.

I was at the trans-am and gt-1 runoff races at R.A., talking with a guy from a trans-am team, we were both somewhat surprise that a couple of GT-1 guys that generally run both, didn't show for the trans-am race but ran the gt-1 runoff race.

So it just got me thinking if SCCA is kinda changing the rules enough to separate the difference, a pro division and a "minor league" one. I agree with what you guys have said, if the rules for GT-1 were the standard, there would be alot of races with a min. of 20 cars or maybe even 25 cars, more entry money to help pay for the track and the race.

I just started to see more differences than I thought was talked about when trans-am came back, been a scca member since '83' and have seen scca pull some b.s. stuff on racers. But nothing that money can't take care of, right guys.

mitch

Yes, I recently aquired an asphalt modified...... I'm really excited ! The local short track is only a couple of miles from my house and I am in need of some door to door racing.

I've been trying to digest this rule about the additional door bars.
Now let's examine this; We race on tracks with large runouts, sand traps, tire walls in 2880# cars with very low CG's and soft front ends at something under 200 mph. We have some engineers. We have a few traveling teams. We are concerned with driver safety. I have not heard of any intrusions into the drivers compartment that precipitated this change. The modern chassis I have seen have very nicely made Nascar style door bars and my HRP chassis came with a plate bolted to the outside to further resist intrusion. We race on 2.5 mile tracks (or so) with 25 cars (or so) spread out on that course. Big wrecks are relatively rare.

NASCAR puts 40 cars that weigh 3200# with hard fronts, on a 1 mile oval with concrete walls all around, go just as fast, wreck all the time, are just as concerned with driver safety, have tons of traveling teams, have gobs of engineers, and yet, somehow, miraculously, also don't have intrusions into the drivers compartment, in spite of the fact the cars don't have any extra side bars. WOW! They must be really good!

The upper horizontal side bar is too close to the drivers' shoulder and WILL cause driver injury. The diagonal side bar can be too close to the drivers elbow and MAY cause driver injury.

To BaileyOFD--do the modifieds have extra side bars?

Kind of makes you go WTF?

My modified and the others I have seen only have the Nascar style four door bars with the door plate. However, they are a different animal.

It is painfully obvious there is "someone" making the TransAm rules that has no idea about GT1 construction methods. The first set of TransAm rules in 2009 were tossed in the garbage because they were so far away from GT1 construction methods.....I believe the same "someone" has had his hand in the 2010 rules.

I expect the doorbar rule will be changed...if not now, it will be after numberous TransAm entries are found to be non-compliant at tech.

BaileyOFD, on Jan 19 2010, 03:58 AM, said:

So where exactly are these "doors" you speak of?

parkeracing, on Jan 27 2010, 11:30 AM, said:

The doors I speak of are between the front and rear wheels.... . These doors also have openings, in which you can see the face of your competitors in every corner....haha.

I'll be running at Orlando Speedworld and New Smyrna Speedway this summer.

BaileyOFD, on Jan 27 2010, 02:11 PM, said:

Will you be running during Speedweeks while all the snowbirds are in town?

parkeracing, on Jan 28 2010, 04:43 AM, said:

No speedweeks this year, I am having an engine built and it will not be ready...plus I will need some seat time before going to the "big shows".

That "someone" Mr. Bailey refers to, pertaining to the T-A rules for 2009, was a Jeremy Thoennes. Jeremy has left SCCA last year and is now a store manager for Carquest, at a Topeka store location. It was seven revision before Topeka and Thoennes figured it out in 2009. Things like rules pertaining to running your 'open cockpit sports racer type car in Trans-am will require arm restraints...' Really, pretty funny stiff to read, in a sad kind of way.

Now, the fretful door bars....it has been the rule for chassis and side intrusion requirements for several years in T-A. However, I do not recall anyone being sent home at any time for not having them. I just referenced the 2003, 2004, 2005 T-A rule book. Bear in mind, the type of door bars required varied depending on chassis build date of either 'before' or 'after' 2003. For reference see page 52, 9.13.4 Side Protection of the 2005 Trans-Am series rule book.

Thanks for the info Todd....

So TransAm has a rule it will not enforce.......and has not enforced...."interesting" to say the least.

They should make the three Nascar style door bars a requirement, and the additional bars " recommended".

Glad I never saw the 2009 rules that were trashed, probably blood be shooting out of my eyes like glenn Beck says, (had to throw that in).

I didn't know that the roll bars rules have been in the rule book for a couple of years, yet not looked at seriously, you guys made excellant points, no one has had a intrusion into the drivers side, not even nascar. I don't have a plate on the inside of mine, I also thought that the a top horiz. bar might be in the way, here's what SCCA needs to consider, they are stating in having 3 vertical bars and 3 horizontal bars, mine has 2 vertical bars and 4 horizontal bars, who is to say that is not just as strong or maybe stronger.

I think they should have the GT-1 cars weigh the same as Trans-am cars, nascar style door bars required, no right side drivers net for Trans-Am cars and quit the stupid rule of racing on the tire one qualifies on, having to mark them up. Trans-Am and Gt-1 cars are not going to be going thru tires like nascar.

Then watch the fields grow and have a lot more racing.

Like to see some input here from some Trans-Am guys.

mitch

I guess I qualify as a Trans-Am guy? Side intrusion has not happened since a very unfortunate event at Mosport about ten years ago. Otherwise, we are pretty safe in respect to incidents on track during Trans-Am races. Nothing really 'major' happens, but you can never error on the side of safety.

As to the rule of qualify and race on the same tires, it was done as a cost measure as well as to try and put some tire management in the hands of the drivers. Realistically though, be it the BFG or GY, unless you have a bad set up or drive erratically, the tires seem to go the distance. So, I have no issue with the tire rule as it is now.

Qualifying tires, right side nets....don't equate to lower entries. Travel cost, part time volunteer crews with limited vacation days and such, schedule conflicts with SCCA Nationals, and the sense I get from a lot of SCCA Club racers that the Run-offs far out weigh running on potentially the same tracks in a Pro event and maybe earn some money and better media coverage, is more important. It has always been this way. The fields for a T-A race have not been in the last ten years or so heavily populated with Club guys entering. It has always been a sprinkling of of GT1 cars.