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Sports Racing Association came about with the input of Sports Racing Car enthusiasts, namely Brian Cook, Nino Venturi & Mike Shaw.  It had become apparent that there was a lack of dedicated sports car events in South Africa, particularly for endurance style prototype racing. Thus many cars were being exported overseas. It was their idea to formulate a plan for a class of motorsport that catered specifically for prototype racing, and to give people an opportunity to race their special cars, or, if the interest arose, to go ahead and build their own. Launched in 2003, the class is growing from strength to strength, with a vast selection of different cars coming out the woodwork, from Chevron's & Tiga's, through to ACD Nardini's, VSP's and even a origional Porshce 956 Le Mans Car. You will have to go a long way to find this selection of cars all competing together. Much time and effort was put into writing a rule book that is now able to put all these cars together on one circuit, at one time, and give each one an equal chance to winning the championship. This has been done by structuring rules that classify cars on a time basis at each circuit. Quite simply put, if you are faster than your class break-out time, you will be re-classified in the event. The class is separated into three divisions, and so you spend your race competing directly with cars on an equal performance base. At the end of the event, points are allocated to finishing positions in each class. However, where the real points are scored, is you index of performance rating during that event. This is rated on your average lap time for the event over your fastest lap, to give you a percentage of 100. The winner is the person with the highest percentage, and this is where the bulk of the points come from. What this means, in a nut shell, is that anyone can win the championship. After the first two rounds, the championship was being led by an SR3 car, with an SR2 car lying second, and the monstrous Porsche 956 only 13th.  What does this mean to a potential participant?
Well, to break it down into the nuts and bolts, it means you can race a car, with little budget, and still be competitive against a multi-million Rand Le Mans Racer. Can Motorsport Really Be Affordable? In SRA, YES! All measures have been taken to allow people to compete, cost effectively. How can this be done? Well, again, it's all based on how the points are awarded in the championship. Also, only five events have been scheduled for each season, and all of them are expected to be long-distance. How does a long distance event help? Quite simple, it gives you the opportunity to share your car with another driver, allowing you to split the running costs in half. You will not even be penalised by having to change drivers through the course of an event, as a mandatory 3-minute stop is required from every competing car. This will give you ample time to refuel, do some small repairs, and still have time to swap over. A conscious decision has also been made to keep the events in close proximity to Johannesburg, with the furthest race in Phakisa, Welkom, only a couple hours drive away. |
SRA Membership Application 2010 (84)
CALENDAR-DATES-2010-NRCR-V05A SRA (104)
