Vic TT regulation changes

Image: Geoff Colson

‍The Australian Auto-Sport Alliance (AASA) can announce that Victorian Motor Racing Championship (VMRC) category Victorian Tin Tops has made some changes to its regulations, simplifying them and opening it up to a greater number of vehicles. ‍

Victorian Tin Tops (Vic TT) has been a staple of the VMRC for many years, but organisers felt that the rules needed a tweak to suit the changing motorsport landscape.

Well-known Victorian racer Ran Maclurkin Junior is the new category representative and is helping to steer the ship with these alterations.

Previously there were four classes within the series, Under and Over 2 Litre Treaded and Under and Over 2 Litre Slick.

Four categories remain; however, the rules have been altered for each.

Road Racer Under 2 Litre is the budget and entry level category with several safety changes implemented.

Road Racer, is what used to be known as Over 2 Litre Treaded, but now has a few alterations.

Heavy Metal is fastest category for home-built production-based cars on slicks. This category allows for extensive modifications and upgrades.

A new category, Open, is for professionally built racing cars i.e. GT4 machinery or highly modified road cars, Time Attack cars and high spec home build race cars.

Two notable rules changes are the fact that a small portion of the firewall can now be removed, something previously outlawed (find out more below), and that glass windows are allowed to be replaced by polycarbonate sheets.

The changes to the classes and regulations take place with immediate effect.

Points from the opening two rounds of the Vic TT series carry over into the new era, with no driver being disadvantaged by the alterations.

Drivers interested in competing in Victorian Tin Tops or for anyone with a query about the new regs should contact the AASA on reception@wintonraceway.com.au, message the Victorian Tin Tops Facebook page oremailRan Maclurkin Junior at ranmaclurkin@me.com.  

The full regs for each class can be found in the new Victorian Tin Top Technical Regulations document, which can be found here.

Cars eligible for Vic TT are also allowed to compete in the national level AASA TT series, allowing competitors the opportunity to compete in double the events and some iconic circuits around Australia.

Ran Maclurkin Junior – Victorian Tin Tops category representative

“What's changing in Vic TT is that we've simplified the rules and made it a little bit more open with the regulations,” he said.

“We've made it so there is a category for cars that have been professionally built, for example a TCR or GT4 car, that way you're not competing on points with guys that have built cars in their shed.

“Under 2 Litre Treaded, that's now called Road Racer Under 2 Litre, that is the category that caters to the budget level entries in the category. An under 2 litre road car with a roll cage and some semis on it isn't going to be too expensive to build or buy, and you can get out there and race.

“Road Racer, that's basically Over 2 Litre Treaded. So that's for the cars like a Commodore or Nissan on the AO50s or something like that.

“Over 2 Litre Slicks we've called Heavy Metal. What used to be the fastest category.

“For Road Racers we’ve just really changed the names, opened up the regs and added little bit more leeway, so some cars that maybe didn't quite comply before, now comply.

“We are now allowing some removal of the firewall in all classes, but the main thing to note is that the engine still must remain in front of it.

“Cars aren’t all like an old Torana with a flat firewall, it's a little bit different with modern cars. So just allowing some removal of some material, while not allowing competitors to push the engine back through it. I think that keeps an identity for the category and doesn't confuse us with any other series.

“We've also allowed glass to be removed and replaced by polycarbonate if a competitor wishes. It actually comes down to costing; I'm finding it's cheaper to put one of those screens rather than an original.

“Open is designed for the ex-racing cars such as GT4 cars that no longer have a home.

“Everything we're doing is all to try and grow the category, get good grids and make it fun by opening it up so more cars can come and run with us that fit the ethos. Going forward we want to have good fun and clean racing.

“You can go out to a track, do four races over the course of a round, get lots of laps, and hopefully come away saying, ‘well, that was good value for money.’