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The chase for points to compete at Road Atlanta for the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) National
Championships at Road Atlanta began in January and ended in early September.
There were National Championships for twenty-two different classes. These race groups fall into one of five different categories:
- Production Category – There are four classes in the production category – E Production (EP), F Production (FP), G Production (GP)
and H Production (HP). These production-based vehicles are grouped according to their performance potential. Sports cars such as the
MGB, Porsche 914, Alfa Romeo Spider, MG Midget, etc., are most often associated with this category.
- Grand Touring Category – Five classes are identified as Grand Touring – they include Grand Touring 1 (GT1), Grand Touring 2 (GT2),
Grand Touring 3 (GT3), Grand Touring 4 (GT4) and Grand Touring 5 (GT5). These vehicles are also grouped according to their
performance potential. The quickest class, GT1 features cars such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette, while at the
other end of the spectrum, GT5 includes the Mini Cooper and Honda Civic. These vehicles are allowed a larger number of
modifications than the production category.
- Showroom Stock – Four Showroom Stock categories, Showroom Stock (SSGT), Showroom Stock A (SSA), Showroom Stock B (SSB),
and Showroom Stock C (SSC), were created by the SCCA to accommodate performance street cars with a minimum amount of modifications
required to race. Showroom Stock A includes the more powerful vehicles such as the Mazda RX-7, Triumph TR8, Datsun 280ZX, etc.
Changes to these vehicles are for safety purposes.
- Sports Racers – These are purpose-built closed-wheel race cars. There are four classes within this group – A Sports Racer
(ASR), C Sports Racer (CSR), D Sports Racer (DSR) and Sports 2000 (S2). Sports Racers include a variety of chassis’ which may
be constructed by the competitor or a race car manufacturer. With the exception of Sports 2000, which must use a 2.0-liter
Ford engine, there is also a wide range of engine options used by the teams.
- Formula Category – These are also purpose-built race cars. This category includes five classes – Formula Atlantic (FA),
Formula Continental (FC), Formula Ford (FF), Formula (F440) and Formula Vee (FV). There are a variety of rules that govern these open-wheel cars.
The images below are from the 1986 National Racing season at Nelson Ledges and Watkins Glen International.
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