The chase to qualify for the 2001 Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA) National Championships at the Mid-Ohio
Sports Car Course started in January. The last opportunity to score points was the Labour Day weekend.
Drivers competed in one of twenty-four classes. These groups fall into one of seven 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 Mazda Miata, Mazda RX-7, Nissan 240Z, MG Midget, etc. are most often associated with this category.
However, the rules also accommodate sedans such as the Honda Prelude, Datsun 510, Honda Civic, etc.
- 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 more significant number of
modifications than the production category. For example, they may be constructed with a tube-frame chassis.
- Touring Category – Two Touring categories, Touring 1 (T1) and Touring 2 (T2),
were created by the SCCA to accommodate performance street cars with a minimum amount of modifications required to compete.
Touring 1 includes the high powered and expensive vehicles such as the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911, etc.
- Showroom Stock Category – Late model production vehicles compete in the Showroom Stock category.
Similar to the other groups, these cars are classified based on their performance potential.
The only modifications allowed are - a roll cage and safety equipment.
- Sedan Category – There is only one group in the sedan category – American Sedan (AS).
American Sedan includes the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang and Cadillac CTS-V.
Powered by a Ford 302-cu.in or GM 305-cu.in. engine, these cars are permitted to use modified suspensions and upgraded brake packages.
- Sports Racer Category – These are purpose-built closed wheel race cars.
There are four classes within this group – C Sports Racer (CSR), D Sports Racer (DSR), Spec Racer Ford (SRF) and Sports 2000 (S2000).
C and D Sports Racer include a variety of chassis’ which may be constructed by a competitor or a race car manufacturer.
There is also a wide range of engine options used by the teams. Vehicles in the Sports 2000 class tend to be built by race car companies.
Unlike C and D Sports Racers, this class must use a 2.0-liter Ford engine with minimum preparation.
SRF is a spec class that does not allow any modifications.
- Formula Category – These are also purpose-built race cars. This is the largest category and includes six classes – Formula Atlantic (FA),
Formula Continental (FC), Formula Mazda (FM), Formula 500 (F500), Formula Ford (FF) and Formula Vee (FV).
There are a variety of rules that govern these open-wheel cars.
The images below are from the Neohio Buckeye Sprints National at Mid-Ohio and Mosport International Raceway.
Mosport hosted the only SCCA National race weekend held outside the United States.
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