As a new comer to the sport as a driver (second generation off roader) I have taken over driving dads old Super 1650 buggy.
With the ever increasing costs to compete now plus the new regulations for state and above events next year for use of HANS devices and approved helmets is it time we looked at Super 1650's being able to run as single seaters (middle of the car or removing one seat). My situation leaves me asking this question as in order for me to compete in state and above events next year I am required to purchase a further HANS device and helmet for a navigator which is a massive cost to me especially for something that isn't always going to be suitable given I don't have a permanent navigator meaning its not always going to be the right fit for whoevers in the car. Along with the other costs of having single event navigators which adds a great deal to the cost of a race weekend for me given my car and racing is fairly low budget. To be able to race without a navigator would be a huge cost saving to me and potentially others. What's everybody's thoughts?
You could do that ,but from past experience, if you ask around befoere an event for a navigator, I'm sure you you will find someone to do the job, with their own driving suit, helmet and hans device.
Thats just my thoughts.
This of course is an option and will of course happen at some events but as a way of potentially getting more people involved in the sport or simply make it more affordable for budget off-roaders perhaps it's time Super 1650's could run as single seaters. Pro buggies, pro lites and extreme 2wd's are all allowed to run as single seaters as far as I have seen and given that Super 1650 is in most cases a more budget class it would make sense to allow competitors to run by themselves if wanted.
How it stands now I would have to run my car in the pro buggy class as it doesn't meet the requirements of prolite (N/A)
The car has a 930cc S/T engine and was built in 1981.
I Agree with you branden2212 it is somewhat hard to find navigate and you can't rely on turning up to a track hoping that there will be someone there that wants to hop in and navigate. Like you said as well with these new Hans devices people arent going to have spears ones sitting around for other people to use and the people that only navigate once in a blue moon to help people out aren't going to spend the money on a Hans device.
On another note as well there is a lot of good single seater prolite buggys out there for sale at the moment with VW Boxes that can't compete with the 3.5 Nissans that require an Ablins or Fortin behind it, these buggys would be perfect to put 1600cc engine in.
I think if we want to grow the sport we need to start think of making every class having an option of being a single seater.
Or even create another class with an maximum engine size of 2500cc with the option of single seat as it is a huge jump from 1600cc to 3500cc, this will make any budget team be able to be c competitive in a class
Maybe someone should put it to the state panel open for discussion a class between super 1650 and prolite, maybe called prolite junior with the same restrictions as prolite other then a max engine size of up to 2500cc and see what happens.
Then maybe with the decline of the sportsman class numbers we could have a shake up of super 1650 and make it beam only with vw boxes and call it super 1650 restricted as the entry level and then have a full blown super 1650 class with whatever you want up to 1650cc non turbo one or two seater.
Nothing will happen unless someone puts it to the state panel or cams for discussion
unfortunately the sportsman class is almost a thing of the past as it is now. I agree with some class changes.
In my opinion it would be good to see a beam section in pro buggy, prolite and super 1650 (majority of the sportsman's would be competitive in this). Having a beam front end is a pretty obvious thing and wouldn't necessarily need to completely change the classes it would simply be for e.g. super 1650 & super 1650B. A great idea to get starters involved in a cheaper/older car and give the many people out there who's cars don't have a home because time has past them by the opportunity to compete against cars similar to theirs and in many cases give them a chance to sell their unwanted buggies. Older single seaters fit this category and would make a very affordable, competitive and fast super 1650 even as a beam car.
macshazz - Turbo engines are allowed to run as super 1650's providing it doesn't exceed the limit with the multiplication factor.
The buggy I have has a Nissan MA09 engine in it. Dad put it in the buggy in the year 2000 and has had the question asked as to why every race since!!
Mid conversation about the turbo they usually notice the little super charger on the side too! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_MA09ERT_engine
There is already a submission before Aorcom re a class to 2500cc. It has been there for 12 months with little action. it was submitted by my club via the SA offroad panel via our Aorcom delegate. Get your delegates on the job to follow it up. We have had little feed back via our delegate at this point but the more talking about it the sooner it could happen. It's about future proofing the class and sport and helping the SR20 guys. a good SR20 will run with a current Mazda6 or Camry or QR25 Xtrail and be within the relms of combi or renault box
Cheap entry level racing? We could base something on what they call "Brolite" which is startin up in the US.
under 3 litre 4 cylinder ute, leaf spring, single non bypass shock per corner, NO engine mods, no extractors, no component changes, just strip it out and get it as light as possible. Single seat, weld the diff up and thats it.
Could run in class 4 until there are enough - purely because it's only one seat.
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