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USRRC Forms Rules Committee for 1999 Racing Season

31 January 1998

For Immediate Release

USRRC FORMS RULES COMMITTEE FOR 1999 RACING SEASON

        DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 31, 1998)—The United States Road
Racing Championship has formed a rules committee to develop new regulations
for the 1999 racing season and beyond.
        The committee includes Pat Smith, Team Manager for Dyson Racing;
Alwin Springer, Director of Porsche Motorsport, North America; Mitch
Wright, Technical Manager for the USRRC; and Alan Wilson, the USRRC General
Manager.
        The focus of this committee is to prepare a definitive set of rules
for the 1999 racing season with the overall goals of ensuring performance
parity between Can-Am and GT1 cars based around existing and future FIA and
ACO regulations. Rules for GT2 and GT3 will also be defined.
        “Our goals are to confirm the rules as soon as possible, in order
to give teams and manufacturers the longest possible lead time in which to
make their investment decisions for 1999,” said Wilson.
        “The USRRC Board has asked the Rules Committee to come up with a
set of regulations that are as closely aligned to FIA/ACO specifications as
possible, that ensure performance equality between Can-Am and GT1 and can
be maintained for a long time without any major changes,” said Smith. “We
want to provide stability in each class of competition that will allow team
owners to invest in machinery that will remain competitive for several
seasons, yet will be compatible with major international racing series”.
        “It is too early to say whether rules will be exactly the same as
either ACO/FIA, but the intention is to make it practical for manufacturers
and teams to build cars for either format with as little cost penalty as
possible,” added Wilson.
        General guidelines for the new rules include: Can-Am and GT1 cars
to compete at equal performance potential; GT2 rules to add tube frame cars
at a performance level similar to current GT2 class leaders, designed to
increase participation levels; GT3 rules to encourage entry of new cars to
compete at the Porsche GT3 class standard. Shorter events (up to three
hours) to separate into two races -- Can-Am/GT1 and GT2/GT3, with longer,
combined races to be held only on traditional road courses capable of
safely handling speed differentials.


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