It is with great pleasure that we can announce the partnership between
MicksGarage.com and the
Future Classics race series for the 2016 championship. Motorsport is a passion we share here at MicksGarage and having the opportunity to be involved with and support a number of different championships and drivers over the last few years is something we're delighted to be able to do and hopefully will continue to do over the years to come.The Future Classics Championship embodies everything we love about grass-roots Motorsport. It's competitive, cost effective, extremely accessible and most of all, great fun! The championship kicks off in March, spans 10 rounds and winds up in October.
There promises to be an eclectic mix of cars on the grid, with anything from Mini's to V6 Audi Estates competing! Also, the vast majority of races will be streamed live on
Mondello.TV so you can watch from the comfort of your own armchair if you cant make it to the track. In addition to all that we've got even more to get excited about as some of the MicksGarage crew will actually be taking part in the championship too! So watch this space, we'll have plenty of updates coming your way from the team!
I'll hand you over to Future Classics spokesman Darran O'Hara to explain in more detail what the championship is all about.
What is it?
Future Classics came about a few years ago, there was a bunch of guys who had some older cars they wanted to race but the cars didn’t really fit into any class that already existed.
They were either too old and uncompetitive for the Irish Touring Car Championship (Where would you be going taking a Fiat Ritmo into the ITCC. That would be like taking a knife to a gun fight!) or too new for the Historic Championship, so what to do? It was clear there was a need for another class.
The guys sat down, had a few drinks and started to bash out a few ideas. The one thing that they wanted to do more than anything was make it accessible to as many people as possible and give everyone a fair chance. They wanted to keep the cheque-book-racing out and make it all about the driver but most of all they wanted to enjoy it. So the basics rules were put in place.
- The car must be a classic (defined by insurance companies as any car over 21 years old)
- There must be an equalizing force to eliminate the effect of big budgets so a barrier time would be used
- Good clean racing would be essential because where do you get a headlight for a Fiat Ritmo?
Lets explain those points in bit more detail
What Cars Are Eligible?
The car must be classified as a classic. So when that particular
model of car becomes eligible for classic insurance it is eligible to race. For example Robbie Parks Celica is a 1996 car however that model of car was first manufactured in 1993 making that model eligible for the class. The car being a 1996 has no facelifts or mechanical differences from the 1993 model giving it no advantage over the 1993 car. There are some other restrictions, but not too many, we have a list of the technical regs and some eligible cars on the
website
The Barrier Time:
The barrier time is a difficult thing to get your head around. Most race drivers hate barrier times - they just want to go as fast as possible all the time, but they are the great equalizer. It keeps the guy with the big cheque book from winning every race and puts everyone on a level playing field. The barrier time is calculated by taking the slowest car in the grid and using it’s track record as the barrier. This gives every car on the grid a chance of placing on the podium. It makes the racing close and makes it fun to watch. In addition to that, timing equipment on the cars is banned and we also ask drivers to not use any pit wall signalling that.
Good Clean Racing
Good clean racing was very important to all the drivers, after the weekends racing who wants to be going home to start looking for new headlights or body panels when there is just no need for it to happen. With parts becoming scarce for a lot of these cars it becomes increasingly difficult to put these cars back together. With rare parts come high prices. For example: a wing for a Fiat Punto may be 20 quid, a wing for a Fiat Ritmo, well ask your price.....if you can find one.
2016:
The class has gone from strength to strength and often boasts twenty plus cars on the grid. Not bad for only our 3rd year. The racing is always close and the variety of cars on grid is huge. We have Fiat Uno’s , Puntos , Golf Gti's, 205 GTI’s, a Vauxhall Chevette, a Celica, an FTO, ex rally cars and an MR2 just to name a few. (one of these cars actually drives to the track and is road legal with tax and insurance)
The line-up for next year will be even more exciting as a host of new cars are currently being prepared. We will have an MX5, a few Civics, an AE86 Corolla and an Audi 80 Estate Yes an estate! That’s just to name a few. Most of these cars have been built for very small money. Keep an eye out for some of the build threads in the future.
I guess the next question is what all this will mean for you the fans. Well to make it simple some pretty good racing. Big grids filled with huge variety. Plenty of excitement both on and off the track. Loads of competitions and giveaways. You can meet the drivers. Get pictures taken in your favourite cars and much more.
With the addition of MicksGarage.com to the mix we will have discount codes to pass to you fans and competitors, We will hit a much wider audience and hopefully reward MicksGarage loyal customers with one or two surprises. There will be live video footage of the races broadcast on Mondello.TV and our own website. Live timing will also be available on the site.
Honestly folks this is a match that you will need to stand up and pay attention to. Watch this space, the 2016 MicksGarage Future Classics Championship is going to be huge!
Image Credit: Nevada Photography & Cian Fogarty Photography
