Amendments to the regulations for the 24 Hours of Zolder - norm time set at 1'39"These last few months there has been a fair amount of talk regarding the staying power of the GT3 cars complying with the Mediagroup Van Dyck Belcar Original championship. Various teams and drivers feared that certain components of the GT3 cars were not sufficiently suited to be able to successfully reach the finish in an endurance race. However SRO Belgium (in consultation with RACB Sport) has now decided to intervene in order to meet and satisfy some of the wishes expressed by the competing teams and drivers.
The cars in Division 1 of the Belcar Original are in fact originally developed to compete in sprint races. As such the 24 Hours of Zolder is therefore the odd one out seeing the equipment undergoes far heavier stresses than in a sprint race. During the 24 Hours of Spa, GT3 cars in the 'Coupe du Roi' are permitted to compete in the 24 Hours with 3 cars of one make/type. In theory this allows a team to prepare the cars sufficiently to be in a position to complete a 24 hours endurance race. On the other hand there are a fair number of GT3 entrants who take on the event with only one car, such as amongst others Racing for Belgium.
As from this year the Belcar Original is fully focussed on the FIA GT3-specifications and therefore such regulations are not applicable in a national endurance championship for GT cars. For the highlight of the Belcar Original championship, namely the 24 Hours of Zolder at the beginning of September, RACB Sport has amended various regulations in the technical regulations field. Amongst others cars competing in Division 1 will be allowed to specify their own type and make of disc brakes, as long as the type of material and the measurements comply with those stated in the FIA technical specification file.
Cars in Division 1 and Division 2 will also be free to choose the material for the brake callipers, as long as these conform to the FIA technical specification file. In addition only one flexible channel or conductor for brake cooling per wheel will be allowed, as long as long as the internal diameter of same does not exceed 120 mm.
There are also some striking changes made in the sporting regulations. Any car that needs to keep to a norm or reference time is given a "joker", as with the BTCS. When a car goes under the reference time during the race, the joker will automatically be applied as long as it does not exceed more than 5 tenths. Should a driver go under the specified norm time of 1:39:00 by more than 5 tenths, the joker is not brought into account and an automatic sanction is applied (drive through penalty). For the training sessions the norm time for the 24 Hours of Zolder is set at 1:36:00. However SRO can readjust the norm time before that start of the race, should the results of the qualifying sessions show this to be required.
Per car teams are given 12 dry weather tyres for use in the qualifying sessions. These tyres must be coded prior to the end of the scrutineering. During the free practice sessions, the warm-up as also the race the teams are not required to fit marked tyres. According to the latest reports the 24 Hours of Zolder is scheduled, as per usual, to start at 16:00hrs, in fact one hour earlier than last year. Those who are unable to follow the race live will be able to enjoy this endurance race in virtual fashion thanks to www.24U.be. As in previous editions this website will once again be providing live coverage on the event, including extensive reports and news flashes interspersed with photographs from both on and off the track.
(MW)  VZW 24u.be - Gordon McKay on Tuesday 7 August 2007 at 21:31. | 
