Sprinting & Hillclimbing

Sprinting and Hillclimbing fall into a category of motorsport often referred to as Speed Events. Essentially competitors are racing only against the clock - but the times are compared to other competitors - to the nearest hundredth of a second.

Classes:

Cars are grouped into classes relating to the vehicle type (saloon, kit car, racing car, etc) engine size and level of modification. Generally the major groups are:

Standard sports and saloon cars (standard, must be road legal),

Production sports and saloon cars (modified, must be road legal),

Kit cars and replicas (must be road legal),

Modified sports and saloon cars (do not have to be  road legal),

Racing cars (single seaters).

Rather confusingly these groupings are not the same across the country as regional championships can have their own rules.

How does is work then?

A course is laid out on a sealed surface. This can be a course constructed of cones on an airfield, an existing race circuit or any public or private road, as long as it has the necessary safety equipment installed for the day's competition.

Timing equipment is set up at the start and finish lines. This consists of a light beam which is broken by a "timing strut" affixed to each car. The size, shape and location of this is defined in the rules.

Each competitor lines up separately and as soon as the all-clear is given they can begin. The clock starts to run as soon as the light beam at the start line is broken and is stopped when the car breaks the beam at the finish line. A time is recorded and compared to other competitors in that class.

All competitors must complete 2 practice runs, for which the times are normally recorded, but only for the benefit of the competitors themselves. The official timed runs follow and this is when it really matters. each competitor is normally allowed 2 runs, although some events allow 3. Times are recorded and published, the best time by each competitor then becomes their final time, and they are classified in class and overall.

The twist in the tail is that time penalties can be applied, or times disallowed, for leaving the track, hitting markers or taking the wrong route. Couple this with the fact that the clock starts running as soon as a competitor's car moves and you can quickly see how this is one of the most intense forms of motorsport.