ANNOUNCEMENT:

By agreement with, and under the authority of, the Speed Ventures (SV) powers-that-be:
I (twohoos, John M.) am assuming responsibility for the administration of the 2005 Speed Ventures S2000 Challenge ("the Challenge"), effective immediately and retroactively to Jan. 1, 2005.

My first act as Administrator is to clarify and solidify the Challenge Rules. The following are effective immediately and retroactively to Jan. 1, 2005.

First, the classing -- please read carefully, as some things have changed.

NOVICE Classes:
The NOVICE classes are open to S2000 drivers having attended fewer than 5 SV event-days AND fewer than 10 track days of any kind (including formal racing schools), as of Jan. 1, 2005. Classing rules are identical to the STOCK and MODIFIED COMPETITION classes, and will recognize 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for each NOVICE class. Note that UNLIMITED cars compete together regardless of driver experience.

COMPETITION Classes:
COMP classes are open to all S2000 drivers regardless of experience level. So, a driver eligible for NOVICE may elect to run in the COMPETITION class, but must make a final decision (NOVICE or COMP) by May 1, 2005. Regardless of how many track days a NOVICE driver attends in 2005, he or she will remain in the NOVICE class for the year. Conversely, regardless of how few days a NOVICE attends, once declared as a NOVICE, he or she will be ineligible to compete as a NOVICE in future seasons.

Classing Rules for NOVICE and COMPETITION:

STOCK:
Philosophy: A STOCK car is essentially a "street car" as the term is broadly understood. Therefore, the allowed STOCK modifications fall into three broad categrories:
1) Those that are common among street-driven cars, and are believed to provide little or no performance advantage on track (e.g. exhaust, chassis bracing)
2) Those that are considered "minimal preparations" for a track event (e.g. alignment, brake pads/fluid, certain engine cooling mods)
3) Safety equipment -- anything short of a full roll cage is allowed here as long as it improves a driver's safety on the track.

Tires: up to 275 width rear tire, 120+ treadwear
Stock wheels only
Alignment

 

2005 S2000 Challenge: General Rules and Events Schedule
(UPDATE 3/16/05: Sears Point added to schedule!!

REGISTRATION AND STANDINGS:
A Standings and Registration thread has been created in the S2KI R&C forum to formally log all entrants and the current Challenge standings. Drivers must create a post in this thread to declare their intended class (NOVICE-STOCK, COMP-MOD, etc.), as well as their mods and point totals. UNLIMITED drivers do not *have to* declare all mods, but if you would post your general setups (stripped weight, cage type, wheels/tires, anything else "interesting") we'd all appreciate it! Registration posts must be edited to be kept up to date as changes are made to the car -- the honor system is in force, and serious ramifications will result for drivers found to be delinquent!
NOTE: No smack-talk will be permitted in this thread! Separate event-specific smack-talk threads will of course be posted in the general R&C forum.

Challenge Series Events:
Speed Ventures is holding 21 events this year. 14 of these will be S2000 Challenge points-paying events. These 14 events will provide 19 eligible event-days (not all are two day events). Of these 19 event-days, each NOVICE participant will take his best 10 days, and each COMPETITION participant will take his best 12 days. (So, if you go to all 14 events, you'll end up dropping either 7 (COMP) or 9 (NOVICE) days.)

Here are the points-paying S2000 Challenge dates:

2005 S2000 CHALLENGE SERIES SCHEDULE

Event #1: HONDA Raceway @ Laguna Seca, January 21
Event #2: BIG TRACK @ at Willow Springs, January 29 & 30
Event #3: Buttonwillow Raceway Park, February 26 & 27
Event #4: California Speedway (INFIELD) (S2KI 5th Anniversary Meet - 1 bonus point per driver!), March 6
Event #5: Sears Point, April 3 (Just added!!)
Event #6: Buttonwillow Raceway Park, April 15
Event #7: California Speedway (LONG COURSE), May 27
Event #8: BIG TRACK @ at Willow Springs, July 2 & 3
Event #9: BIG TRACK @ at Willow Springs (featuring a Honda Cup race!), August 13 & 14
Event #10: Streets of Willow, September 16
Event #11: Buttonwillow Raceway Park (NATIONAL RUNOFFS), September 30, October 1 & 2
Event #12: Streets of Willow, October 28
Event #13: Streets of Willow, November 18
Event #14: Streets of Willow, December 9

CHALLENGE POINTS:
Challenge Points are awarded to the top six drivers in each class, according to the "old" (pre-2003) FIA championship points system (and as used by Speed Ventures in all their challenge series):

1st place: 10 points
2nd place: 6 points
3rd place: 4 points
4th place: 3 points
5th place: 2 points
6th place: 1 point

NOTE: For Event #4 (S2KI meet at Cal Speedway), ALL drivers earn 1 bonus point! This even applies to those who finished outside the top six, and in fact, even those who did not get timing! So if you were there, you're already in the points - just register to claim them!

PRIZES:
There will be trophies and bragging rights for the top 3 points-winners in each class. Also, there will be awards paid in speedos (the SV monetary unit, not the swimwear). One speedo (1 Sp) = $0.50 credit, good toward any 2006 Speed Ventures event. Speedo award rules will be announced later.


Good luck, and see you all at the track!