What is Sprinting?

Sprinting is one of the oldest forms of motorsport, which has its roots in the 1890s. Nowadays cars start one at a time and compete against the clock over a predetermined course with the fastest competitor winning. Obviously it would be patently unfair if a driver in a Mini had to compete against a single-seat racing car with a two-litre engine behind him! Therefore there are classes which are split by not only type of car but also capacity - see below for a breakdown of the most commonly used class structure. Each driver gets the opportunity for two practice runs in the morning followed by the Timed Runs usually after a lunch break.

How are the times measured?

Each car is fitted with a small vertical matt black strip of metal at the front, called a Timing Strut or Burt Strut. The crew on the start line position each car just behind a detector beam that runs over the start line. As the driver sets off the strut breaks the start beam and the clocks start running. As each car crosses the finish line it cuts the beam that is aligned and the clock for that car is stopped. The elapsed time then reveals who is the quickest in each class.

How do I keep in touch with the meeting?

At most venues the organisers have a digital clock set up so that spectators can see the elapsed time. A lot of organisers also set up a speed trap so that relative speeds can be compared and in some instances there is another beam set up at 64 feet off the line. The significance of this is that if a competitor covers the first 64 foot in less than two seconds they have been pulling more than 1G off the line!

British Sprint Championship

This is the premier Championship in the Sprint discipline providing the fastest cars in the country performing on the highest quality venues available. Almost 85% of the venues are current (or past) race or kart circuits. What remain are the country's top airfield venue and the country's premier test tracks. 2004 will be the 35th consecutive year of running this Championship that has rounds throughout the nation in England (South West, South East, Midlands. North West and Northeast), Wales (North and South), Scotland and Northern Ireland and therefore is truly a British Championship.

This discipline is all about outright speed between the start and finish lines when the competitor is only battling against one rival: the clock! The competitor is attempting to achieve perfection in all things, without the distraction of other cars on the track at the same time, braking, turn in, apex and exit and power application points. Time can never be recovered, it is only ever lost. An error often has a cumulative effect because getting one of the key elements wrong will usually have an adverse effect on later elements. It is a quest for perfection. The discipline formed the basis for an offshoot called Supersprinting which, should you never have heard of it, is now called in 2004, Grand Prix qualifying!

Although the fastest cars often are former F3000 cars, many with F1 engines, provision is also made, with the Foundation Cup, for those competitors (and there are many with 1100cc, 1600cc and 2000cc cars) who run ex F3 cars with up to 300bhp. Throughout the Championship one thing is most notable above all else and that is the camaraderie amongst the contenders. Competitors they might be, friends they most certainly are!

Technical details

This is very difficult to relate as the Championship is open to any cars in the discipline although it is dominated by the fastest single seater racing cars in the country that have demonstrated in the past top speeds of up to 180mph. This is achieved using an F3000 chassis with a V8 engine, of anything up to 600bhp, formerly found in F1. The cars are light, not requiring carrying much in the way of fuel, certainly lighter than 2004 Grand Prix cars.

So what is different about the British Sprint Championship? Well for a start off the Championship runs alongside the normal event which acts as qualifying for the Championship Runs. The fastest 12 British Sprint Championship registered contenders then get two additional runs - the Run-off - at the end of the day. The qualifying times are discounted and they all start with a clean sheet. The sequence that cars come to the line in the Run-off is determined by the times from the qualifying with the slower going first. Each competitor's fastest time of the two in the run-off is then used to determine their position in the Top Twelve. Points are awarded to all drivers in the Run-off with the winner getting 12, down to 1 point for the twelfth.

Common Class Structure

- Class 1A Road Going Modified Saloons and Sports Cars Up to 1400cc

- Class 1B Road Going Modified Saloons and Sports Cars 1401 to 2000cc

- Class 1C Road Going Modified Saloons and Sports Cars over 2000cc

- Class 2A Road Modified Kit, Replica & Spaceframe Cars Up to 1700cc

- Class 2B Road Modified Kit, Replica & Spaceframe Cars Over 1700cc

- Class 3A Modified Production Cars Up to 1400cc

- Class 3B Modified Production Cars 1401 to 2000cc

- Class 3C Modified Production Cars Over 2000cc

- Class 3D Modified Production Kit, Replica & Spaceframe Cars

- Class 4A Sports Libre Up to 1700cc and Hillclimb Supersports Cars

- Class 4B Sports Libre over 1700cc

- Class 5A Racing Cars Up to 1100cc

- Class 5B Pre 1996 Formula Ford 1600 Racing Cars

- Class 5C Racing Cars 1101 to 1600cc

- Class 5D Racing Cars 1601 to 2000cc

- Class 5E Racing Cars over 2000cc

Where can you find more information?

The following are recommended websites that carry details of sprinting and the British Sprint Championship:

- www.britishsprint.org

- www.msauk.org

- www.liverpoolmotorclub.com

- www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk

- www.sevenoaksmotorclub.com

- www.mmkmc.co.uk

- www.barc.net/wales.htm

- www.chestermotorclub.co.uk

- www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk

- www.bristolmc.org.uk

- www.bristolpegasus.com

- www.shelsley-walsh.co.uk

- www.wigtonmc.co.uk

Steve Wilkinson - 7 Aug 2004