The new Belcar is alive! After months of negotiating between the Belcar organisation, the ‘VZW Terlamen’, and the RACB Sport (Royal Automobil club of Belgium), both parties finally agreed on the Sporting Regulations. While the technical rulebook has been published some months ago, the discussion on the Sporting rules between Series Promotor, Marc Martens, and Kurt Van Campenhout, technical director of the RACB lasted somewhat longer. But on the 16th of January, an agreement was found. All rules can be consulted on the renewed Belcar website, www.belcar.com. This website contains all information on the Belcar umbrella, such as press releases, race news, standings etc. The news on all the series of the Belcar umbrella, as there are Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original, the Belcar Endurance Cup, the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Historic Sprint is from now on centralized on www.belcar.com.

Nine years ago Belcar was faced with a new era. The Carglass Cup, as it was known at that time, was granted the national statute. Today, on the eve of its tenth season the Belcar championship is now confronted with a new challenge. In contrast to the previous three year legislations whereby the organisers in conjunction with the ‘workgroup Belcar’ (drivers and teams) as also the RACB intertwined a sequel to the existing and self written regulations, 2006 will be a complete turnabout. With the arrival of amongst others Kurt Van Campenhout a new and fresh wind is blowing through the corridors of the RACB Sport. Unfortunately both parties were not constantly on the same wavelength but every effort was made to keep the existing fleet on end and competitive. In fact the regulation is only valid for one year, however in conjunction with the RACB Sport, drivers and/or teams it will be continually assessed. We obviously hope that these well thought out regulations will turn out to be a good thing for all parties involved and that in the future these regulations will not require any or very little fine tuning. Divisions and classes now belong to the past as Belcar now contains 4 classes, of which one guest class. A study of the 2005 results, both in qualifying and race, revealed that touring cars are a perfect match for the GT’s in class 2 and 3 and so they will run in those classes.

This Short News summarizes the new rules:

The aim of the new rules was to get as close as possible to the FIA-standards. Class 1 contains the FIA-GT1 cars, modified FIA-GT3 cars with more than 5000 cc and last but not least, cars that raced under the 2005 national GTA-rules of Belcar, as there are the Stealth, the BMW Z3 V8, the Gumpert Apollo and many others. The only exception on this philosophy is the Porsche Biturbo. The latter will run bigger restrictors than aimed for in the FIA-GT rulebook. The minimum weight of the class 1 cars is 1100 kg. This evolution towards the FIA-rulebook was one of the claims of RACB Sport. The aim of this is make it easier for national teams to run in the FIA-GT championship and vice-versa without big expenses. This means that f.i. the Spa 24 hours or even other national series, with rules close to the FIA-standards, could see Belcar teams in the future.

Class 2 contains cars from FIA GT2, original FIA-GT3 cars and cars that ran under the former Belcar GTB-rules. Added to these GT’s are the TA touring cars and silhouettes with a maximum engine capacity of 3200 cc. The minimum weight is 1000 kg.

Class 3 counts in Cup cars under strict technical limitations. Added to this are former TB touring cars with a maximum engine capacity of 3500 cc, former GTB-cars with a maximum engine capacity of 3200 cc and a minimum weight of 1100 kg. This means that a BMW Z3, Z4 or even an Ultima could race in class 3, subject to some extra weight.

Class 4 is restricted to guest cars.

The championship will not only count the battle for the class honours but there will still be an overall championship too. Class 2 or even class 3 cars ending high up the ranks regularly could perfectly claim the overall championship, as we saw last year already. The GTA-Corvette of Hart / Goossens and the GTB Porsche of Penders / Lamot were rivals till the bitter end. A precondition for winning a championship is starting in the last race of the season. Besides the already existing Driver Challenge, Ladies Challenge, Philip Verellen Junior Challenge and the Welcome Challenge, the Gentlemen Challenge will reward the best driver born in 1951 or earlier.

If a team wants to compete several races of the Belcar umbrella within the same weekend with the same car, a written demand and a permission of the race director are compulsory.

In order to limit the use of qualifying tyres, cars will only get two sets of tyres for qualifying, warm-up and the start of the race. Once the race has started, the number of tyre changes is unlimited.

A weight penalty will penalize the top-3 of each class for at least one race. Restrictors could be changed in class 2 and 3 if one car dominates even with the maximum weight.

As it’s in FIA, the pitlane will stay open under the safety car. This is entirely new in Belcar.

After the death of journalist/photographer Peter Zeelmaekers at the end of last year, only 39 of age, Belcar again lost two personalities. Two drivers, still seen on a track last year, passed away in the very beginning of this year. Antoine Van Reet, 55 (Historics) and Paul Moonen, 58 (Belcar) sadly lost the battle against their illness. Antoine drove in Belcar in a TVR Tuscan some years ago. More recently, he raced in historical rallies and races behind the wheel of an Austin-Healey and a MG Midget. Paul Moonen was Belcar regular, always faithful to Porsche. He drove for GLP, Deti, Coast Racing and Ham Car.

Wintertime is a perfect time for people to indulge in their hobby. Koen Wauters and Michel Van Den Broeck did this on the road to Dakar. Wauters and his co-driver finished 37th and first of the surviving Belgians while Michel Van Den Broeck was 54th at the finish line. Both Belcar drivers drove a Toyota Proto with a Lexus V8 made by AD Sport. Freddy Loix, seen in the Audi TT in 2005, retired in the 8th leg with a transmission failure on his Bowler.

In the Dubai 24-hour race, we saw three Belgian squads: First Motorsport, Speedlover and GPR made the long trip to Dubai with their Porsche 996 Supercup. Willie Moore and Us Carworld were also present in the desert. The Porsche teams had some bad luck during this maiden edition of the Dubai race. Speedlover lost almost two hours at the start with a broken clutch. First Motorsport, with the driver line-up Jamers/Van Rompuy/Nelissen-Grade/Van Rossem and GPR with the Dumarey family and de Gastines drove within the top-10 for a good part of the race. While GPR retired, First Motorsport got as high a 4th before suspension gremlins dropped the team back. Speedlover, meanwhile, found a good rhythm but the time lost was too important and a good finish proved without reach. With luck on their side, a podium finish for the Belgians could have been possible in the first 24 hours of the Middle-East. .

CALENDAR MEDIAGROEP VAN DYCK BELCAR ORIGINAL

THURSDAY 30/03/2006 BELCAR SHAKEDOWN SPA FRANCORCHAMPS
TESTDAY FOR ALL BELCAR CHAMPIONSHIPS

THURSDAY 06/04/2006 BELCAR LAUNCH CIRCUIT ZOLDER
TESTDAY FOR ALL BELCAR CHAMPIONSHIPS

SUNDAY 09/04/2006 BELCAR FIRST RACE - SPA FRANCORCHAMPS

SUNDAY 21/05/2006 BELCAR HOME RACE - CIRCUIT ZOLDER

THURSDAY 29/06/2006 BELCAR MID SUMMER RACE - CIRCUIT ZOLDER

SUNDAY 23/07/2006 BELCAR HOLIDAY RACE - EUROSPEEDWAY LAUSITZ

ZATERDAG 26/08/2006 EUPHONY 24 UREN VAN ZOLDER

SUNDAY 08/10/2006 RACING FESTIVAL - SPA FRANCORCHAMPS

SUNDAY 22/10/2006 BELCAR LAST RACE - CIRCUIT ZOLDER