I am changing ‘Walt’s Weekly” to “Walt’s Words” as I usually find it easier to write when I can and not once a week, as you may have noticed.

Rule changes for 2017 have come out and still maybe amended but for now this is what has changed for the Formula 1 series and the IMSA series.

FORMULA 1:

Track Width – from 1.8 meters to 2.0 meters or about a 6inch increase, or almost 6 ft to 6 1/2 feet.

Mostly this will be done by wider front and rear tires to help reduce understeer.

Tires – Front – An increase to 305mm

Rear –   An increase to 405mm

Front wing – Wider by 6 inches, and lower along with larger barge boards and diffusers.

 

This is expected to bring back faster cornering that we have not seen since around 2000 at a penalty of about 50 lbs.

IMSA:

2017: The four classes remain for 2017: Prototype (P), Prototype Challenge(PC), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD).  For GTLM in 2017, they will follow ACO Technical regulations and GTD will have FIA GT# Specifications.

2018: There will be three classes: Prototype (P), GT Le Mans (GTLM) and GT Daytona (GTD).  The Prototype Challenge class (PC) will have its own race using new cars, Daytona Prototype and LMP2 Le Mans class cars as a Pro+AM series.

2017 for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will see two new (4 hours ) races at Daytona and Laguna Seca.

The GS class will be using GT4 Technical Regulations with BMW to have a GT4 car for the 2018 season.

The ST class will remain the same for 2018.

An ever changing rules and Balance of Performance makes for an ever changing racing series and setups for the teams, but at least this all comes early enough to get a grip on everything much earlier than before.

 

Again, hope to see you at a race!  Drive safe and “DON’T TEXT AND DRIVE!” I would like to see you again.