What is Group ND

The purpose of Group ND Racing is to develop a new racing category to emulate, as far as practicable, the racing of various classes of touring cars that were raced in the period from 1 January, 1973 to 31 December, 1984.

Group ND Racing recognises that due to the scarcity and value of certain models that some vehicles will be ’up-speced’ and ‘built’ to match the manufacturer’s specification of a more desirable/sporting model that they emulate. Where such occurs, the vehicle must fully, and not just selectively, emulate the chosen model (ie both appearance and mechanics within the limits of the rules and freedoms).

Group ND Racing is for cars built between 1 January, 1973 to 31 December, 1984.

Start date

The Start date of 1 January 1973 was chosen to continue on from where the current NA, NB and NC classes currently end at 31 December 1972.

End Date

The End Date of 31 December 1984 was chosen for various reasons

• it is just past the Effective end of Group C in Australia and at the commencement of widespread adoption of Group A locally and internationally.
• C&A Heritage are an established historic category that only cater for original log booked Group C and Group A  race cars, but  they have proven there is considerable interest in this time period.
• Stopping at 1984 largely eliminates the entry of emerging 'supercars" like the R32 Skyline (Godzilla) and Sierra Cosworth, both of which will widen the performance gap in any event, as well as being technically very complex and thus expensive to race by amateurs, and equally difficult to regulate.  

Whist there were a few very high performance touring cars produced in the early to mid 1980's like the Audi Quattro sport, it is believed most models (if not all) were made in very small volumes and/or only sold to race teams, and will therefore be excluded from Nd on the basis they are not mass-produced for public purchase.

A hole currently exists in available racing classes for people who want to race cars made after 1972 either because of personal preference or because they find other classes such as 3J, 2B and 2F unaffordable or undesirable. There needs to be room for more amateur motor racing in the proposed ND era and beyond. 

Many previously raced cars from 1-make race series like Geminis or HQ's, have few opportunities to race with other period cars.

The image below shows the number of entrants spread across the various years for each of the existing classes. The classes are also arranged vertically from affordable at the bottom (Sprints) to unaffordable at the top (C&A)

Whilst there is no current definitive list of eligible vehicles, the following outlines what vehicles are hopefully potentially eligible.

key eligibility criteria

1. Touring cars that were manufactured between 1 January, 1973  and 31 December, 1984.
2. vehicles must have originally had a minimum of four forward facing adult sized seats
3. vehicles must have been available to the public through normal vehicle dealership networks with a minimum production volume of 200 units.
4. The vehicle being raced is built around a period bodyshell, not a modern replica or reproduction.

Historic Racing is possible with both sedans (touring cars) and sports cars, But ND is a proposed new group for touring cars only. Cars that Motorsport Australia have already classified as a Sports Car will not be eligible for Group ND Racing.

The vehicle used for ND Racing must have been available for purchase by the general public during the date ranges specified above but the actual car or body shell used can have a build date outside of the date range, subject to some conditions, but cannot be a modern replica shell.

Run on models

The body used can be from beyond 31 December 1984 but the exterior appearance and engine used must be consistent with a vehicle made before 31 December 1984. 

An example of a "run on model" is the E30 BMW which was built from 1982 to 1994 but you can only use the engines that were available up until 31 December 1984 ie you cant run a 2.7L engine.

Run in models

The body used can be from before 1 January, 1973 but the exterior appearance and engine used must be consistent with a vehicle made after1 January, 1973.

An example of a "run-in model" is the Triumph 2500 which was built from late 1969 to early 1978 with trivial changes to items like grilles and bumpers over the life. Any such shell is acceptable provided the key visual factors such as grille, are a post 72 specification Model.

Group NC and Group C

While there is some merit in simply adopting the existing requirements applying to Nc, there are emerging technologies in the Nd period that warrant reconsideration of some requirements and in a few cases, a totally new requirement.

The current processes for seeking technical changes to a vehicle specification, especially component substitution requests (ie , a racer wants to alter or replace a factory part) , can be lengthy and complex, creating considerable administrative effort. Many of the existing special requirements have their origin in the period, yet parts availability has changed dramatically. To avoid the bulk of such issues, the Nd proposal is to have many matters "free" via the special requirements section.

Numerous stakeholders have suggested the period Group C rules should be applied in whole or mostly. A detailed examination of this idea has show why it is probably not workable today and will probably result in the same innumerable substitution requests when OEM parts cannot be found. This is further discussed in detail here:

Specific Requirements Discussion

There is believed to be much merit in trying to reduce the cost of construction and maintaining an amateur race car of this time period. The proposed specific requirements seek to address this in part by allowing the use of readily available parts provided they do not detract from the overall period appearance of the model. Further, it is proposed to permit advertising on car with some restrictions.

Group ND is being developed to align with the Motor Sport Australia (MSA) framework. The Group ND Regulations will require both General Requirements and Specific Requirements as per the current Motor Sport Australia Manual,5th Category Historic Cars.

5TH CATEGORY – HISTORIC CARS

General Requirements

Group ND will basically align with the current Motorsport Australia General Requirements for Historic Race cars. Some minor changes will probably need to be made the existing wording to include the words ND, along with some definitions for newer technologies that Group ND brings into historic racing such as Forced Induction and Fuel Injection. 

Specific Requirements

Group ND will require a complete new set of Specific Requirements very similar in layout to the existing Specific Requirements for other Historic Racing Classes that extend the General Requirements. The new Specific Requirements will touch on the following subjects.

Group ND Specific Requirements

Group ND will require Vehicle Specifications to be developed for each log booked vehicle as per the existing Na, Nb and Nc regulations.

Group ND Racing are suggesting that more stringent and Era Specific vehicle specifications will required.

Vehicle Specifications   Vehicle Specifications Document

The idea of Group ND has been growing for many years. What started off as an idea to form an historic group for cars built after 1972 was shared by a few racers and slowly gained momentum as we started to look at the existing regulations for Groups Na, Nb and Nc and considered how could the time period be extended and what new rules might be needed to cater for the economic realties of parts supply and changing technology in cars.

The Group C era was an obvious time frame to consider and also provided some very old regulations and FIA documentation to use as a starting point. Regulations from overseas historic groups and categories that cater for touring cars of the same era were also reviewed and considered.

We reached out to other interested racers and various MA officials to gain input and work though the ideas identifying various elements of existing Groups that we could leverage from. Along the way we identified a few issues that we though we could improve upon and few that really should be avoided.

The diagram below shows a helicopter view of how the Group ND idea evolved into the current set of draft regulations here on our website. We will continue to seek feedback from our community and soon provide our proposal to Motorsport Australia. 

Parts Substitution lists under the current Group N regulations is seen as an overly complicated part of the overall process that takes a huge effort to manage and is the background cause of many debates within the group N racing fraternity.

Group ND racing want to do away with this outdated process for Group ND and have adopted a far easier solution to manage going forward. We have identified key elements of a vehicles specification that are reflected in both the specific requirements and the vehicle specifications.

Vehicles built in the Group ND era usually underwent multiple parts variations by the manufacturer and policing what bits were used when and where add to the complexity of parts substitutions

Some examples of how we have incorporated this into the specific requirements are listed below

The number of ignition coils must not be altered

Limiting the number of ignition coils will potentially only effect highly modified forced induction engines and prevent a move to more modern coil-on-plug systems which, whilst common in performance road car modifications, will be visually and obviously incorrect for the period. The rest of the ignition system is free allowing for parts substitution.

Transmission must be from a production model and have the same number of forward gears

Manufacturers would enhance or completely change transmissions and gear ratios as the vehicle developed over time. A substitution listing for transmissions could be exhaustive. Quite often a gearbox from a more up spec vehicle or later model is easier to source and can easily be fitted to a lower spec or older vehicle with little or no effort but. By permitting this level of freedom but excluding the likes of a 4 to 5 speed upgrade, there is little or no performance gain, it keeps cost down but may improve reliability.

FInal Drive can not widen the wheel drive flange to flange by more than 40mm

Being able to alter the final drive assembly allows competitors to utilize readily available and relatively lower cost components. By limiting the width and not making changes to the pickup points allows for some freedom but not permit wholesale changes to the vehicle