Bench racing time!

So, there's a new class that's been announced for the Targa Newfoundland: the Next Generation Challenge. Displacement cap is 1.6 l. There are no factors for forced induction or magic spinning triangles, so you can run either (or both) if that's how the car is equipped from the factory. The car has to be for sale in North America from 2009 or later.

So, what's your winning car? A Fiesta with the rally pack? A Mazda 2 B-spec? MINI Cooper S JCW? Fiat 500 R3T?

Heavily ported RX8.

I would think an RX8 R3 could do well.

does the engine have to run in standard trim? or can computer settings be enhanced as long as the hardware is stock? can aftermarket goddies be added for better performance?

I'm going to vote RX-8 as well.

clutchsmoke wrote: Honda Fit with lots of boost.

I disbelieve there're factory-boosted Fits.

EDIT: Or you can edit your post, lol.

Fiat 695 Tributo Ferrari

/thread

Other than the lack of displacement adjustments, the cars run under the standard Targa rules. There are three levels of modification plus the Open class. This award does not distinguish between the modification class of the car. So you can get pretty nuts with engine mods.

I suspect that the RX8 was forgotten when the rulebook was written, and we may see rotaries penalized or disallowed from this particular class. I suspect the same will apply to aftermarket forced induction, as it's always been treated differently than factory setups in the event. The intent seems to be a class for hot hatches.

Here's the official poop:

Provisional Targa rulebook said:

a. The Next Generation Challenge two-year trial will be:
i) A competition-within-a-competition which runs concurrently with the Targa Division for production cars sold in North America and displacing 1.6-litres or less. The displacement limit will not be subject to the adjustment factors applied to regular Targa classes. Cars that meet the 1.6-litre displacement limit but that are not sold in North America are not eligible.
ii) Cars from model year 2009 and newer will be eligible. Vehicles produced prior to the 2009 model year may be eligible if their Original Equipment Specifications (OES) are identical to the same vehicle produced for the 2009 model year and later.
iii) Currently, this competition will include numerous manufacturers’ products, including:
- Chevrolet Cruze 1.4 turbo and derivatives
- Fiat 500 and Fiat Abarth 500 and derivatives
- Ford Fiesta and derivatives
- Honda Fit and derivatives
- Hyundai Accent and derivatives
- Kia Rio and derivatives
- Mazda2 and derivatives
- MINI Cooper and derivatives
- Nissan Juke turbo and Nissan Versa sedans and their derivatives
- Suzuki Swift and derivatives (incl. GM badge clones)
- Toyota Yaris and derivatives.
v) Eligible new cars will be added to this list as they become available in the North American market.

b. Entrants must enter either the Modern or Open Division competition and comply with the rules of either Modern or Open Divisions within Targa. Eligible entries in Modern or Open must indicate they also wish to enter the NGC competition.

c. Vehicles entered in the Open Division will be required to use the same engine as the make and model entered.

d. The competition factor for NGC will be the same as in the Modern and Open competitions.

e. NGC entries will score within their respective Divisions as well as in the NG Challenge.

f. There is no additional charge to enter NGC.

g. A separate Next Generation Challenge award will be offered for the competition. Certain other rules may also apply.

It's worth noting that Jim Kenzie in his JCW MINI has done extremely well in the past, including an overall win last year.

Is it possible to get the Fiat 500 R3T in the US?

destroked ms3? Wait, no, that would be stupid.

killerkane wrote: Is it possible to get the Fiat 500 R3T in the US?

Not at the moment, but Ralph Gillies has raced the Targa several times in the past. If he should show up with a pre-production R3T and say "it's coming in 2013", I'll bet they'd let him run. Targa's a sort of "how can we make this work?" kind of organization, and there have been a couple of hints along this line. I didn't come up with the R3T on my own - and I think it would have a hard time beating a JCW MINI.

What about the 695 though? Same HP as the JCW with the sequential 'box and about 400Lbs less weight.

Granted, we have no reason to believe it's ever coming to the US. The regular Abarth 500 Esse Esse looks to be a good match for the JCW Cooper though.

And I'm a little confused on the rules, is boost allowed to be added? Because if not, I really don't think the RX-8 stands a chance. Not enough torque.

I like the Cruze, but I am partial to NA vehicles.

An Open Class car can have aftermarket boost, and the rules don't specifically say this is not allowed in the Next Generation Challenge. But as I said, the rules have historically treated factory boost and aftermarket boost separately. If the Next Generation Challenge is restricted to the "production based" Modified classes, then only factory boosted cars are allowed to be boosted. You can change the turbo, but you can't add more Open class cars are really Open.

This proposed class is brand new, and it's quite possible that some of these sort of questions will result in fine-tuning of the ruleset.

What about the new Elise and Elise CR? It is heavier than the old ones w/ less power so it may be outgunned.

Just a thought.

No one has done a 1.6T AWD Hot Hatch yet have they?

Elise's have a 1.8?

Well, Mazda did back in 1987 and called it the 323 GTX. But it's too old!

Nissan Puke?

How big is the motor in the Suzuki SX4? I don't think it's boosted though.

What about the Hyundai Veloster? It's turbocharged, but no AWD.

US market SX4 is a 2.0 liter engine.

imirk wrote: No one has done a 1.6T AWD Hot Hatch yet have they? Elise's have a 1.8?

The new Elise has a 1.6, 134hp.

Nissan Juke AWD... with lotsa boost

I think the Ferrari was brought in by canoe.

In reply to Keith:

I think it'll come down to the Mini versus the Juke. It all depends on how well the Juke can be made to ... juke?