Related to the original news topic: The yellow Miata at the end of the row? Supposedly being prepped for vintage. 
How do you define vintage racing? If you’re the Vintage Racer Group, vintage racing now goes up through 1989.
“In addition,” the release explains, “recognizing the safety standards incorporated into the design of many of these 1980s production cars allows VRG to relax the fuel cell requirement for many of these cars. These changes will allow select SCCA IT cars and other 1980s production cars to be eligible for participation with VRG.”
Cars now eligible to run with this East Coast group include favorites like the E30-chassis BMW, VW Golf, Honda Civic and CRX, Mazda RX-7 and Porsche 944. Even though the Miata technically debuted for the 1990 model year, the release states that 1.6-liter models are welcome.
“We are hoping to attract new friends with cool cars to come race with us safely!” VRG President Mike Lawton said in a release. “We met a number people who fit into this expanded group through the new VRG Virtual Racing League we started in May 2020 and have already seen some of them at our VRG races held at Watkins Glen and Summit Point in 2020.”
The 2021 VRG schedule visits VIR, Summit Point, Thompson, PittRace, Lime Rock Park and Watkins Glen.
Related to the original news topic: The yellow Miata at the end of the row? Supposedly being prepped for vintage.
I know it's because of the natural passage of time, but it's wild to think '80s cars are classics now.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Some of them were classics when they left the factory.
This is both exciting and possibly catastrophic to my bank balance.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Some but surely not all?!?!? I mean an econo 4 door sedan is going to remain that isn't it?
Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, Corvette. OK.
But a 4 door automatic sedan, even it is tarted up with numbers and a roll cage? I understand people with limitations using an automatic but at least a car with sporty pretensions .
Mk2 16v gti racing just became a thing again
In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :
Totally yes--perhaps with some Firehawk history.
All of the car listed are solid iconic cars from that era. I say bravo VRG.
In Tom's world any 30yr old car properly prepared would be accepted.
We are having the discussion about vintage racing among the F500 group. I ran my 87 Novakar this past fall, I think I was the first person to run one at a vintage race and some might question this but how is a 34 year old race car not a vintage race car?
So again bravo VRG
frenchyd said:In reply to David S. Wallens :
Some but surely not all?!?!? I mean an econo 4 door sedan is going to remain that isn't it?
Aston Martin, Ferrari, Jaguar, Corvette. OK.
But a 4 door automatic sedan, even it is tarted up with numbers and a roll cage? I understand people with limitations using an automatic but at least a car with sporty pretensions .
Just for fun, I thought I'd try to think up what might be the sportiest cars that were made in the '80s, sold in the US, and had four doors, four cylinders, and an automatic. Something like a Volvo 240 or 740 would have been a presence in club level racing for quite a while, of course, but let's see if there's something that also doesn't quite fit the "boxy but good" styling.
Shelby did put together a few of his tuner cars with automatics, like the Shelby Lancer.
From Germany, it appears you could get a Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 with an automatic.
What other contenders are out there?
St Mary's Trophy at Goodwood. 4 doors seem to have an awful lot of racing history.
In reply to MadScientistMatt :
I remember a guy racing a Volvo 244 in ITB.
There are tons of 4 door cars from that era; I'd love to do a Cressida, they had a detuned Supra motor and came with 5 speeds. They were my favorite car when I worked at the Toyota dealer in the early 80s.
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