Belgian Historic Cup preview

Historic racing branded with a national statute

BRAVO will celebrate its seventh season in 2009. Following on from five years under the wings of Circuit Zolder, of which three seasons under the Belcar umbrella, the VAS Historic Omloop went its own way in 2008. More a question of need than virtue, as due to the re profiling of Circuit Zolder the Belcar Original and the Belcar Endurance Cup came to an end in 2007, as also the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Historic Sprint. However last season Circuit Zolder did allow the Historics to enjoy two weekends as curtain raiser to the 24 Hours of Zolder and the 10 Hours of Zolder. For the remaining five weekends on the VAS Historic-calendar, BRAVO was obliged to buy track time from another organiser and this as compared to the previous seasons where Circuit Zolder had taken the organisation for their own account.

"2008 will be a transitional year", BRAVO-chairman emphasised exactly one year ago. And this is precisely what transpired. Notwithstanding an excellent sporting season BRAVO was faced with a financial headache at the end of 2008. And all this in spite of the fact that amongst the drivers, several sponsors had been found. As such all parties came together to find a solution regarding cost reductions and making the events more attractive for competitors. BRAVO found the solution at the RACB, through detaching itself from the VAS and flying its own national banner. As from now on we are talking about the Belgian Historic Cup. This implies that the Historic competition becomes a fully fledged Belgian championship.

"This option offers nothing else than advantages. We discussed matters with other organisations, but in the long run this was the best solution", Mahieu continued.

"We can retain our prices to all competitors and we no longer need to request derogations in order to appear with other national championships on a Sunday. Highly important for us seeing quite a few of our drivers are self-employed and need to keep their businesses open on a Saturday. It also means that we can compete without any problems during the major historic events such as the Spa Summer Classic and the Spa Six Hours, and this without any limitations or permission from the RACB. The fact that we are now a Belgian Series implies that we can also attract foreign competitors, whom in the past were rather reluctant due to the fact that it was a regional championship. The response we have received up until now from abroad is big and our major step towards becoming a national championship has been received with open arms by one and all. We presently have a number of foreign competitors who have shown an interest in the Belgian Historic Cup, especially from Great Britain. The Belgian Historic Cup in Belgium will also be able to count on increased media coverage abroad. This in turn opens up new venues in the hunt for sponsorship. Together with the RACB, BRAVO will be bringing this championship up to a higher level."

Both the sporting as also the technical regulations remain almost unaltered. The three different Classes remain, as also the various Groups depending on their engine capacity per Class.

Class 1 of Historic Cup includes cars built up until end 1981, either entirely original or which are allowed an adaptation according to the FIA homologation.

Also the Class 2 of Classic Cup includes cars up until end 1981. This class allows for numerous exemptions; however the technical alterations must date prior to 1982.

The Class 3 of Youngtimers Cup also enjoys numerous exemptions and is limited up to construction year end 1988. Turbos remain refused in the above-mentioned Classes.

There is however an additional Class 4 for guest drivers whereby the cars need to comply with the safety norms, but not with the present valid technical specifications in the individual Classes. In spite of the fact that turbos are banned in these present regulations there is a chance that we might see them in the future. The limit has been set at 1988 and at that time these were the top days of amongst others the Ford Sierra Cosworth, the Volvo 240 turbo, the R5 Turbo, and so forth. The cars competing in this Class 4 will quite obviously not score points for the championship.

-credit: bravo-racing.be