New Developments in Regional Racing with NC Region for 2020

North Carolina Region is implementing a number of changes and enhancements to its Regional racing program at VIR for 2020. Here’s a rundown:

• SARRC: All of NC Region’s SARRC races will comfortably exceed the minimum required length as prescribed by SARRC rules. Saturday qualifying sessions are being increased to 20 minutes and Sunday races are being increased to 35 minutes. In exchange, Sunday qualifying has been replaced by 10-minute open practice. May’s races will be a little shorter due to an additional run group.
• APC; ECR: SEDIV’s popular Enduro series are being reworked for 2020. After suffering from tight schedules and shorter races in recent years, both series have settled on a new standard race length. APC and ECR will run 65-minute races each day in 2020. The new length is designed to allow two drivers to each have a 30-minute shift around a mandatory 5-minute pit stop. However, there is no requirement to have two drivers. A driver may ‘solo’ the Enduro if desired.
• TCS: Tarheel Cup Series is unique to VIR. For 2020, it’s being re-tooled to become a 45-minute race to be run concurrently with ECR & APC. It will be specifically targeted at drivers for whom two 30-minute SARRC races aren’t enough, but either don’t want to, or whose cars are not well-suited to compete in a longer two-driver Enduro. In order to trophy and accumulate series points, a 5-minute pit stop is still required, but a driver may ‘waiver’ and forfeit the points and trophy to get 45 minutes of continuous seat time.
• New Enduro-eligible classes added: For all Enduro series, additional classes will now be permitted to enter. Basically, all IT, Miatas (all forms), SRF (both varieties), Prod and GT3, and Small Bore will now be eligible to compete: B-Spec EP, FP, GT3, GTL, HP, ITA, ITB, ITC, ITR, ITS, IT7, IT7R, SM, SMT, SMSE, SMSET, SM5, SPU, SRF, SRF3, SRX7, SSM, STL, STU, T3, T4
• Entry fees and discounts: We have been notified of a modest rent increase by VIR, along with a sanction fee increase and a new insurance deductible from SCCA. While we’ve had to increase initial entry fees slightly, in response we’ve increased the multi-race discounts for 2020 to help offset it. A third race is still $100 off while a fourth race is now $200 off bringing total discounts available to $325 for four races.