“Junior rules should help even the field”
Junior rallying in Ireland is spectacular, of that there is no doubt. Talented young drivers fight it out in highly-developed Honda Civics, Ford Escorts and Toyota Starlets, some of which are touching 250hp from their normally aspirated 1.6-litre engines.
Body shells are works of art, in some cases aping modern cars in their design, with serious thought put into weight reduction and distribution. Stage times can be stunning, with many drivers embarrassing much quicker cars running in the main field. Costs are kept under control, too, with reduced entry fees and a stringent set of regulations to keep the cost of car builds low… oh, wait. That’s not the case.
The Junior idea was a novel one when introduced back in 2004, but in recent years it has spiralled beyond all control. No Super 1600-specification cars are eligible (though R2 machines are), but technology has moved on at such a pace that to be truly competitive, you basically need a Formula 2 kit-car housed in a 25-year old Honda shell.
Motorsport is expensive, always has been, and will continue to be for as long as there are vehicles to race. Looking at the upper echelons of the sport, that’s understandable. But, when the very first rung of the ladder is insurmountable for most, we have a problem. I once sat on the start line of a Junior rally in a Group N Peugeot 106 GTI, as the car in front competing in the same class took off like a fighter plane from a carrier, its gearbox worth twice what our entire car cost. All we could do was laugh at the folly of it all.
Thankfully, it looks like sense is finally starting to prevail. Motorsport Ireland recently announced sweeping changes to the Junior technical regulations from 2019 onwards in a bid to cut build costs, the banning of sequential gearboxes being particularly noteworthy. With the amount of engine modifications allowed now also becoming more tightlycontrolled, we should see cars return to the level they were at a decade ago, with a corresponding increase in competition throughout the class. A 10hp difference from car to car isn’t much, but a 50hp one most definitely is…
Feedback has generally been positive, and already it seems that Junior entries will increase next year. The introduction of a new Novice class for newcomers to the sport is also a welcome move, with the lack of an age limit allowing drivers over the age of 26 (the Junior limit) to gain experience.
However, without a reduction in entry fees, an engine capacity limit of 1450cc and very few modifications allowed, it will be interesting to see how many take to the new idea. A little more work may be needed to perfect the category over the next few years, but change is happening at last. It’s been needed for quite some time.