1966?1982 FIA motor racing classification
Group 5
was an
FIA
motor racing classification which was applied to four distinct categories during the years 1966 to 1982. Initially Group 5 regulations defined a Special Touring Car category and from 1970 to 1971 the classification was applied to limited production Sports Cars restricted to 5 litre engine capacity. The Group 5 Sports Car category was redefined in 1972 to exclude the minimum production requirement and limit engine capacity to 3 litres. From 1976 to 1982 Group 5 was for Special Production Cars, a liberal
silhouette
formula based on homologated production vehicles.
1st Generation Group 5 ? "Special Touring Cars" (1966 to 1969)
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In 1966 the FIA introduced a number of new racing categories including one for highly modified touring cars, officially known as Group 5 Special Touring Cars. The regulations permitted vehicle modifications beyond those allowed in the concurrent Group 1 and Group 2 Touring Car categories.
[1]
Group 5 regulations were adopted for the
British Saloon Car Championship
from 1966
[1]
and for the
European Touring Car Championship
from 1968.
[2]
The Special Touring Cars category was discontinued after the 1969 season.
2nd Generation Group 5 - "Sports Cars" (1970 to 1971)
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For the 1970 season, the FIA applied the Group 5 classification to the Sports Car class which had previously been known as
Group 4 Sports Cars
. The minimum production requirement remained at 25 and the engine capacity maximum at 5 litres as had applied in the superseded Group 4.
Group 5 Sports Cars contested the FIA's
International Championship for Makes
in 1970 & 1971, alongside the 3 litre
Group 6 Prototype Sports Cars
.
During 1970 the
FIA
decided to replace the existing Group 5 Sports Car category when the rules expired at the end of the 1971 season, so the big 917s and 512s would have to be retired at the end of that year. Surprisingly, Ferrari decided to give up any official effort with the 512 in order to prepare for the new 1972 season regulations. But many 512s were still raced by private teams, most of them converted to M specification. As a result of the rule change, sports car racing popularity suffered and did not recover until the following decade, with the advent of
Group C
which incidentally were forced out of competition in favour of the 3.5
atmo
engine formula, reminiscent of events nineteen years previous.
Background to the 5 Litre Sports Car category
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In an effort to reduce the speeds generated at
Le Mans
and other fast circuits of the day by the unlimited capacity Group 6 Prototypes such as the 7 litre Fords, and to entice manufacturers of 3 litre Formula One engines into endurance racing, the
Commission Sportive Internationale
(then the independent competition arm of the
FIA
) announced that the new International Championship for Makes would be run for Group 6 Sports-Prototypes limited to 3 litre capacity for the four years from 1968 through 1971.
Well-aware that few manufacturers were ready to immediately take up the challenge, the CSI also allowed the participation of 5 litre Group 4 Sports Cars manufactured in quantities of at least 50 units. This targeted existing cars like the aging
Ford GT40
and the newer
Lola T70
coupe.
In April 1968, the CSI announced that, as there were still too few entries in the 3 litres Group 6 Prototype category, the minimal production figure to compete in the Group 4 Sport category of the International Championship of Makes would be reduced from 50 to 25 starting in 1969 through to the planned end of the rules in 1971. This was mainly to allow the homologation in Group 4 of cars such as the
Ferrari 250 LM
and the
Lola T70
which had not been manufactured in sufficient quantities to qualify (unless, in the case of the Lola T70, the open Can-Am cars were counted as well).
Starting in July 1968, Porsche made a surprising and very expensive effort to take advantage of this rule. As they were rebuilding race cars with new chassis every race or two anyway, they decided to conceive, design and build 25 versions of a whole new car for the Sport category with one underlying goal: to win its first overall victory in the
24 Hours of Le Mans
. In only ten months the
Porsche 917
was developed, based upon the
Porsche 908
, with remarkable technology: Porsche's first 12-cylinder engine, and many components made of titanium, magnesium and exotic alloys that had been developed for lightweight hillclimb racers. Other ways of weight reduction were rather simple, like a gear lever knob made of
Balsa
wood.
When Porsche was first visited by the CSI inspectors only three cars were completed, while 18 were being assembled and seven additional sets of parts were present. Porsche argued that if they assembled the cars they would then have to take them apart again to prepare the cars for racing. The inspectors refused the homologation and asked to see 25 assembled and working cars.
On April 20
Ferdinand Piech
displayed 25 917s parked in front of the Porsche factory to the CSI inspectors. Piech even offered the opportunity to drive one of the cars, which was declined.
During June 1969,
Enzo Ferrari
sold half of his stock to
FIAT
, and used some of that money to do what
Porsche
did 6 months earlier with the 917, to build 25 cars powered by a 5-litre V12 in order to compete against them. With the financial help of Fiat, that risky investment was made, and surplus cars were intended to be sold to racing customers to compete for the 1970 season. Within 9 months Ferrari manufactured 25
512S
cars.
Ferrari entries only consisted of the factory cars, tuned by SpA SEFAC and there were the private cars of
Scuderia Filipinetti, N.A.R.T., Ecurie Francorchamps, Scuderia Picchio Rosso, Gelo Racing Team
and
Escuderia Montjuich
which not receive the same support from the factory. They were considered as field fillers, never as candidate for a win. At Porsche, however, JWA Gulf, KG Salzburg who were then replaced by
Martini Racing
for the following season, received all direct factory support and the privateers like
AAW Shell Racing
and
David Piper
Racing received a much better support than Ferrari's clients.
The 917 instability problem was resolved with a revised rear hatch, which was called 917K (Kurzheck). There was a long tail version known as the 917LH (Langheck). Towards the end of the 1970 season,
Ferrari
entered some races with a new version of the 512, the 512M which had a revised bodywork
3rd Generation Group 5 ? "Sports Cars" (1972 to 1975)
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For 1972, the FIA applied the Group 5 classification to what had previously been known as the Group 6 Prototype Sports Cars category. These cars, now officially Group 5 Sports Cars, were limited to a 3-litre engine capacity and were to be the main competitors in events counting towards the FIA's newly renamed
World Championship for Makes
from 1972 to 1975. Unlike the old Group 5, there was no minimum production requirement.
4th Generation Group 5 ? "Special Production Cars" (1976 to 1982)
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For the 1976 season the FIA introduced a new Group 5 "Special Production Car" category, allowing extensive modifications to production based vehicles which were homologated in FIA Groups 1 through 4. These cars would contest the World Championship for Makes series from 1976 through to 1980 and then the
World Endurance Championship
in 1981 an 1982. The
Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft
also used these regulations from 1977 until 1981. The only non-circuit events that used Group 5 cars were in the
Giro d'Italia automobilistico
rally.
The rules restricted the width of the car, therefore cars were built with standard body widths but wide mudguard extensions. The regulation required only the bonnet, roof, doors and rail panel were left unmodified.
[3]
The rules however did not mention headlight heights, therefore when Porsche originally were to enter the
935
with the production headlight, they read the rules and discovered the loophole, therefore they raced the 935 with the hallmark flat nose. The category was also mostly associated with the wide boxy wheel arches and extravagant body style.
The category would be banished after 1982 in favour of the
Group B
regulation, but continued to compete in
JSPC
, IMSA GTX category and other national sports car racing championships for a few more years.
Racing Series that included FIA Group 5 cars
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1st Generation
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2nd Generation
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3rd Generation
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4th Generation
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Groups 1-9
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Categories and Groups of Appendix J 1954 - 1965
Categories
|
1954
|
1955
|
1956
|
1957
|
1958
|
1959
|
1960
|
1961
|
1962
|
1963
|
1964
|
1965
|
I. Touring
|
A. Touring
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II. Sports
|
II. Grand Touring
|
B. Grand Touring
|
-
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C. Sports
|
Group
|
1954
|
1955
|
1956
|
1957
|
1958
|
1959
|
1960
|
1961
|
1962
|
1963
|
1964
|
1965
|
Group 1
|
Normal series production
|
Group 2
|
"Grand Touring" series prod
|
Modified series prod
|
Modified series prod
|
Group 3
|
Special series production
|
Grand Touring Cars
|
Group 4
|
Series production
|
Normal GT series prod
|
Sports Car
|
Group 5
|
International
|
Modified GT series prod
|
-
|
Group 6
|
-
|
GT specials
|
-
|
Source:
[4]
[5]
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Categories and Groups of Appendix J 1966 - 1981 (Production requirement)
Categories
|
1966
|
1967
|
1968
|
1969
|
1970
|
1971
|
1972
|
1973
|
1974
|
1975
|
1976
|
1977
|
1978
|
1979
|
1980
|
1981
|
A. Production
|
B. Special
|
B. Experimental Competition
|
B. Racing Cars
|
C. Racing Cars
|
-
|
Group
|
1966
|
1967
|
1968
|
1969
|
1970
|
1971
|
1972
|
1973
|
1974
|
1975
|
1976
|
1977
|
1978
|
1979
|
1980
|
1981
|
Group 1
|
Series Touring (5000)
|
Group 2
|
Touring (1000)
|
Special Touring (1000)
|
Group 3
|
Grand Touring (500)
|
Series Grand Touring (1000)
|
Group 4
|
Sportscars (50/25)
|
Special Grand Touring (500)
|
Grand Touring (400)
|
Group 5
|
Special Touring Cars
|
Sports cars (50)
|
Sports cars
|
Special cars derived from Groups 1-4
|
Group 6
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Prototype sportscars
|
-
|
Two-seater racecars
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Group 7
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Two-seater racecars
|
International formula
|
Group 8
|
Formula racing cars
|
International formula
|
Formula libre racing cars
|
Group 9
|
Formula libre racing cars
|
-
|
Source:
[4]
[5]
Note:
Special
may be replaced with
Competition
in some official documents.
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References
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External links
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FIA
categories and groups
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Category I
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Category II
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Category III
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Former
categories
and groups
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Category II
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Category A
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Category B
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Category C
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