•Returning 'new' championship includes RGT class•SVP investigating development of RGT-specification Porsche Cayman•Expects to be competitive with GT3 Porsche 911 •Expects cost to be less than 50% of GT3 911
Independent Porsche expert Specialist Vehicle Preparations (SVP) has said it is 'excited' by the unveiling of the class structure for the 2016 MSA British Rally Championship. The re-designed series, returning in 2016 after a one-year hiatus, will include an RGT class, mirroring the FIA class seen on the World Rally Championship and will allow SVP's customers to run as part of one of the most significant national championships in rallying.
Formed in 2007 by Dominic Delaney, whose experience includes the World Rally Championship with the ultra-successful Mitsubishi World Rally Team and in Formula One, with the Williams team, SVP has earned itself an enviable reputation for servicing, repairs and conversion work on all classic and modern Porsches.
It has also converted numerous cars for motorsport, including sprints and hillclimbs, circuit racing and has already developed a 'clubman' specification of tarmac rally car, based on the popular Cayman model.
The adoption of the RGT class into the 2016 BRC means that the company can convert and run cars to the full FIA specification for the returning series, which in 2016 runs over four gravel and three asphalt rallies.
In the WRC, several Porsche 911 GT3 cars ran in 2014 and 2015 and always to a rapturous welcome from the crowds; the sound of one of the most famous engines in motoring history driven in anger in the forests is not forgotten quickly.
However, the full RGT-specification 997 GT3 is an expensive proposition and Delaney sees a far more cost-effective, and potentially just as competitive, prospect with an RGT Cayman.
Commenting after a presentation by the BRC organisers at Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire, Delaney said; "I am incredibly excited at the prospect of being able to develop and run an RGT version of the Cayman for the UK. We have considerable experience of this car from our road, track and sprint work and know that, certainly on asphalt, it is a very quick and cost-effective option.
"We have much less experience of using the Cayman on gravel and so, we are evaluating the options with a view to beginning a development process for a loose surface specification, for the four gravel rallies in the 2016 series.
"I am confident that once we have finalised a specification, we could offer a rally-ready RGT Cayman for less than half of the cost of a comparable RGT 911 GT3 and still be competitive with it.
"I think that our experience with the Porsche brand, combined with that of rallying over several decades and also, of rallying in the UK with a Group N Subaru and in the Formula 1000 Junior series [Delaney's son Tom competes in F1000 Junior], places us in a very good position to be able to offer customers a complete service, using a new specification of Cayman."
The first round of the new-for-2016 MSA British Rally Championship kicks off the first weekend in March, with the Mid-Wales Stages rally and culminates six months later, at the Granite City Rally in Scotland.
