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This weekend at Spa-Francorchamps will see the first race of the Belcar series 2006. Normally, the opening round of the series takes place at Zolder – the home ground of Belcar - but the civil works there forced the organization to be unfaithful to their own philosophy and to ‘go into exile’ at Spa.

Belcar not only starts its 10^th season, this last season of a decade of racing is also a very important one. Ten seasons of endurance racing is something to be proud of, something that Circuit Zolder without any doubt is.

The level of the Belcar series is still increasing after nine seasons and that’s something exceptional in motorsport. This crescendo is not only the work of the organisation, but it is without doubt the result of cooperation with teams, drivers and sponsors. This is also the result of a way of working where every partner always believes in the product ‘Belcar’ and its future.

The big differences between this season and past seasons are twofold: firstly, the rulebook has been rewritten, and what’s more 2006 is still only a year of transition. Secondly, Belcar is no longer one championship, but a brand covering different series. The Belcar Umbrella unites the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original, the Belcar Endurance Cup, the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Historic Sprint, in order to provide as much racing as possible during the event weekends.

One could say that this comes close to what Nascar does in the United States with the Nextel Cup Series, the Busch Series and the Truck Series. This evolution raises questions among many people and so some extra information is more than welcome.

Marc Martens, the promoter of both Circuit Zolder and the Belcar Umbrella is the right man to answer those questions.

Last but not least, this first race of the Belcar series invites all fans to attend by offering free tickets on www.pitstop.tv and www.radiocontact.be. One can download and print tickets on these websites.

Will the newborn Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar Original 2006 be again a ‘Grand-Cru’, despite all the changes?

Marc Martens: “I think that the current state of the entry-list is the answer to all the critics we heard from during recent months. Right now, we have 43 entries and that’s exactly what we had last year too. I agree that the late publication of the definitive rulebook caused some problems. We always wanted to launch the new 2006 rules by the end of the season, during the Belcar Masters 2005. But circumstances forced us to delay the date until the end of January. This was a pity, as we wanted to get more foreign teams in our series. Over the winter period, we received enquiries from over ten teams from abroad, but without a rulebook, it’s difficult to finalize things, so many of them went elsewhere.

Over the last decade, Belcar has known a natural, almost organic, evolution thanks to the symbiosis of teams, drivers and series promoters. The RACB gave us carte blanche for the rulebook even though we kept in mind the advice of the RACB Sport.

More recently, the late John Goossens, president of the RACB, started to change the RACB’s philosophy. The actual strong core of the RACB, Michel Jodoigne, Koen Wijckmans and Kurt Van Campenhout, continues this way. In the past, sprint races (Procar and new Procar) were primordial for the RACB whereas the Belcar had its own, steady evolution, but when those sprint championships disappeared, Belcar became the sole national Belgian circuit championship, which is still becoming even more professional with even better entries.

The assignment of RACB Sport – as is the case for all sports’ federations – is to define the framework within the specific sport and ensure a perfectly run championship. In consultation with the RACB Sport, which lays down the regulations, it is up to us, as the promoter, not only to preserve the Belcar spirit but also to try to finely weave everything together.

As such it was the RACB Sport’s ambition and demand to implement as many as possible of the FIA GT regulations in Class 1, an almost logical result of our popularity. However up until now we rarely had any FIA cars in our championship, owing to the fact that they would need to carry out substantial modifications to conform to the specific Belcar regulations. Today Belgian teams can enter a car in FIA GT and the Mediagroep Van Dyck Belcar without these technical manipulations and reciprocally teams emanating from the FIA GT can opt for Belcar in a trouble-free manner.

It was our mission, in consultation, to link our basic principles to the expectations of RACB Sport. Our exotic machinery (Marcos, Stealth and even Viper) and the Porsche biturbos – cars which are no longer or rarely present in the FIA GT – but on the other hand represent a majority of our field in Class 1, we obviously needed to be able to retain these and additionally they also needed to be competitive.
Together with Kurt Van Campenhout, we as promoters must see to it that amongst the competitors the internal values are levelled out as closely as possible. Hence the new handicap system, and also the fact that there are also additional intervention measures. It is specifically in function of these that we are talking about a transitional year. You can hardly define regulations based on the budgets of the participating bodies, but on the other hand you can try to ensure that the top cars in their respective Classes are well matched.”

Is Belcar getting too expensive if one wants to compete for victory?

Marc Martens: “2006 will be a transitional year. We will have to watch closely how things go without changing everything brutally. If necessary, changes are possible during the ongoing season and beyond. We have to follow the philosophy and demands of RACB/FIA, that’s an evolution we can’t stop any more.

In my opinion, this counts for the whole of motorsport. Everything is getting more expensive and even more complicated. But being a national championship, we still welcome cars such as a Viper, a Porsche, a Stealth or a Marcos that are outdated in the international series. A Viper is actually rather affordable and it is still a car to race at the front of our Mediagroep Van Dyck Original series. Don’t forget that ten years ago, Belcar was a regional series and our evolution still needs to be continued.

The real, pure amateur no longer has his place in the Belcar Original series and to me this is a positive evolution. ‘Back to the roots’ is impossible, I think. Those roots are still there but in the Belcar Endurance Cup instead of the Belcar Original. The pure amateur will have more value for money as he now races at the same meeting as the Belcar Original, which means, even on a Saturday, more spectators and press compared to the old Zolder Touring Cup.

Another good evolution is the splitting of the GTB field. The stronger cars (Posche 996 RS or Mosler etc.) now play in Class 2, wile the Porsche Supercup and others, in the past often forgotten in the middle of the field, now have their own class: class 3. Without increasing their budget, those teams, racing for example a Porsche Supercup, will have their own title fight in the Belcar Original.

Last but not least, we see that most teams, and especially the top teams, have known the same professional evolution as Belcar itself. GLPK or SRT are perfect examples, but many others such as AD Sport, Speedlover, First, CEO, G&A… went the same direction. And I’ve forgetten many others, as the list is of course exhaustive. Most of the teams were born as regional squads, but now race regularly on tracks abroad and in other (inter)national championships.

In order to get things clear for the audience, because some makes are present in different classes, cars will race with different background colours for the number boards.”

The BELCAR UMBRELLA is the start of a new era with all series within one race weekend. This could be very interesting and positive, but is this not also creating new problems? The former Touring Cup races were 4-hour endurance races while the new format is one of 125 and 150-minute races – except for the season’s final the Zolder 10 hours. This means that most teams race with 2 instead of 4 drivers, which could limit budgetary solutions.

Marc Martens: “It’s true that the situation has been quite difficult, but I’m confident that we will optimize things from now on. One must understand that the situation of the former Zolder Touring Cup and Zolder Sprinters Cup was difficult for different reasons.

First of all, the noise limitation of 95 dB during the B-weekends made it almost impossible for the teams to race decently and the entry list of both series was clearly decreasing. This meant also that those weekends were no longer financially interesting for the organizers.

Another problem that occurred was the evolution of the cars. It was almost impossible to race a 996 given the noise limitations. Without the Belcar Umbrella, both the Zolder Touring Cup and de Sprinters Cup Zolder would have been impossible to maintain. And that was not our desire. So this Belcar Umbrella is the most valuable - and maybe also only - solution.

The Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Endurance Cup will be, for younger drivers, a perfect scholarship, with the Belcar Original being the next step. With Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Endurance held during the same weekend, it is easier for (top) teams to race with young drivers in those series.

GLPK already does this. Of course there is the Corvette, but the team also runs a Porsche for a youngster in the Belcar Endurance Cup. And what’s more, both Kumpen and Longin will partner him throughout the championship. From Sprint, over Endurance Cup to Belcar Original, it’s a perfect course. And for an older driver, it’s even possible to do it the other way round.

The Belcar Endurance Cup now counts seven instead of six races – including the Zolder 10-hour race - making it maybe easier for three drivers to find a budget.

Last but not least, shorter races are maybe easier to follow for the crowd.

It’s also more interesting for the teams to compete in their championship during the same weekend as the big boys - which means, even on a Saturday, more spectators compared to the old Zolder Touring Cup.

Teams also have the chance to enter former Belcar cars in the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Endurance Cup.

As the Belcar Endurance Cup, the Belcar Sprint Cup and the Belcar Historic Sprint are local championships,the competitors have no obligation at all to sign up before the season, even if they have the intention to compete the entire season. This makes it difficult to make a prediction about the entries. We are quite optimistic about the grids for this weekend, but if necessary, we could still adjust the situation.”

“Start your engines” (EN)