Sports Sedans are a category unique to Australia in which vehicles are based on a production sedan, with modifications allowable under the rules to enable them to be more suitable for racing. The category caters to a wide variety of body and engine combinations and budget levels amongst competitors.
While the cars look similar to road sedans, that is where the similarities end. The front running cars can only be described as BIG. Big engines, big wings, big tyres and big performance. The rules allow great freedom in this category and as a result are the most awesome forms of racing going. When walking through the race paddock, do a quick comparison between a Sports Sedan and your own road car. They have wide, low profile tyres and huge front air dams which provide down force to the front of the car and at the rear, huge rear wings that keep the rear tyres glued to the track.
In Sports Sedan racing, power to weight is everything. To promote that power, body panels are often made of lightweight materials, the wheels made from magnesium alloy and even the side windows are made from perspex and windscreens made from lexan plastics. Underneath their smooth skins, they are pure racecar, designed and built in many cases from the ground up to be fast, light, agile and stunningly effective racers.
Construction methods vary according to a competitor’s budget. The front running Sports Sedans feature a fully fabricated space-frame chassis, with the engine pushed well back into the passengers compartment to aid in handling, leaving not a lot of room for the driver to sit and it can get pretty hot as well.
Suspension technology has progressed over the years to a point where the modern higher budget Sports Sedan handles more like an open wheeler due to them utilising a double wishbone coil over front suspension or a rocker arm system. Rear suspension depends once again on budget, most front running cars use an independent rear suspension setup. Lower budget competitors mostly use a live rear axle setup with a watts-linkage/coil over shock rear suspension.
In Sports Sedans, the category is split into 3 depending on engine capacity.
Up to 2000cc (usually a 4 cylinder)
2000cc to 4000cc (Usually a small six cylinder or rotary)
4000cc to 6000cc (Usually a turbo six cylinder or V8)
With the limit of 6 litres or 6000cc for the front running cars the most popular engine used is the 350c.i. Chevrolet. Many of the leading competitors are now extracting 650+ horsepower out of these engines by using very sophisticated engine management systems. Other popular engines used include the 351c.i. Ford Cleveland. Turbo charged engines have been used with mixed success over the years however with continuing development there is no doubt these engines have plenty of potential.
Sports Sedans are raced in each state of Australia, there is a National and State category both of which offer spectators great racing. There are some well known Australian drivers who have competed in the Sports Sedan category including Peter Brock, Alan Jones, Alan Grice, Jim Richards, Mark Skaife, Glenn Seton, Dick Johnson and Frank Gardner plus many others too numerous to mention.
Our front running cars are the fastest of any state category that we run with and as a result of their sheer speed offer great viewing for spectators. Below are some lap times from Eastern Creek Raceway that will give you an idea of how fast our cars are.
Production Sport Cars (Porsche GT3) 1:37.6537
Formula Ford 1:38.7092
Improved Production 1:47.0297
HQ Holden 2:02.0807
