General
Display 23cm high numbers on doors – these must be on a white background at least 48cmx33cm. If a white background on a white car the background must have a black border.
The vehicle must remain in the original configuration as supplied by the manufacturer: e.g. Front engine, rear wheel drive – unless specifically authorised by the MSA.
Cars must satisfy Construction and use regulations.
Mud flaps are strongly recommended (the blue book says how wide and how close they must go to the ground).
Strong towing eyes must be fitted front & rear, they must be painted a distinctive colour.
Must have operative brakes capable of stopping the vehicle.
Must not be a commercial vehicle.
Must have a minimum wheelbase of 183cm.
Documentation
The car must have a valid MSA Log book – you arrange an appointment with a local scrutineer, he inspects the car, you pay him and if it passes you get issued with a log book showing a picture of the car and listing its details.
All cars must be registered as a road vehicle, MOT’d (if appropriate) and taxed (single-venue events which do not use the public highway may not require cars to be taxed).
Passenger Compartment
Must have a bulkhead between fuel tank/filler and passenger compartment, this must prevent the passage of flame or liquid. If the fuel tank forms the bulkhead, an additional bulkhead is required, the fuel tank may require additional protection. (i.e. if the fuel tank is in the boot, it must be separated from the passengers. If it is under the floor, it must be protected from damage.) This latter point is stated elsewhere, it says, “fuel tank underbody protection is required”.
Bulkheads must have gaps sealed with GRP (e.g. Isopon P40) or putty.
Passenger area must have adequate ventilation (e.g. opening windows/fresh air vents).
Pedals must be behind the centre-line of the front wheels.
All crews must carry a red warning triangle in the car.
Laminated Windscreen is required – toughened glass is not allowed, this is because laminated screens crack but remain intact whilst toughened glass shatters.
View through the car must be unobstructed – i.e. no ‘rude boy’ tinting and advertising must not obscure vision.
Plastic windscreens (side/rear) must be at least 4mm thick.
Passenger seats may be removed but all passengers (i.e. co-driver) must sit in a proper seat.
Interior coolant pipes must be painted red and made of metal or metal braided hose.
Interior oil lines must be braided.
Interior fuel lines must be braided.
Interior batteries must be in a sealed container.
Bodywork
Wheels must be housed within the original bodywork (including wheel arch extensions).
The car must have mudguards (wheel arches) – this is specifically defined but all saloon cars will comply with this anyway.
Must have bodywork which isolates engine, battery, gearbox, hydraulics, drive shafts, brakes, wheels, operating linkages, fuel tanks, oil tanks, water tanks and catch tanks from the passenger compartment.
Must have an engine cover (bonnet) which is solid and non-flammable.
Have a complete floor.
Sunroof must comply with J20.14.6. This means it must be made of steel (or aluminium if the car has an aluminium body shell) – a glass roof must have a steel ‘patch’ over it. The sunroof must be closed. Fabric (‘webasto’) type sunroofs are permitted where a full cage is fitted – i.e. rather bizarrely they are allowed to be fitted to rally cars!
Doors and boot must be secured shut during the rally (normal door/boot catches satisfy this requirement).
Special Safety Equipment
Steel Roll cage to Q1.5.1 (drawing Q3) plus Q1.2.5 (b) (drawing Q9). You must have a roll-cage which has at least six point mounting (a front cage and a rear cage), this may or may not have a diagonal (which can be removable) and you must also have door bars. Dimensions of all roll cage components are given but save yourself a lot of trouble and buy an FIA approved one from a reputable roll cage manufacturer. For club rallying a bolt-in cage is perfectly adequate.
Circuit Breakers to Q8 are required – these are the Autolec type master switches, they must isolate the battery, switch off the coil (to stop the engine) and generally earth the alternator through a resistor to stop it burning out.
Seat belts to Q2.1.2 are required – this means 4-point harnesses. The two shoulder straps may share a mounting point, hence effectively becoming a 3-point harness.
Fire extinguishers to Q3.1.4 are required – this means large-sized plumbed in and medium-sized hand held. AFFF extinguishers should be used.
Normal, adequate, forward facing seats must be fitted (at minimum).
Head Restraints to Q13 – If you use FIA approved bucket seats they will automatically comply.
Engine
The car must retain its original form of induction (i.e. turbocharging, normally aspirated) – unless specifically authorised by the MSA.
Turbos must have a restrictor (in accordance with FIA Appendix J) fitted at a maximum of 50mm from the extremes of the compressor blades. I think that this is currently 34mm diameter. Metro 6R4s must also have a restrictor and are also subject to certain other restrictions.
If the engine is not original it must be no more than 50% bigger (cc) than the original engine – unless specifically authorised by the MSA.
Positive method of throttle closing - in addition to the throttle linkage additional (visible) springs must be fitted to each throttle spindle to close the throttle butterflies in the event of linkage failure. If the carbs./injection already has a spring fitted which is additional to the linkage you do not need to fit extra springs.
Transmission
The transmission must be outside the passenger compartment.
Must have a working reverse gear.
Steering & Suspension
Rear or 4 wheel steering is not allowed unless fitted as standard.
Have a continuous steering wheel rim.
Steering must not cause wheels to foul on bodywork.
Must have sprung suspension – so Go-Karts are not permitted.
Exhaust
Exhaust system must be external.
Exhaust must not protrude more than 15cm to rear.
Cars must be silenced to E12.17, this equates to 100dB(A) at 0.5 metre from the exhaust whilst the car is held at 4500RPM. No temporary silencers are permitted and wire wool is definitely not allowed.
Fuel System
Non-standard filler caps must be recessed (i.e. you’re not allowed one of those Monza type flip open ones).
Fuel lines are permitted inside the car on safety grounds except for FIA calendar events (i.e. International rallies).
Must use pump fuel.
If the fuel filler is in an enclosed location (e.g. in boot) it must have external drainage.
Electrical
Additional lights are deemed as “auxiliary lights” – they must not be used within neutral sections and they must comply with D.O.T. vehicle regulations. i.e. you are not exempt from lighting regulations.
Air horns must be fitted which can be operated by the co-driver.
Must have battery, generator, starter and lights.
Battery earth lead must be marked yellow if not obvious.
Wheels and Tyres
Spiked or studded tyres are not permitted.
Spare wheels must be securely fastened.
Max wheel widths (rim and tyre) are regulated – for up to 2 litre class this is 9 inches in width, this dimension does not include the ‘bulge’ at the bottom of the tyre (it will be measured above the centre-line of the wheel).
Tyres must comply with Section R of the blue book (basically any road tyre is allowed plus specifically authorised competition tyres).
Must have at least 4 wheels.
Wheel spacers must be less than 2.5 cm thick.
Hub nave plates and wheel embellishers must be removed.
At the start of the rally at least 1.6mm of tread must be present on the tyres.
Tyre pressure control valves are not allowed.
