Clubmans is a variety of sports car racing that originated in Britain in 1965. It evolved into the relatively short-lived National Supersports in the mid 1990s and is no longer a mainstream formula - it remains a very popular class of historic racing. Clubmans racing was governed by the BRSCC and largely organised by the Clubmans Register of car owners, drivers and constructors. GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with cars that have two seats and enclosed wheel wells. ...

Clubmans descended from categories like the 1,172 cc formula for Ford-based specials and some of the 750MC's entry-level formulae. It was intended as a low-cost formula for open-top, front-engined roadgoing sports cars like the Lotus 7 which had been crowded out of the mainstream by rear-engined cars such as the Lotus 23; before long the cars rapidly evolved into highly specialised and very quick sports-racers (retaining the front-engined/rear wheel drive layout well into the 1990s even after the rest of the racing world had moved on, but acquiring wings and slicks in due course). Unlike endurance-oriented forms of sports car racing Clubmans tended to run at club-level meetings; races were typically short (15-30 miles) and driver changes and refuelling were not part of the strategy. The Lotus Seven is a small, simple, lightweight two-seater open-top sports car, which have been called a motorcycle on four wheels. It is characterised by very good acceleration but a low top speed, handling is lively and the ride is uncompromising. The drag coefficient is around 0. ... Team Lotus was one of Formula 1s most successful teams. ...

Marques such as Chevron made their debut in the formula and the long-lived series of Mallock U2 cars came to dominate numerically (and often in terms of results). Over the years marques such as Gryphon, Centaur, Haggispeed, Phantom, Vision, Pulsar and Slique as well as specials like the St Bruno Roughcutter and the Hustler graced the grids with varying degrees of success; Clubmans cars also became a popular class in hillclimbing. Chevron was a manufacturer of racing cars, founded by Derek Bennett. ... Hillclimbing (also known as hill climbing, speed hillclimbing or speed hill climbing) is a branch of motorsport in which drivers compete against the clock to complete an uphill course. ...

Clubmans remained a relatively low-cost formula - cars had a long life and stability of rules meant that drivers tended to remain in the formula and develop their cars. In a straight line, Clubmans cars were often almost as quick as Formula Three single-seaters. The formula acquired a reputation for close competition, varied grids and a healthy social scene. Formula Three, also called Formula 3 or, in abbreviated form, F3, is a type of formula racing and a class of open-wheeler motor racing. ...

Engine rules varied somewhat over time - initially the formula used 1,000 cc or 1,500 (later 1,600) cc pushrod engines (that had to be based on Ford or BMC units - practically, the 1,000 cc units were detuned ex-F3 engines); for most of the formula's life the engines were the 1,000 cc ex F3 units and 1,600 cc Ford Kents, and finally the 1,600 Kent in Formula Ford spec ("B sports/Sports 1600") and 1,700 cc crossflow units ("A sports") in high states of tune. Ford may mean a number of things: A ford is a river crossing. ... BMC may stand for: Bangalore Mountaineering Club Bangalore Medical College Barrie Molson Centre, multi-purpose arena in Barrie, Ontario, Canada Baseboard management controller, a microcontroller on the motherboard of many computers Behaviour Management Classroom BioMed Central, a UK-based scientific publisher Biphase Mark Code, a type of encoding for binary... Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. ...

As the Ford units drifted into obsolescence, other units replaced them. Sports 1600 gave way to "K Sports" with a Rover K-series engine and the 16-valve two-litre Vauxhall replaced the 1,700 cc Crossflow unit in 1993. For the automobile brand, see Rover (car) For the parent company, see the more general and indepth article at MG Rover Group For the British civilian all-terrain utility vehicles brand, see Land Rover For the Japanese lawnmower, see Rover (lawnmower) For extraterrestrial vehicles, see Lunar Rover, Mars Rover For... Vauxhall is an inner city area of south London in the London Borough of Lambeth. ...

The front-engine/rear-wheel-drive cars continued until 1995, when rear-engined cars were admitted to the series for the first time and over the next few years took over from the 'classic' cars. Seeking a more upmarket image, the formula was renamed National Supersports, but grids were in decline. (Many of the marques that made their debut in National Supersports now compete in prototype series such as Britsports or VdeV) which provide 'real' prototype racing on a relatively affordable scale.)

Clubmans continues as a highly popular and affordable form of historic racing with categories in existence for cars from most periods of the formula's history.

Links

• The Clubmans Register
• Classic Clubmans