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August 12, 2020
The Latest From NORRA
Determine Your Vehicle's Era
NORRA VINTAGE - 1989-20 Years Old
Agua Dulce, CALIF. – The Vintage Era was where things really opened up. Offroad racing exploded in popularity in the 1990’s. Many new classes were created to handle the amount of different trucks, and buggies that were competing. NORRA has 17 categories (classes), of vehicles that all run in the Vintage Era. Many of the vehicle designs from that era are still current today. Take for instance the Trophy Trucks. They are considered the fastest vehicles racing offroad. Back in the 90’s the big class 8 factory based trucks evolved into the Trophy Trucks. Many class 8’s were simply modified to run in the Trophy Truck class. You can find photos of trucks from the time running a Trophy Truck number, but still having the factory frame that identifies it as having been built for class 8 rules. The unlimited buggies of the day were starting to run big, powerful V8 engines, but still had beam suspensions in front. Their torsion bars were gone, replaced by coilover shocks, but the original VW based beam design was still used. In fact, Vintage Era open buggies must run a beam unless the car is documented to have run A-arms 20 years ago. Tribute builds must have beams, no A-arm tribute cars allowed. Big engines, and sequential transaxles are fair game, so bring out the big dogs. You can also run modern shock absorbers, and up to a 37 inch tall tire. There are no truggys; they run in the Historic Era with tube framed trucks.
The Challengers evolved to become Vintage…
Vintage truck classes must be built from a 20+ year old production based truck having a body style that existed in this era. As stated before, pure tube frame trucks belong in the Historic Era. Vintage trucks must run a production based modified chassis, and a stock concept suspension, but links with coilovers is legal. So are modern shock absorbers. Maximum tire size is 37 inches.
In the Vintage Limited Air Cooled VW powered classes, most of the rules are congruent with common current rule packages for VW powered buggies and stock bodied VW’s. These classes have changed very little over the last 20 years so newer builds are permitted in these vintage classes as long as they conform to the class limitations.
Entire rule books are available at www.norra.com if you have any questions about your vehicle just contact NORRA for assistance. Whether you are building a tribute car, a brand new car, or can find, and restore an original, the Vintage Era vehicles are fast, and comfortable to drive. There are cars, and trucks sitting out there waiting to be saved, and can be purchased for much less than it would cost to build from scratch.
For your reference, here are the Vintage Era Categories that race for Vintage overall wins.
VINTAGE Era (1989 – 20 Years Old)
NORRA VEHICLE RULES 6.5
Vintage Open Buggy classes, must be at least 20 years old
- Big Engines
- Sequential transaxles
- Beams ONLY unless car is documented to have had them 20 years ago
- Tribute or new builds must have beams, no A-arm tribute cars
- Rear IRS, no solid axle (Solid rear axle buggies belong in the Historic Class)
- 7” max tire diameter
- Big modern shocks
Vintage Truck classes, must be built from 20+ year old production truck
- Body style must have existed in this Era
- Production based modified chassis, stock concept suspension, linked w/ coilovers
- No pure tube frame trucks (those belong in the Historic Class)
- 37” max tire diameter
- Big Modern shocks
Vintage Limited Air-Cooled VW powered classes
- Common modern rule packages for VW powered buggies and VW’s
- These classes have changed very little over the last 20 years so newer builds are permitted in these vintage classes as long as they conform to the class limitations
Vintage Era Categories (racing for Vintage O/A)
Vintage Open Buggies
Vintage 6-Cylinder Buggies
Vintage 4-Cylinder Buggies
Vintage Open Trucks
Vintage 6-Cylinder Trucks
Vintage 4-Cylinder Trucks
Vintage Open Truck, Rear Leafs
Vintage Open Truck w/4x4
Vintage Short Wheelbase 4x4
Vintage Military Vehicle
Vintage Open Production Cars
Vintage Stock Production Cars
Vintage Class 12
Vintage Class 5
Vintage Class 5-1600
Vintage Class ½-1600
Vintage Class 9
Vintage Class 11
Everything you need to know about the Mexican 1000, and Mexican 500 can be found at www.norra.com Go to the site and find out for yourself why NORRA has exploded in popularity. You can experience the same wonder and sense of achievement those early thrill seekers sought in the 1960’s today when you join NORRA in Baja. NORRA events honor the past, while forging the future. Don’t miss out on the fun!
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ABOUT NORRA
Beginning in 2010, the National Off Road Racing Association (NORRA) began promoting a rebirth of the NORRA Mexican 1000 rally. The unique off-road rally was co-created by promoter Mike Pearlman to consist of special stages (unlimited speed timed stages in the dirt) linked together by controlled speed liaison / transit sections (highway). The one-of-a-kind, once-a-year, five-day rally includes vintage off-road vehicles and motorcycles, as well as modern pre-runners, trucks, buggies, UTVs, bikes and desert Rally Raid cars.
Pearlman’s late father Ed and others established the first running of the NORRA Mexican 1000 off-road rally in November of 1967, which eventually became internationally recognized and evolved into the Baja 1000 in the mid-1970's.
NORRA enjoys corporate partnerships with Yokohama Tire, Method Race Wheels, South Point Hotel & Casino, Bilstein Shock Absorbers, STEEL-IT, RIGID, Multitool USA, Satellite Phone Store.com, Biltwell, Cerveceria Transpeninsular, PCI Race Radios, The Fab School, Schampa, K&N, Baja Bush Pilots, Mag7 Pits, the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame (ORMHOF), B3KREATIV, and many more.
