Amateur Electric Vehicle Racing? The SCCA Has a Plan

While sales of electric vehicles may have slowed, their numbers are growing, and some of those customers will be looking for performance-related activities, such as autocross, rallies and outright wheel-to-wheel racing.

The Sports Car Club of America is prepared to host those events. In May of 2021, the SCCA formed the Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee to “create unified procedures across SCCA programs for Electrified Vehicles,” which meant that the club was creating rules, events, and categories for EV racing.

It took a while, but the committee announced in December of 2022 that it had come up with “guidelines and rulesets” for EVs, and specifically proposed three classes of EV racing. That included “development of an ‘E’ Touring category of road racing cars and a Prototype category electrified vehicle class within SCCA.”

The proposal was a far-reaching document that covered a lot of territory. “Be it Solo, Time Trials, SCCA Road Racing, RallyCross, HillClimb, or RoadRally, the 23-page Supplemental Common Rules for Electrified Vehicles looks to provide sage guidance for not only drivers and teams, but also event organizers and volunteers,” said the Club.

The rules for the E Touring category included safety-related modifications to the vehicle. But you’d better be serious about the future usage of your electric vehicle: “It is important to note that car prep to meet category competition will result in the vehicle becoming a dedicated electric race vehicle, making it non-street legal.” The proposed rules call for a full roll cage and disarming existing airbags.

The proposal for the Prototype Electric class suggests even more extreme levels of modification. “Prototype Electric is a sports racing class that will be inclusive of converted existing race cars and new purpose-designed cars that have been built using Electric Vehicle power technology and fit within these rules.” The class even covers dedicated, from-scratch cars made especially for racing, allowing for “any form of chassis construction; tube frame and aluminum or steel monocoque chassis construction allowed, chassis fully composed of composite structural materials permitted.”

Of course there are classes, such as autocross, that don’t require any sort of major modifications to a vehicle, true for gas-powered vehicles or electrics. But for EV proponents who have more ambitious competition goals, the SCCA is ready to address that.

In November of 2023, the Advisory Committee issued a 19-page document, “Supplemental Common Rules for Electrified Vehicles” that outlines a procedure for bringing EVs into the SCCA family.

The most recent voice heard from the SCCA is that of Jim Rogaski, a member of the Electrified Vehicle Advisory Committee, who wrote a column that appeared Tuesday on the SCCA website (SCCA.com) titled, “Electric Vehicles are Coming, and the SCCA Has a Plan.” Rogaski notes that a Frequently Asked Questions document is available on the website, and FAQs include responses to safety-related concerns.

Such as: “Do electric vehicles represent a greater overall risk on a racetrack than an internal combustion engine car?” The answer comes from David Vodden, CEO of Thunderhill Raceway in California. “There was no empirical, or experiential evidence that the presence of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in motion on race surfaces in a closed course environment represented a statistically significant danger to drivers, safety crews, venues, or sanctioning bodies,” he said.

Of course, professional EV racing isn’t new, with the most prominent example being Formula E. It has technically been around since 2014, but in 2020, it achieved full FIA world championship recognition. Formula E events circle the globe, with the current season running from December of 2024, when the racing launched in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to July, when the finale will take place in London. Even NASCAR has shown interest in EV racing, developing an electric car that could be the prototype for the future.

Clearly, when it comes to amateur EV racing, the SCCA plans to be the go-to organization. “Our Club is uniquely positioned to again define the future of racing across the United States, and perhaps the world, thanks to the unequaled expertise of our membership,” said Mike Cobb, president and CEO of the SCCA. “By embracing developing technology around EVs, SCCA will again be a leader in motorsports for another 75 years and beyond.”