An essential reform of the classification of Hill Climb cars – initially for so-called “closed” cars – is underway.

While it is as popular as ever in terms of participation rates and the number of regional, national and international events, Hill Climb is sometimes a victim of its own success and has a few challenges which need to be addressed. When the Championships only concern cars homologated by the FIA, such as the European Hill Climb Championship, the fields are no longer as attractive as they once were given that fewer cars are eligible (manufacturers are homologating fewer and fewer models for competition). However, in events that have chosen to exonerate themselves from the current homologations, the number of cars is certainly higher, but the categories for which they are eligible have been expanded so much that the reading and understanding the results has become more complex.

Based on this observation, and the desire to classify as large a range as possible of production cars for all Hill Climb competitions, the Pf concept has emerged. The aim is to gather together the technical characteristics which are easily measureable in a car and to obtain a Pf value in order to determine the class in which it will compete. The formula generating the Pf value is an equation between the racing weight of the car (with driver on board) and the association of parameters regarding the engine, transmission, aerodynamics and the chassis.

A website dedicated to Pf

A decisive step towards the implementation of this new concept has just been made, with the creation of a dedicated website: www.fiaperformancefactor.com. Based on the physical data, provided by the competitor on the online platform, the system undertakes a calculation which produces the car’s Pf value. The latter can then be registered and classified in the appropriate category. The number of classes will be lower than in the current situation, which will clarify the results and raise the level of competition in the events, as the new groupings established will each contain more competitors.

There are two ways of accessing the website.

The first type, called “Public” access, and is open to everyone at www.fiaperformancefactor.com, and does not require registration. It enables anybody to calculate the Pf for any car, in order to get to know the functionalities and potentials of the platform. This public access mode does not allow users to save configurations nor to obtain an FIA-PF-ID; i.e. the code identifying the car, which is to be indicated on the entry forms for events applying the Performance Factor classifications.

The second type, called “Competitor” access, requires registration, which is free, and gives access to further functionalities, such as the registration of several cars, grouped together in a single garage, to simulate, compare and save various technical configurations for the same car, calculate the car’s Pf according to the desired configuration, generate an FIA-PF-ID, and obtain the corresponding technical sheet.

Testing the system in the 2019 FIA European Championship

In 2019, the Performance Factor will be trialled in the framework of the FIA European Hill Climb Championship. This will enable all stakeholders, whether they are drivers, teams, organisers, stewards or scrutineers, to understand the methodology applied by the FIA. This testing will not have any impact on the Championship competitions from a sporting or regulatory standpoint. The definitive move to a new classification based on the Performance Factor is planned for the 2020 edition of the FIA European Hill Climb Championship. The simulations undertaken throughout the 2019 season will facilitate the calculation of the number and the distribution of the classes into which the cars will be categorised according to their Pf. For the upcoming testing, the simulations will be undertaken based on a distribution of the cars over six classes.

This year, drivers and competitors in Categories 1 (Groups A, N, S20 and GT) and from Group E2-SH from Category 2 of the European Championship will be obliged to fill out a technical form via the Performance Factor application and declare the Pf and the FIA-PF-ID of their car on the entry form for Championship competitions. Without being obliged to do so, the national competitors included in the European Championship competitions will be invited to calculate the Pf value of their car. During scrutineering, the conformity with the declared configuration will be examined by a team of FIA officials. Information sessions for the drivers and competitors will also be scheduled alongside certain Championship events.

To test the Performance Factor calculator: www.fiaperformancefactor.com

To access the presentation and the leaflet describing the concept of the Performance Factor, click here