23/09/2017
NEWS STORY
One of the most disappointing aspects of this summer's F1 Live event on the streets of London – other than the lack of pre-publicity and promotion - was that under the current regulations teams could not use their current race cars, rather those dating back two season.
As a result, Haas, which wasn't even in F1 at the time, was forced to miss the event, as did Force India.
On the other hand, McLaren and Renault ran older cars which at least allowed the crowds to hear what F1 sounded like before they needed microphones shoved up their tailpipes.
However, a tweak to the Sporting Regulations for 2018 means that teams will now be able to use their current cars for such events, albeit only at events organised by the Commercial Rights Holder.
Furthermore, current cars may also be used for two filming days, albeit with the caveat of using special tyres and not exceeding 100km.
Article 10 of the 2018 Sporting Regulations, states that:
"Testing of Current Cars (TCC) shall be defined as any track running time, not part of an Event, in which a competitor entered in the Championship participates (or in which a third party participates on behalf of a competitor or a supplier of a homologated power unit), using cars which were designed and built in order to comply with the Formula One Technical Regulations of the Championship, or those of the preceding year’s or the following year’s Championships. No competitor may sell or make available any such car of the current year to any third party without the prior authorisation of the FIA.
Each competitor will also be permitted to carry out two Promotional Events (PE) with the above cars which will not be considered TCC. A PE shall be defined as an event in which a competitor participates purely for marketing or promotional purposes. No such test may exceed 100km in length and only tyres manufactured specifically for this purpose by the appointed supplier may be used.
At the sole discretion of the FIA, and with the full knowledge of all competitors, each competitor will also be permitted to carry out :
a) Two Demonstration Events (DE) with the above cars which will not be considered TCC. A DE shall be defined as an event in which a competitor participates purely for demonstration purposes.
b) Other demonstration events organised by the Commercial Rights Holder.
No such demonstrations may take place on track configurations currently approved for use by Formula 1 cars nor exceed 15km in length, and only tyres manufactured specifically for this purpose by the appointed supplier may be used."