#GRIDLIFE TrackBattle is a multi-event time attack series taking place at road courses throughout the North Americas. Time attack is not wheel to wheel racing. Drivers are competing against the clock to see which cars and which drivers are the fastest over the course of a weekend.
The #GRIDLIFE TrackBattle is about providing safe, spirited, fun and competitive track­time for advanced and expert drivers. TrackBattle is open to all makes and models and all drive train layouts: rear wheel drive (RWD), front wheel drive (FWD), and all wheel drive (AWD). #GRIDLIFE TrackBattle includes competitive classes for all degrees of tuning and modification.
Vehicles must be mass production road going vehicles, constructed by a recognized manufacturer, and currently/previously available as a factory OEM road going passenger vehicle with a government mandated VIN# or equivalent. Dealer ordered "special" models are allowed in SM/TM/U, but must be available to more than 50 dealers throughout the country.
Open wheel, factory built race cars, or club racer cars that may be made street legal are not allowed. (Radical SR3, Factory 5 818, Ultima GTR, Porsche GT3 Cup, Superlite SL-C, ETC are only allowed in the SUPER UNLIMITED Class).
Vehicles modified to partial or full tube chassis are not permitted unless part of the OEM structure and are specifically accepted by GRIDLIFE staff as a legal vehicle prior to the event.
Some portion of the the OEM floor pan must remain intact.
Electric vehicles are permitted, however they must be classified by Gridlife staff prior to the start of an event.
All tires in classes other than super unlimited and Unlimited must be available to fellow competitors for purchase. If any tires are found to be unavailable through retail sources or are of a false/misadvertised (cheater) compound the competitor will be disqualified and all associated entry fees forfeited.
A 6­point (or more) roll cage is strongly recommended for all classes, and is required in the unlimited and super unlimited class and must meet meet #GRIDLIFE GTCR specs. A rear 4 point roll bar (or more) and hand and neck restraints will be required for track mod. Any trackmod vehicles not having these components must be approved by race directors prior to the event (adam@grid.life). Additional safety equipment such as bolt-in roll bars is highly-encouraged for both street mod and street.
Head and neck restraints are required for Track Mod and Unlimited, and are highly encouraged for all other classes.
At a minimum, all vehicles must meet the safety standards found in the #GRIDLIFE GTCR.
All vehicles must be tech inspected by an approved shop or on site inspectors before they are allowed on track.
Tech inspections may also be done by our officials at any time during the event, to assure safety and compliance to rules of driver, car, and other competitors.
All modifications performed must specifically be allowed within the class and overall rules or it is not allowed. If any questionable discrepancies are found, they must be clarified and allowed in writing by #GRIDLIFE Track Officials (Abrin@grid.life and Adam@grid.life).
Trophies/awards will no longer be given for separate drivetrains within a class. Drivetrain record times will still be recorded and preserved.
Cars may only register as one competitor, i.e, a single entry. You cannot register the same car with multiple drivers as multiple entries without approval by Gridlife staff before the event You may have multiple drivers for the same car, registered as a team, a single entry. Only the fastest time will count from the team, as one entry. No additional track time will be given for the additional drivers. Team drivers must be stated at registration before the event starts. A driver may bring multiple cars to an event to run, however only 1 car will be considered to be part of the competition. The other will run as exhibition. No additional track time will be given.
Laps completed in vehicles other than that which was registered at the time of competition will not count toward overall finishing order.
If a class has less than 3 competitors, those cars may be reclassed to the nearest performance class, at the discretion of Gridlife staff.
Each competitor will run in a primary competition group based on modifications and drive train (FWD RWD AWD) in the following classes: STREET, STREET MODIFIED, TRACK MODIFIED, UNLIMITED & SUPER UNLIMITED CLASS RULES.
STREET is intended for vehicles with minor bolt-­on modifications only. This is our enthusiast class and is intended for advanced HPDE drivers and vehicles that are daily driven street cars, or daily-driveable.This class is limited to naturally aspirated 4 and 6 cylinder vehicles, and forced induction 4 cylinder vehicles.
Vehicles with inflation adjusted MSRPs greater than $70,000 are specifically banned.
Aftermarket aero is prohibited. Modifications to OEM bumpers to enhance airflow are permitted, but only partial removal of material, not addition.
Cars must retain OEM glass. Replacing factory glass with lexan/polycarbonate is prohibited, except in instances of aftermarket hard tops (eg. S2000, etc. ) if sold with lexan/polycarbonate as only option.
E85 is permitted. No other alternative fuels are allowed.
Engine swaps with the same cylinder count, and from the same manufacturer are allowed.
Forced induction swaps into chassis that are originally naturally aspirated are prohibited. Any questions on engines swaps should be directed to Gridlife staff (abrin@grid.life and adam@grid.life).
Aftermarket conversion of N/A cars to forced induction is prohibited.
Upgraded or modified compressor or turbine wheel components within the factory forced induction system are prohibited.
Tires may only be downsized 10mm.
The top of the tire may not protrude past the widest point of the wheel arch when viewed from above. Body lines may not be altered overfenders may be added if wheel openings do not change rough dimensions when viewed from the horizontal perspective when fenders are rolled.
Vehicles must retain OEM interior components e.g., dash, carpets, headliner, and all must be in factory positions. (interior may be trimmed or modified to accommodate safety components.). Accommodations for aftermarket racing seats for driver and passenger are allowed. All seats must be track worthy, and capable of safely securing an occupant.
This class is not open to professionally licensed level drivers (PWC, IMSA, Trans-Am, NASCAR of any level, Formula Drive Pro-1, etc.) Amateur competition licenses do not count as professional.
Engine swaps are not permitted.
Only stock internals (including camshafts) are allowed.
Tire Width Maximum: FWD: 315, RWD: 315, AWD: 315, unless OEM equipped with a larger option.
,Lexan Glass is not permitted.
This class is not open to professionally licensed level drivers (PWC, IMSA, Trans-Am, NASCAR of any level, Formula Drift Pro-1, etc.) Amateur competition licenses do not count as professional.
Dual Element wings are prohibited. Dual element wings may be taped together with heavy-duty tape that will not come off during the session. If the tape does come off, that session will be disqualified. More than 1 single element wing, regardless of structure is not allowed.
Flat bottom floors are prohibited. Full undertrays (“flat bottom”) are prohibited. Splitters and undertray may go to the mid-point of the front wheels. Diffusers may go to the mid-point of the rear wheels.
No component of the rear wing air foil may be higher than the highest point of the vehicle structure. Radio antennas are not considered part of the vehicle structure. Width of the rear wing must be within the OEM body lines. Height exceptions of 4” are allowed for hatchbacks and wagons in instances where no trunk deck lid is available for aero placement. (integras, corvettes, RSXs, etc are not considered to be hatchbacks in 2019). See technical glossary for definition of hatchback and wagon.
Mixed manufacturer engine swaps are permitted, but only plus or minus 2 cylinders from the oem amount. OEM rotary powered cars can go up to 6 cylinders if engine swapped.
Engine Swaps in combination with aftermarket forced induction is not permitted.
Factory turbocharged engines may not be used as donor engines when increasing number of cylinders, unless engine is converted to N/A (eg. No turbo 2JZ into BRZ/FR-S, etc.).
Vehicles must use a DOT approved tire with a minimum UTQG Rating of 200 or higher. Tires from other markets EU, JP are permitted as long as they match the UTQG Rating.
Fenders and quarter panels must completely cover entire tire tread when viewed from above. Cutting bottom of fender behind the wheel and pushing inward to relieve pressure, ie. Track Life fender cutouts is allowed. Fender, fender flares, wide body additions and materials are unrestricted as long as the above conditions are met and do not provide a substantial increase in downforce (judged by technical staff).
OEM or factory replacement interior pieces (door cards, carpet, etc.) may be modified and trimmed to facilitate safety equipment but all must be installed if possible. Interior components to rearward of B-pillar may be removed if a rollbar is installed. Accommodations for aftermarket racing seats for driver and passenger are allowed. All seats must be track worthy, and capable of safely securing an occupant.
Alternate materials for Hood, Trunk, Roof, & Fenders are allowed. Fenders and quarter panels may be modified if over-fenders, flares, or wide-body is added.
Flat bottom floors are prohibited, unless OEM equipped.
Sequential gearboxes prohibited unless OEM.
Drivetrain changes from FWD to AWD and RWD to AWD are allowed.
Vehicles must use a DOT approved tire with a minimum UTQG Rating of 60 or higher. Tires from other markets EU, JP are permitted as long as they match the UTQG Rating. Tires in this class must be available as a current product offering by a tire supplier to all competitors. Discontinued or specialty offerings are banned.
Head and neck restraints are required.
Cars must be based on a chassis from a vehicle with a DOT VIN.
All vehicles must have a minimum 6 point roll cage built to specifications laid out in the #GRIDLIFE GTCR, unless approved by gridlife staff prior to the event.
All drivers must run with a FIA or SFI approved head and neck restraint system. IE: Nextgen / Hans / Zamp.
#GRIDLIFE TrackBattle participants will have have multiple 20 minute sessions throughout a race weekend in an attempt to qualify for the TrackBattle.
FAILURE TO RUN IN SPECIFIED RUN GROUP: At their discretion, drivers may opt out of running a given heat. Drivers are not permitted to run in groups other than their own, unless specifically allowed by Gridlife Track Battle Officials. Requests to run in alternate groups because of schedule conflict (eg. instructing HPDE drivers), will be allowed but should be discussed with officials. Drivers found to be illegally competing in run groups other than the assigned group for a given heat will receive a time penalty. A 5-second time penalty will be applied to all timed laps of that heat if track is dry. If a competitor fails to run in his or her assigned run group and the track is wet, a 15 second per mile of race track (rounded to the next mile) could be imposed depending on the change of conditions. Example: the penalty for failing to run in your specified run group on a 2.3 mile road course and the track is wet and has dried since your run-group went out, a 45 second penalty would be imposed. If the track conditions didn't change, (i.e. still wet) the 5-second penalty would apply. The organizers, at their discretion, may assign stiffer penalties should circumstances warrant.
Points will be awarded to all competitors in each competition class and drivetrain. The following represents the points available per event: based on finish position, regardless of drivetrain.
Primary points availability will be 1000 per event, regardless of the number of drivers. This scoring system rewards drivers that perform well against their peers in a particular class.
In cases where multiple track configurations are used in a Track Battle weekend (eg. Autobahn Country Club), points will be awarded for each individual track. Points for a given configuration will be based on total points available (calculated from section 3.5) divided by the number of total configurations (eg. 100 entrants, 3 track configurations = 333 total possible points per track).
BONUS POINTS: Track Record 100, Overall Class Record (regardless of drivetrain) 20.
The 2019 season will follow a 3 points events + 1 championship weekend competition format, with the Gridlife Trackbattle Championship decided at Road America.
Road America is both a points event and the site for the bracket championship (Saturday points event / Sunday bracket championship).
The best 4 points event scores will determine Sunday’s bracket seeding at Road America. If drivers choose to compete in more than the required 4 events, their 4 best scores will determine their bracket seeding.
Drivers must run 3 event weekends, in addition to the Championship weekend at Road America. Drivers must register with timing and scoring crew for at least the minimum 3 prior weekend events to qualify for the season championship, however they may compete in additional events and only their best event scores will count.
The Road America time attack weekend is open to non-championship qualified competitors, but they will not be featured in the bracket battles portion.
Season champions will be the winners of the Trackbattle Brackets for Street, Street GT, Street Modified, Track Modified and Unlimited Classes at Road America.
Competitors will be seeded in the bracket based on number of season points collected.
Drivers are able to choose as many events to attend as they wish to accumulate season points, but only their three best event scores will be counted toward seeding in the finale.
Points are applied to the specific vehicle class as entered for the first event of participation. Drivers that switch classes mid­-season will forfeit any points gained in previous classes. Tie Breakers for season finale seeding will be decided as follows: Most wins, most podiums, most races attended.
All drivers must adhere to all rules as stated in the #GRIDLIFE GTCR. Any questions can be emailed to: adam@gridlife.com and Abrin@grid.life.
Following qualifying, competitors will be entered into a bracket which will form the basis of remainder of competition., Overall times will dictate seeding within this conventional single elimination format. The fastest 8 cars for each class will be selected (street, street modified, track modified, unlimited), regardless of drivetrain. Head to head matchups will be a Touge style that puts two drivers from against each other in a dramatic chase to the finish.
The battles will consist of a lead follow format consisting of up to three hot laps. Each vehicle will compete in a lead lap and a chase lap. The initial lead car will be the one having the faster time during qualifying (for first round of the bracket), or the one having the faster time in the previous round of the bracket. Heats will begin as flying laps with both cars on track simultaneously. The time gap between the lead car and the chase car will be measured as the lap begins. At the end of the lap the time gap between the lead car and chase car will be measured once again to determine if the lead car was able to increase their distance from the chase car. If the lead car is able to increase the timed gap from the chase car the win for the heat goes to the lead car. If the time gap decreases then the win for the heat goes to the chase car. The cars will then change positions. Lead car will become the chase car and the battle will replicate for a 2nd lap. The winner is the driver that wins two heats of the three. In the event of a tie, the initial lead car will be in the lead for a tie-breaking final lap.
A maximium gap between cars at the start of each hot lap will be judged by officials to be not exceed 10 car lengths roughly, or what is judged to be reasonable for the two cars in the battle. Chase cars exceeding this distance will forfeit the hot lap. It is the chase car’s responsibility to mind the gap for the start of hot laps.The lead car will set a moderate pace on out lap and on the changeover lap, however both cars must enter the final corner at race pace before beginning their hot lap.
Drivers must be ready to battle at the time of their matchup. Hardship/waiting/”car trouble” time will not exceed 1 minute in Round 1 of the battle. In the the semi-final and final rounds, a maximum of 5 minutes for refueling/preparation will be offered. Drivers not prepared to battle at the expiration of that time will forfeit their battle, unless otherwise allowed by time attack officials.
Passing during a hot lap is forbidden unless the lead car has conceded the lap. The lead car may not brake check or slow to an unreasonable pace during the battle in order to cause a pass.
Drivers putting 4 wheels off during a hot lap will forfeit the entire battle.
Drivers forfeiting a bracket matchup will always finish last within a given round. Should more than 1 driver in a bracket forfeit their matchup, their final finish position (8th, 7th, etc.) will be determined based on times set before bracket competition began.
The final battles will result in an overall top 3 for each of the primary classes; resulting in 12 total podium positions.
Before bracket battles begin, season points will be calculated as normal, based on qualifying times within the class. Points will be distributed to all drivers not participating in the battle. For the top 8 positions, the points associated with each qualifying driver then represent the points associated with the finish position in the bracket. Bracket winner gets Q1 points allotment, 2nd place gets Q2 points, etc.
Laptimes set by the defeated drivers in the each round of each class will be compared to determine their finishing position within the bracket. For all drivers outside of the bracket, finishing position will be determined by overall best lap time during practice/qualifying sessions.