NEW BLOOD TO LIGHT UP HISTORICS

Recent tweaks to the structure of international historic competition are good news for fans of variety

- DAMIEN SMITH

What do we define as a historic or classic racing car? That's the question challenging traditional perceptions with increasing regularity in competition circles, as younger generations of cars you might consider as 'modern' become newly and officially 'old'.

The advent of race series such as Masters Endurance Legends for Le Mans-type sports-prototypes and GTs dated from 2005 to as recent as 2016 reflects a natural shift matched to the inexorable passing of time. This year another promoter, Motor Racing Legends (MRL), will launch a new series for early GT3 generations recently made obsolete from the modern racing arena. Such cars are now, logically and accurately, 'historic'.

This organic process of generational shift has gained further legitimacy by a recent official reframing of what we should consider old by the world's motorsport governing body, the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile). Its Appendix K regulations, by which it awards Historic Technical Passports (HTPs) to rubber-stamp eligibility, have been upgraded as of 2025 to accept, for the first time, a range of race and rally cars dating from 1991 to 2000. 'This update will bring many of the world's most iconic race and rally cars back into the crucible of motorsport, allowing fans and enthusiasts to enjoy the sights and sounds of what was a remarkable decade of technological advancement,' as the FIA puts it.

But just how much difference will official FIA recognition for 1990s race and rally cars make, especially when UK promoters such as Masters and MRL - plus Europe's biggest historic racing organiser, Peter Auto - have already shifted past that particular curve to progress much further up the road to cars from more recent decades? The short answer is opaque, and also depends on the code of motorsport in question.