Homologation (motorsport) - Requirements

Requirements

In racing series that are "production-based" (that is, the vehicles entered in the series are based on production vehicles for sale to the public), homologation requires not only compliance with a racing series' technical guidelines (for example, engine displacement, chassis construction, suspension design and such) but it often includes minimum levels of sales to ensure that vehicles are not designed and produced solely for racing in that series. Since such vehicles are primarily intended for the race track, practical use on public roads is generally a secondary design consideration, so long as government regulations are met.

Sales aids (for example, the inclusion of luxury trim features, such as leather surfaces, audio systems, anti-theft systems) even where such accommodations are made, are generally barely within the limits of government requirements for sale to consumers, to minimize reduction in performance. Such accommodations are often reversible, so that production vehicles can be modified to racing trim. A common example of this process is the exhaust system, often modified in the production vehicle to meet legal requirements in the jurisdictions where the vehicle is sold. Since most production-based racing series allow some level of modification, including the removal of exhaust systems that reduce emissions at the cost of engine performance, vehicles that were produced and sold primarily to meet the homologation-guidelines of a particular series are often designed for easy modification of such components.