# Homologation...



## SR20 Who Knew? (Jul 29, 2003)

I see the term homologation used kind of often when talking about car classes. Anyone care to explain what it means?


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## bahearn (Jul 15, 2002)

*From www.dictionary.com*

2 entries found for homologation.
ho·mol·o·gate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (h-ml-gt, h-)
tr.v. ho·mol·o·gat·ed, ho·mol·o·gat·ing, ho·mol·o·gates 
To approve, especially to confirm officially.


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[Medieval Latin homologre, homologt-, from Greek homologein, to agree, from homologos, agreeing. See homologous.]
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ho·molo·gation n. 

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Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 


homologation

\Ho*mol`o*ga"tion\, n. [Cf. F. homologation.] (Civ. & Scots Law) Confirmation or ratification (as of something otherwise null and void), by a court or a grantor.

[Try Merriam-Webster Unabridged.]
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. 

Regarding auto racing, many sanctioning bodies require a minumum number of cars be built, ostensibly to allow non-factory participation. FIA, for Gran Touring class, required X number of examples be built and available for sale to public in the '60s. Ferrari named their 250 GTO (Gran Tourismo Omologato) as a nod to that irksome homologation rule.


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## SR20 Who Knew? (Jul 29, 2003)

I think I understand...I think...
So in order for a car to be able to compete, first a number of them would have to be built and be avaiable to the public??


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## ReVerm (Jan 13, 2003)

SR20 Who Knew? said:


> I think I understand...I think...
> So in order for a car to be able to compete, first a number of them would have to be built and be avaiable to the public??


The first part yes, the second part is up to the sanctioning body. With FIA Group N rally cars, for example, both the base car and the modified race vehicle must be available for sale to the public. With other competitions though, like the 24 Hours of Bathurst for example, that isn't the case: When Mazda was destroying the field with their 3rd gen RX7's, BMW et al came out with ridiculous limited-run semi-race cars on which they believed they could build winning race cars. No one but BMW partners and employees could purchase them.

In any production car based racing series though, it's always one of the first things in the rulebook, and it always has a nice brief section dedicated to it.


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## bahearn (Jul 15, 2002)

Prototype racing obviously doesn't require homologation. It all depends upon the type of racing and sanctioning bodies. For any classes that even remotely nod towards production cars, there is usually a minimum number of cars for homologation.


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