Technical Regulations for Rush Auto Works Race Series 2026-v1.6

[Sam Reed]

Sam Reed updated Technical Regulations for Rush Auto Works Race Series with a new update entry:

2026 Rush SR Race Series Technical Regulations

Technical Regulations for the 2026 Season.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Sam Reed]

Brake pads used to be open but 2026 regulations now require pads sold by RAW. This change is not included in the changes document. Is it an oversight in the changes document or mistake in the 2026 regulations?

Please see the new doc - thanks for pointing this out.

 

[Kw78]

Brake pads used to be open but 2026 regulations now require pads sold by RAW. This change is not included in the changes document. Is it an oversight in the changes document or mistake in the 2026 regulations?

I don't think this is good news. What is the point of this? If it is to get the proceeds from a consumable, then is RUSH going to offer quite the variety of pads that is out there?

If it is to force the brake feel to suit a certain style of braking, then this is bad news.

RUSH, part of the attraction of this car is it is tunable to the feel that the driver works with best. SPEC cars ultimate performance are dominated by the physics of the car. IE, HP to weight, ride height, dimensions, tires.

Driver performance is dominated by the feel of the car. Spec Miata made this mistake long ago and then recovered. They tried spec alignment, spec brake pads etc. All this does is narrow the field to one driving style. I have been part of this expirement before and all it does is reduce the field.

Years ago we took two championship drivers from the same class and had them test a spec car from their class with the other drivers setup. Each was respectively WAY off in lap time compared to driving their own setup, while producing nearly identical lap times in the same vehicle when allowed to drive their preferred setup. One driver was only adept at managing a pushy car, and the other liked a very pointy or loose car, but both drivers were national champions. I stress that no parts were changed on the car, just adjustments to sway bars, shocks, alignment etc.

The point of the exercise was to teach how the feel of the car working with the drivers brain is a more important requirement than the root ability of the car, to promote close racing.

The 2026 rules for RUSH appear to be going down that path of dictating driver style versus just keeping a collection of parts at the same performance potential. Physics of tire, ride height, hp to weight, and spec aero should be kept in spec, but not camber, rake, brake bite, and shock forces. Those are all driver feel. Those are all things that change track to track possibly, as well as in different conditions.

I hope RUSH will focus on the reliability of the car running a reasonable race distance (that's not 20 min btw) and letting the club racers develop and adjust the car to suit their style and feel.


My .02
Kyle

 

[Sam Reed]

I don't think this is good news. What is the point of this? If it is to get the proceeds from a consumable, then is RUSH going to offer quite the variety of pads that is out there?

We understand this. The reasoning is:

• The stock pads that were shipped from 2022-2025 were inadequate for the car. There was too much rear braking and not enough front. Practically, everyone needed to run brake bias as far front as the adjustment bar would go. This is not a great way for the car to ship.
• Unequal-sized master cylinders helps alleviate that problem, but it is best in combination with unequal pad compounds.
• Development of this solution took time and money. Additionally, a design review of the brake calipers showed that there was some small deviation from the intended shape and the d961 pads had some overhang. The new spec pads fix this problem and maximize available pad area, wear more evenly, and fit the actual driving profile of the car.
  • To be clear, the new spec pad is *not* the D961 shape - it is slightly different. There is no other way to get this corrected shape, meaning that any non-spec pad is going to be inferior in wear.
• So it became clear that an OEM change was necessary, and that a fair number of incidents we've seen in the car due to more amateur drivers locking up, could have been avoided by this solution. Compelling them to change was easiest done by mandating a spec pad, which also helped cover some of our sizable internal development costs.

Among drivers who have tried the new solution, even the among most elite in the series, the feedback has been very positive. I understand your resistance and it's legitimate. Every decision we make has trade-offs; we decided the trade-offs fell on the side of mandating the pads this year.

A strong motivation of mine for the 2026 series has been to reduce full-course yellows. This, and some other reliability changes we've made and are making, will go a long way toward that goal.

 

[Kw78]

Thanks for the Reply Sam, I appreciate it!

I understand the problem with the original system and applaud the further development.

I too arrived at a much more aggressive pad, and a weak-ish rear pad. I also appreciate there is no support for an abs driver aid, love that! The car is stopping damn good.

I just resist the trend to make it mandatory, and the trend for the rulebook to squash crew chief adjustments for driver feel. Engagement of the brakes is a huge piece of the puzzle. For example, I've recently had one Porsche driver tell me they can't stop their car, and a teammate under the same tent take the car out for a few laps and report back they are the best brakes he's felt. They raced the same cars in the same class, just wanted different feels. (One of the drivers in this example just got a RUSH! Ironic!)

A strong motivation of mine for the 2026 series has been to reduce full-course yellows. This, and some other reliability changes we've made and are making, will go a long way toward that goal.

This is excellent to address. ABS used to be a luxury in a race car, but now it is so common that I think the RUSH class has lots of participants that have always had ABS. Feeling a lockup is a learned skill of course and people will get there, but I understand helping them along with design updates!

Kyle

 

[davidharvey95]

Thanks for the Reply Sam, I appreciate it!

I understand the problem with the original system and applaud the further development.

I too arrived at a much more aggressive pad, and a weak-ish rear pad. I also appreciate there is no support for an abs driver aid, love that! The car is stopping damn good.

I just resist the trend to make it mandatory, and the trend for the rulebook to squash crew chief adjustments for driver feel. Engagement of the brakes is a huge piece of the puzzle. For example, I've recently had one Porsche driver tell me they can't stop their car, and a teammate under the same tent take the car out for a few laps and report back they are the best brakes he's felt. They raced the same cars in the same class, just wanted different feels. (One of the drivers in this example just got a RUSH! Ironic!)




This is excellent to address. ABS used to be a luxury in a race car, but now it is so common that I think the RUSH class has lots of participants that have always had ABS. Feeling a lockup is a learned skill of course and people will get there, but I understand helping them along with design updates!

Kyle

Kyle,
I was just reading this thread and wanted to weigh in with a different perspective.

While I understand the desire and benefit to allowing for a range of tweaks and adjustments to suit driver preference, I also have issues with it.

Sometimes drivers and teams will guard the secret like it's the difference between life and death, and they maintain a massive pace advantage because of it.
In my opinion, that is against the spirit of a spec series because those who have the crew and the money to pay the crew to develop a setup for them have a massive advantage over those who are by themselves or only have one or two volunteer helpers.
I could back the idea of individualized setups if it was mandatory for it to be shared with the entire paddock, so that those who cannot afford a crew and crew chief can have the opportunity to make the same adjustments on the car themselves and try it out.

Otherwise, having setups and pads that are fixed or very narrowly adjustable is the best way to ensure that the series truly is about driver skill rather than who has more money to spend to buy pace.

 

[Sam Reed]

Sam Reed updated Technical Regulations for Rush Auto Works Race Series with a new update entry:

2026 Rush SR Race Series Technical Regulations (v1.6)

Technical Regulations for the 2026 season.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Sam Reed]

Sam Reed updated Technical Regulations for Rush Auto Works Race Series with a new update entry:

2026 Rush SR Spec Series Regulations

Technical Regulations for the 2025 season.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Kw78]

David,

Its worthy of discussion for sure, so thanks for chatting about it, and its an age old debate in racing.

Just so you know, I don't have crew or a crewchief either. I use those terms to the refer to the roles one plays when not actually driving. I am doing crew chief things prepping the car in between outings and when adjusting it between sessions. In the past I have played that role for others alot tho. Most of my experience is only in spec classes.

I could back the idea of individualized setups if it was mandatory for it to be shared with the entire paddock, so that those who cannot afford a crew and crew chief can have the opportunity to make the same adjustments on the car themselves and try it out.

Otherwise, having setups and pads that are fixed or very narrowly adjustable is the best way to ensure that the series truly is about driver skill rather than who has more money to spend to buy pace.

I confidently can say that spec cars' performance envelopes are from the physics of the car. Grip, HP, drag, weight, weight transfer, and CG. The RUSH concept has done excellent defining these. I also will say that executing lap times from said package is all about the car interacting with the driver in a way that the drivers brain makes sense of. You can see this everywhere from Red Bull in F1 to SM in club racing. So, the point of my post is that I do not think RUSH should go down the slippery slope of mandating the feel of the car. To me, drivers skill is about feeling the grip and making the most out of it by tuning the feel to your preference, then executing a lap at a high level.

For example, Braking is 1/3 of the inputs a driver has control over, some like light touch brakes and some like the opposite. Some like a very high initial bite, some don't. But either way, the braking limit of the car is the same.

A steering example is some drivers like a pushy car, some like a pointy or loose car. But either way, the cornering limit of the car is the same.

I have seen over and over again, close racing where the front runners are at the opposite ends of the tuning window for feel, ( If they had to run each others car, they slow way down, that experiment has been done, alot). So, I am encouraging RUSH not to mandate that out of this relatively new class that is just getting momentum.

My .02
Kyle