There’s less than a week remaining until the GB3 Championship blasts into life at Oulton Park, with a colossal grid of aspiring F1 stars looking to get their campaigns off to the best start possible.
Ahead of the new season, here’s a look at some things that have changed since the end of 2022.
Car modifications
The Tatuus MSV-022 GB3 car introduced last season to great acclaim has become even more refined over the winter, thanks to a string of upgrades for the 2023 season, focusing on durability, further improved reliability levels and safety updates.
The installation for the Mountune engine has received a redesign, increasing overall chassis stiffness in line with the heightened performance levels of the car and in line with current engineering thinking on engine installation.
The sump has also been totally redesigned with a higher capacity oil pump and twin-scavenge sump, leading to a slight increase in horsepower.
Alternators have been updated to McLaren units, resulting in a significant increase in quality and reliability. The alternator mounting and belt tensioning system is all new, while an update to the cooling system means this becomes pre-pressurised to improve engine data logging capabilities.
Suspension around the car has also been updated, with reinforced rear arms, plus new front and rear upright designs to better comply with the increased levels of aero and brake force.
New drive shafts have also been introduced to match the uprated suspension, and include an amended boot flange design to prevent the drive shaft becoming separated from the wheel assembly. An upgraded brake system on the rear axle from AP Racing has also been introduced.
Finally, a revised rear tail light system has been introduced for the 2023 season, with an FIA-specification rear rain light plus rear wing end plate repeaters.
Raised car weight
The minimum combined car and driver weight limit, previously at 598kg has been increased to 608kg. This is to accommodate the car upgrades for 2023, any required chassis repairs and also to allow for taller drivers unable to naturally get down to the previous limit.
Increased race three distance
Following consultation with the teams during the 2022 season, it was agreed that the final race of each weekend, the reversed grid encounter, will now run to an extended 25-minute length. This will allow drivers to make even more progress throughout the field and potentially earn more points as a result. The duration for races one and two (20 minutes) will remain the same.
Revised stewarding
The upgrade to FIA International Series means that any judicial procedures during an event will now be overseen by appointed championship Stewards rather than the Race Director.