Classic rally eligibility

[Duke Caboom]

Hi, I have completed in several HRCR events but not for the past 6 or 7 years. I was interested in this rule (below) from the HRCR Clubman's regs. Does it mean you could run a car from, say, 1986, as long as it is to the same spec as a 1985 car? How about a 1983 car which is the same spec as a 1980 car. Could it run in category 3?
Thanks

Competitors’ attention is drawn to MUK item
R19.1.Historic Road Rally Cars are categorised in the following periods (see below). A
car will be dated by the specification presented and not necessarily by the date of build or registration.

Typical examples are shown below
Category 1
(to 31/12/1967)
Category 2
(1968-74)
Category 3
(1975-81)
Category 4
(1982-85)

[velocemitch]

Yes this changed a couple of years back, the car has to be the specification available in the period, not necessarily built in that period.
It means, for instance, I can run my 1968 Alfa 1750 GTV in catagory 1, as the 1750 was introduced in December 1967.

[Duke Caboom]

Great. Thanks. A logical rule.

[Duke Caboom]

So I now see that there is an up to '90 category, which means, presumably, that some pretty recent cars are eligible. Mk1 MX5, for example, introduced in '89

[velocemitch]

Duke Caboom said:

So I now see that there is an up to '90 category, which means, presumably, that some pretty recent cars are eligible. Mk1 MX5, for example, introduced in '89

Yes that’s the case, an early MX5 would be pretty good.
There are a few issues though, it needs to be early as the spec changed quite quickly, most are parralel imports and not well under sealed, so they rust for fun!
The other practical problem is the lack of spare wheel space, I understand they only have space for a space saver, which is pretty useless for rallying, so the spare needs to be strapped to the top of the boot.