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BIREL CQ32, THE 2000 FORMULA C CHAMPION KART

Max Bernardi

02 December 2019

CIK-FIA 2000 – 2002

HOMOLOGATION
The CQ32 chassis dates back to 2000. Its approval was then extended for another 6 years from 2003 to 2008

125 cc

CONFIGURATION
The chassis was approved for the ICAJ - ICA - ICC - SICC - ICE classes, but its main use was for the 125 cc gear classes.

30-32

TUBES DIAMETER
In the present day, as in 2000, 30 and 32 mm tubes were generally used for the chassis. Either all the same, or, as in the case of CQ32, a mix

MANUAL

WELDING
Birel was still welding manually in 2000 (robots are used in the present day)

MAGNESIUM

ACCESSORIES
The "Motorsport" set-up had magnesium components

Between the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, the Formula C gear kart category was dominated by the Birel/TM Racing team (which continued to win with the advent of the Super ICC). Let's analyse the Birel CQ32 chassis, winner of the Formula C World Championship on 24 September 2000 in Mariembourg (BEL) driven by Gianluca Beggio.

The CQ32 is a model from the Birel Q series. The first one dates back to the three-year period 2000-2002, and was subsequently extended for another 6 years from 2003 to 2008. The structure of the bodywork is different from that of the present day, but also from the other Birel chassis of the time: in fact, it has the front end of the chassis of the R series and the rear of the Q series. The front is similar to present day chassis, while the rear, with its curved stringers, is certainly unconventional and recalls one of the most innovative Birel projects: the Torsion. This was the first chassis made by the Lissone company that was entirely computer-designed, with a particularly detailed study of the stresses to which a chassis is subjected on a track. In the Torsion, the two stringers narrowed to the point of almost touching each other in the area between the tank and the steering column. For the CQ32, this was less extreme, also because the chassis needed more rigidity since it was to be used for the gear classes, where the power to be delivered on the ground is greater and brutal, above all in those years with rotary valve aspiration engines.

The Birel CQ32 powered by TM Racing, Formula C World Champion driven by Gianluca Beggio

In 2000 there were no graphics kits, only stickers to attach to the body

The bearing flange mounted on the CQ32 was the first made for a 50 mm diameter axle

A detail of the characteristic closed triangular shape created by the joining of the stringers and the central crossbar

The union of the R (front) and Q (rear) projects allowed the creation of closed triangles with the joining of the stringers and the central crosspiece: this was a solution that not only increased the rigidity of the central area, but also allowed keeping the torsion of the front axle separate from the rear axle. The rigidity bar could be inserted at the front, necessary to vary the setup depending on the grip. On the rear, instead, the “knife stabilizer” could be mounted, a flat bar that further increases rigidity and changes the behaviour of the kart. The tubes of the Q32, from the very name of the chassis, were 32 mm wide, except for the 30 mm front stringers that started at the height of the C-spindle and ended at the central cross member. The curved stringers that reached up to the rear were welded to these tubes.