Super Series World Championship
The Super Series (also known as SS) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Global Establishment for Automobile Racing (GEAR) in Animalia. The World Drivers' Championship, which became the GEAR Super Series World Championship in 1975, has been one of the premier forms of racing around the world since its inaugural season in 1965. The word "series" in the name refers to the set of rules to which all participants' cars must conform. A Super Series season consists of a series of races, known as grands prix, which take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads.
A points system is used at Grands Prix to determine two annual World Championships: one for drivers, the other for constructors. Each driver must hold a valid Premier License, the highest class of racing licence issued by GEAR. The races must run on tracks graded "A", the highest grade-rating issued to racing tracks by GEAR.
Super Series cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, owing to very high cornering speeds achieved through the generation of large amounts of aerodynamic downforce. The cars underwent major changes in 2017, allowing wider front and rear wings, and wider tyres, resulting in peak cornering forces near 6.5 lateral g and top speeds of around 350 km/h (215 mph), and the cars are set to undergo another regulation change for the 2024 season. As of 2021, the hybrid engines are limited in performance to a maximum of 15,000 rpm; the cars are very dependent on electronics and aerodynamics, suspension and tyres. Traction control, launch control, and automatic shifting, and other electronic driving aids, have been banned since 1995.