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RE: Car Classification -.... and RULES

To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: Car Classification -.... and RULES
From: Bill Babcock <BillB@bnj.com>
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 09:03:16 -0800
In the light of your SCCA statement it's hard to justify the remainder. SCCA
Production cars got very expensive to build and maintain because a
competitive car needed to be very precisely tweaked at the very edge of the
rules. A similar situation now exists in Spec Racer Ford where the spec
tires are substantially better in the first heat cycle. The big bux guys are
willing to buy new tires for every race. Those unwilling to do that are
permanently relegated to the middle of the pack.  

The problem with restrictive rules is that they always have unintended
consequences and they ALWAYS are applied unevenly. The irritating jerk has
the rule book thrown at him while the nice guy who is well connected slides
by. There isn't a solution to that. People have been trying since racing
began. No one has any brilliant new insights that haven't already been
tried. Any model that you might strive to adopt has significant flaws. 

I suspect that an engine can be prepared that meets your proposed "new"
rules that would meet or exceed the performance of anything "new". The only
difference is that it would cost a lot more. I know of several builders that
could get close to 200 horsepower from a Triumph engine under your scenario.
But it would cost $20,000 or more. Some of us can afford that, most can't or
won't. 

I race with SOVERN, HMSA, and General Racing. All three have different rules
and are highly restrictive but I can transition easily through them simply
by spending more money. That's all that the rules mean. Peyote does just as
well in every organization. 

I suspect the biggest unintended consequence is that more rules means more
money to be competitive. 

As far as cars going faster than the great racers of the past, don't forget
that the cars are not the only thing being modernized. We know more. You can
pick up a book for twenty bucks and learn more about racing than Fangio ever
knew. Watch some of the old films--the guy had magic hands and could coax a
car through a turn at the ragged edge and look cool as a cucumber, but he
didn't have a clue where or what an apex was. You can take driving schools
that were unavailable to anyone thirty years ago. People used to learn the
techniques on their own, one at a time, with the scant seat time available
during races. 

We know more about setting cars up. Our tracks are safer--you don't die if
you push the edge too far. The list goes on and on. Those bells don't get
unrung. 

This is a long answer for an issue that I really don't care that much about.
I can have fun with any engine, prepared any way. I'm not ever going to
stick a Jap five speed in Peyote, even though it would be nicer. All I'm
saying is that there never are easy answers to these kinds of issues.  FOT
has a role, but it's as a place where people can talk these things through.
The last thing I'd want to see is a club with no rules suddenly decide to
get in the business of promulgating them. 


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