There are 3 Production classes left in SCCA, EP, FP, and HP. There are also
GT1-3 and GTL. Apparently sometime in the 80's, the then current BOD thought
it would be wise to make consolidate all the Sedan and Production classes
into Silhouette, tube based chassis cars. I think they figured that it
would be cheaper for people to keep buying new car chassis, only to
re-engineer half the cars. For one reason or another they stopped half way
through.
Christian,
The problem is they don't. SCCA's GT and Improved Touring classes use a
formula because all cars are held to the same modification parameters. In
SCCA Production there are 3 prep levels, "Full Prep" "Limited Prep" and some
cars are a combination "f.p. chassis with l.p. motors".
Generally the older British Leyland and Italian cars are full prep
(basically do anything to the chassis but keeping the stock floor pan and
fire wall, and you can modify the motors all you want as long as you use the
stock head, block, and a specified carb/fuel injection)
The more modern cars from the 80's and 90's are limited prep, which use
similar rules to SCCA's Improved Touring classes, but with some allowments
(chassis mods are limited to stock suspension pick up points, and motors are
restricted in porting, compression and cam lift).
Confused yet? Because it gets better.
In an interest to make cars more competitive in different production classes
due to class consolidations, some cars are allowed motor swaps. There are
also different weight penalties for different types of gear boxes used
(stock, stock with dog gears, or aftermarket trans), brakes, etc. The list
goes on.
Generally they try to class cars based on the cars performance in other
classes, and then kind of make guesses as to how fast it will be with the
allowable "production mods". They also balance the different makes and
models based on individual's own efforts.
The l.p. rule set has brought in some fresh blood to the classes, and in
particular thanks to manufacturer contingency support and marque popularity
Mazda Miata's and Honda (Integra's, CRX's, Preludes) have allowed EP and FP
large fields. HP is on the downward spiral and is suffering from a bit
talent drain right now.
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