Regarding the posts which intimate that the SEB "works" for the members and
should toe the line in favor of a majority of members on any given subject
or item:
Wow. I remember when I was a newbie to this game... Ask the then SEB
members if I mouthed off and felt I had a handle on things. I was a "bad
boy". Many years later I'm now an "old fart" doing damage control on the
stock classifications advisory committee. But I think its good to bring
out your ideas and see if they fly. I remember that uplifting visceral
feeling of righteous ingidnation when fighting against a perceived crack in
someone's logic. After nearly two decades of talking with people in this
sport, I'm more satisfied by reasoned debate these days than the increase
in heart rate ;-)
My personal take: What's happening today is wonderful and challenging. We
are in the eye of a sportscar hurricane my friends, with cool cars coming
at us from all directions. It keeps getting harder and harder to classify
so many new models, changing models, and Stock/Street Prepared cross
dressing models =8-0. Add to that the relentless pleas for this or that
allowance for any given car, and it gets positively mind blowing. The
upside is we have great cars to play with. The downside is that stock is
becoming more and more expensive as the average price of sports cars
climbs, and the model improvements force our hand at upgrading or
switching. Still, if you want to go racing in SCCA, Solo-2 a relatively
inexpensive way to run what you brung. The system we have for trying to
make everybody's car competitive isn't perfect and never will be. The holy
grail of Solo-2 would be where everyone is competitive in whatever they
choose to drive, but the chances of that happening within a limited number
of classes is nil. For an example of thinking "outside the box" of
classification as it now stands, the Porsche Club of America has a system
whereby cars are allowed small modifications, and assessed points for each
mod made to the vehicle. Depending on the mods, a car can do a few mods
yet remain within its "base" stock class, or do things to move further up
into "improved" and ultimately "modified" classes. There are lots of
variations. But it's really hard to police this system, and even with
greater leeway in allowances for stock cars, there is plenty of grumbling
here too. So, I think the system we have is pretty fair. Not perfect, but
fair.
Obvously, the thing we all try to do is get the best car we can, and do the
best we can with that car. If you feel it's not properly classed, write a
letter to the SCAC and SEB and we'll look into it. We do our best to make
consistent well informed decisions in a timely manner. But please
understand that not every car will be competitive within the current class
structure. It simply isn't possible to give every new model a place at the
head of its class, send everyone home with a first place trophy, or keep
aging cars competitive with newer models. If it were, there would be no
need for the SCAC, and the SEB members could cut their countless
volunteered hours in half.
Not to sound Pollyannish, but I hope everyone eventually finds a way to
become competitive, and that in the mean time, we're all enjoying this
unique period in automotive history... I mean, just think about how many
cool sports cars are out there to enjoy!
Rich Fletcher
SCAC Chair, but just speaking for myself.
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