Paul Foster writes:
<snip>
>The SEB then turned around and blew apart DS by placing the Neon
ACR in
>that class. Coincidence or what?
I disagree. The popularity of the Neon in DS is due to large
amounts of contingency money attracting the best drivers and the
most intensive development efforts, which has a trickle-down
effect on the purchase decisions made by other competitors. It
doesn't hurt that the car is dirt cheap, either. The perception
that only a Neon can win DS is, IMHO, mistaken. Until another
manufacturer offers an attractive contingency package for a
potentially good DS car, we won't know for sure.
>The chief difference between Stock and SP is the ability to
change the
>springs (and swaybars on both ends of the car). In my opinion,
it
>doesn't matter a bit if this is done by the manufacturer or by
the end
>user. The effect is the same.
No, it's not. The manufacturer, by definition, doesn't CHANGE
springs, they INSTALL them. If a manufacturer offers a sport
variant with stiffer springs/swaybars than some other version of
the same model, then that variant is, by definition, a stock car.
And it is appropriately classed in Stock, although it may need to
be in a faster class than the plain-Jane version.
When a car owner replaces springs or swaybars, (s)he isn't
limited to what the manufacturer might have deemed appropriate,
so the range of possibilities is unlimited. Ergo, when a
competitor makes these changes him(her)self, it is appropraite
for the car to be classed in SP.
Manufacturer-supplied options are, with very few exceptions,
known quantities. Competitor-modified items are not. One is
stock, the other isn't. Why does this seem to be controversial?
Jay
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