Most of the kit cars currently on the market (even the Cobras) have some
"standard specs" from the manufacturer. They also have optional engines
etc. There are a lot of kits out there also. They can be divided into a
few groups ie, Lotus, Ford V8, VW air cooled, MG, Miata, and Fiero. There
are some limitations to each kit and these will serve to govern these cars
in a Prepared class. For instance a 550 Spyder kit can run a maximum 8 in
wide tire under the stock body work. This limits it to DOT tires only. Make
al these cars run stock body work with tires that fit under it (no flares
and no exposed tread). The Loti are in prepared already and they are all
(from day 1) considered kit cars!!! There are limits on them.
The other issue is street licenses. If a kit car is licensed on the street
put it in an appropriate prepared class. It is heavier by far than any mod
car. Why make the owner ruin the car to make it fast in Mod.
Why is street licensing so important? At least one place I have run in the
present requires a license on the car to run there. As pavement tightens up
I suspect that with liability ins being what it is they may start to require
license and inspection. (not at nationals but locally). For those of you
who care only about national events, think about your weekly events and how
far you like to drive on $2.00 per gallon gasoline. Think about you budgets
and how many events you run and how many your wives will let you run.
Why should kit cars be placed in Mod. because they are newly manufactured.
They actually are heavier and slower now than their predecesors in many
cases due to EPA and Dot regs. Why should Loti and other low production or
kit vehicles be grandfathered into prepared and in some cases (TVR and
others) into Stock and Street Prepared just because they are old (but still
very fast)? I suggest that the homologation number be dropped in Prepared
and brought up to date in Stock and S.P. for all cars.
Level the playing field!!!
Ray Colbert
Oakmont PA
1957 Vintage Spyder
> ----------
> From: KWall73108@aol.com[SMTP:KWall73108@aol.com]
> Reply To: KWall73108@aol.com
> Sent: Thursday, July 27, 2000 10:28 AM
> To: autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Kit cars in Prepared
>
>
> --part1_9e.79bbd3f.26b1a0f2_boundary
>
> In a message dated 7/26/00 3:18:48 PM EST, msoar@home.com writes:
>
> <<
> Most of the Prepared classes have extremely tight specifications on
> exactly
> what modifications a car can run. For my car, I am given minimum weight,
> max wheel size, valve dimensions, max track, a choice between 2
> specified
> carbs, a crankshaft spec and only 1 allowed type of brake swap (drums for
> Lancia Beta discs). How would this be achieved for the (roughly) several
> hundred types of kit cars, with a wide variety of
> engine/chassis/suspension
> combinations? Why is it fair to other competitors that a kit car would
> be
> kept in line only with "a suitable formula to prevent the driver from
> inflating HP and handling beyond what is reasonable for the street" as
> you
> suggest? The Prepared rules developed from (more-or-less) looking at
> each
> car individually and trying to fit equalize it to all other cars in the
> class (I certainly wouldn't argue that this doesn't always succeed, but
> at
> least an attempt was made).
> >>
>
> Aren't there rules stating the kit car has to go to the prepared class
> where
> the original car that it's replicating resides and also exactly replicate
> the
> mechanics of the original?
>
> --part1_9e.79bbd3f.26b1a0f2_boundary
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> Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 13:17:12 -0700
> To: "Colbert, Raymond J." <Raymond.Colbert@alcoa.com>,
> "'Bruce Haden'" <Bhaden@ucsd.edu>, autox@autox.team.net,
> "'Richard Atkins'" <buzz@indiana.net>
> From: Mo Soar <msoar@home.com>
> Subject: Kit cars in Prepared (was RE: Legend car class)
> In-Reply-To: <E76A1E6B1C6DD3118B600000E89619CB12969C@na-atc.atc.alcoa.co
> m>
> Mime-Version: 1.0
> Sender: owner-autox@autox.team.net
> Reply-To: Mo Soar <msoar@home.com>
>
> Most of the Prepared classes have extremely tight specifications on
> exactly
> what modifications a car can run. For my car, I am given minimum weight,
> max wheel size, valve dimensions, max track, a choice between 2 specified
> carbs, a crankshaft spec and only 1 allowed type of brake swap (drums for
> Lancia Beta discs). How would this be achieved for the (roughly) several
> hundred types of kit cars, with a wide variety of
> engine/chassis/suspension
> combinations? Why is it fair to other competitors that a kit car would be
> kept in line only with "a suitable formula to prevent the driver from
> inflating HP and handling beyond what is reasonable for the street" as you
> suggest? The Prepared rules developed from (more-or-less) looking at each
> car individually and trying to fit equalize it to all other cars in the
> class (I certainly wouldn't argue that this doesn't always succeed, but at
> least an attempt was made).
>
>
> In our region we allow a Cobra kit car to run in ASP - it's not legal
> there,
> but for local competition it's the best fit. He knows that if he started
> to
> win every event he would probably be protested and we would have to uphold
> the protest, but he's been running for about 5 years and it hasn't been a
> problem yet. Once you move out of local competition and into Nationals,
> though it IS necessary to have very specific rules and to enforce them
> because there are always people who will push the rules for all they can
> get.
>
> Maureen Soar
> Oregon Region SCCA Solo2 D Prepared Fiat X1/9
>
> At 06:22 PM 7/25/00 -0400, Colbert, Raymond J. wrote:
> >OK,
> >
> >I guess I should get involved at this point as I have been lobbying SCCA
> to
> >get certain kit cars placed in Prepared Class with the Loti and Legends
> type
> >cars. It is my opinion that if a car is not homologated but still is
> street
> >legal (Legends cars might fit here with lights) it ought to be in
> prepared
> >class. I am autcrossing a Porsche 550 Spyder kit that is street legal
> and
> >can not be fitted with decent slicks so it runs on Hoosiers. Admitedly
> >these kinds of cars do not fit in SP or stock but prepared yes and the
> times
> >are comparable. All they need is a suitable formula to prevent the
> driver
> >from inflating HP and handling beyond what is reasonable for the street.
>
>
> --part1_9e.79bbd3f.26b1a0f2_boundary--
>
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