Several points made in reply to my comments seem important. When I
started vintage racing, it was because I enjoyed it so much 30 years
ago. Vintage racing, it seemed, had something for everyone. If you
wanted to show off a megabuck car, lovingly restore a symbol of your
youth, or engage in low key racing, vintage had something to offer.
Later, I found even more opportunities: wild competition in SVRA Group 3
and gentlemanly competition in VSCCA preservation class.
If I could make one recommendation to VMC, I would suggest the
definition of a "preservation class" to be adopted by all sanctioning
bodies. The VSCCA rules are perfect, in my opinion, 1) it must be an
approved pre-59 VSCCA car and 2) it must lap Lime Rock SLOWER than 1:20.
No rules on tires, period modifications, etc. - just lap times! It was
supposedly the biggest group at the LRP Finale.
As owner of both a "modified to the gills" Alfa Spider and a
"preservation class" car, I must say, each is just as much fun to
race,in spite of the enormous performance differences!
And if we could convince drivers to spend a few days at a professional
racing school every winter instead of looking for new performance mods,
they would find in the spring the car would be faster (for less $$$$!)
And they would be safer drivers. My own experience was every visit to
Bondurant was worth 1 second at Lime Rock!
We know so much more about the technique of racing today than 30 years
ago, we HAVE to be faster. The first book on racing technique was
written by Taruffi in 1959, but I now have a collection of 18
(EIGHTEEN!) books written since then (and I'm missing a few contemporaty
ones - plus I only have two racing videos.) Learning the physics of
racing inevitable makes us faster. Wish we knew all that stuff then!
(Not to mention all the other things I wish I knew then...)
Oh, BTW, we used to have used Bluestreaks "recapped" with rubber so soft
it only lasted one weekend!
Cheat neat! (Richard Petty)
--
Jim Hayes Winchester, MA, USA
hayes@mediaone.net http://www.fotec.com/jim.htm
jeh@fotec.com http://www.fotec.com/
All generalizations, with the possible exception of this one, are false!
|