In case it is not already completely apparent, the key to what you can and
cannot do to a car for racing depends solely on where and with what groups
you plan on racing. Each group is different. So, the only way to do it
right is to FIRST determine where you will race, SECOND get THEIR rules,
FINALLY figure out what you can do with your car.
Unfortunately it does not stop there since racing organizations seem to
change their rules from year to year. For many professional racing
governing organizations (FIA and Le Mans, and now IRL for Indy, for
instance), the key hasn't been to build the world's fastest car with the
world's best handling. The key is to find out the rules for the next year,
and then design a car that will comply, but take advantage of whatever
loophole you can find. Porsche has been so successful in Le Mans,
certainly because they built durable cars, but more importantly because
they knew how to play by and play with the rules (rules which everyone
knows were intentionally designed by FIA to allow French cars a chance and
to try to stop Porsche). Seems you need an attorney to interpret the rules
as well as a mechanic and engineer these days. Hmmm, maybe a career change
for me????
Anyway, back to my point. Figure out where you are going to race before
you buy a car or make any modifications to your car.
Jay
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:48:49 CDT