I noticed in the new Sports Car that their is a suggestion that beginning
in Y2K, SP turbo cars may no longer be able to modify their exhausts
upstream of the last cat, as is now permissible under the rules as an
"ostensibly" legal modification.
A couple thoughts on this:
<climbing up on big soap box>
(1) "Ostensibly" legal? What is that supposed to mean? That turbo SP
drivers are acting in bad faith under the rules by following the rules to
the letter, just because they get more benefit than other
normally-aspirated SP drivers? Seems like an undeserved slap in the face
to turbo drivers to me.
(2) One of the best ways to gain a noticeable power increase with a turbo
car in SP is to remove the cat, which is legal in SP. My question:
Why should removing the cat be legal in SP for any car, turbo or normally
aspirated? This rule has always bothered me because street-prepared cars
are "ostensibly" street cars, and the SCCA rules encourage a modification
that is against federal law and that also needlessly hurts the
environment. While there are lots of trailered SP cars that never get
street driven, I would venture to say that MOST SP cars at regional events
around the country are daily drivers. Why have a rule that encourages
people to make their cars street-illegal and hazards to clean air in
their role as daily drivers? I'd propose that rather than ban
turbo cars from removing their cats, that ALL SP cars be required to have
functional cats (stock or aftermarket).
<climbing off soap box>
Rich Johnston
95 Z28 ESP (aftermarket cat)
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