>In a message dated 4/23/99 9:49:51 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
>alliancemillsoft@worldnet.att.net writes:
>
><< ...do you really think that BFG would have produced hundreds of
> thousands of dollars of tires for that event without some "quiet approval"
>by at least one SCCA official???? I wonder ....
>
> John Whitling >>
>
> This question could lead to some interesting exchanges.
> My rather extensive experience has been that, with tires, soft = fast
> = short-lived = more expensive and hard = slow = longer-lived =
cheaper.
> Experience may vary. If you are driving a light, good handling sports
>car and you are one of those Fangio-like driving geniuses maybe you can get
>long life from soft tires and still go pretty fast.
> However, there are a much greater number of autocrossers who drive
> cars that aren't quite so beautifully engineered and our driving style
isn't
> quite up to the genius standard. Autocross was at one time a place for the
> amateur to enjoy some relatively low pressure and low cost competitive fun
with
> whatever car he happened to have. Now the rules seem aimed more toward
> those who purchase cars with autocrossing first in mind, no place for the
guy who
> admits he is an amateur and a tightwad.
> That doesn't bother me all that much. I've done a lot of autocrossing
> for a long time. If it has gotten more expensive and complicated than
suits
> me I can find other things to do on Sunday.
> Someone say something. I need typing practice.
>
>Ray
Ya know...?
If you replace the word autocross with the ancient SCCA term of "Auto
Exhibition" which was supplanted by Automobile Race and so on and so forth,
this could well be the same conversation that may have occurred in the
formative years
of the SCCA!!!
I remember when a member of the Wichita SCCA drove his 'Vette to Sebring 12
hour with his race tires tied onto the back, entered the race, placed
eleventh overall, put the street tires back on and drove home!! I think
it was in '69. Don't do that these days either, do we? He was/is a
school bus mechanic that ran an early big block 'vette back then!
I remember arguments about amateurism versus professionalism, and how SCCA
could not allow Pro's! Now, there is very little but pro's, judging by
the cost factors involved. I personally miss the Can Am and Trans Am
series of the sixties, even though they became a real pain to work, due to
the level of and attitude of professionals.
Stand back and enjoy the FUN of autocrossing and don't give a fig about
winning and all the falderall about this and that. Even Rocky Mountain
Vintage Racing has succumbed to the "raising of the bar" syndrome. The
1967 or older former SCCA "racers" are no more like they were in 1967 then I
am! Except ,they are MUCH better, now, I'm not. ;>(
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