-----Original Message-----
From: Scott R Sawyer
To: scavenger@eol-online.com; autox@autox.team.net
Sent: 8/22/99 1:31 AM
Subject: Re: Chrysler Taking its toys and going home???
Until the ACR, the cars that were raced in SS were the same model that
was sold to the general public. The problem I have with the ACR is that
it was built as a race package. No one really needs Koni's (an
AFTERMARKET component) on the street {but they are fun : ) }. For those
of us in the Solo community, this isn't a big issue because we can add
them, but when it comes to SS, it gave the Neon's levels of
Nor does anyone NEED A/C or NEED electronically adjustable damping (see
the Corvette) or NEED a 320 hp V8, Chrysler chose to fit a car in a
particular market. I would expect that the Neon ACR is just about the
only car that came from the factory with stiff enough damping to match
it's springs. NEED has nothing to do with it, it was a marketing
decision to sell the car with certain tuning.
adjustability
not available to the other vehicles. I would hate to be the driver
trying
to tune out the understeer most front drivers come with through tire
pressures, while the Neon driver just pulls out his handy dandy
adjustment knob and makes a few changes. Why was this allowed to happen?
I don't know. My problem with DC is the way they handled the pull out.
If
Waaaa, the manufacturer you choose to buy from doesn't have the
good sense (or cents) to make the suspension on the cars they
manufacture adjustable? They could if they wanted to...
I were a Neon driver, I would feel betrayed. You buy the car with the
belief that you will have factory support, then they turn around and
yank
everything in the middle of the season. I think DC would have been much
better served by announcing their intentions to leave after the season,
but this wouldn't have made the splash they got with the mid- season
move.
Solution? I have no idea at tis point. Things are so screwed up in SS
racing I don't know what they can do to salvage it. I do a fair amount
of
corner working, and as much as I love the sound of a GT1 car at full
throttle, it was kind of cool when the SS cars were ao course. Lots of
body roll, squeelin' tires, and (relatively) inexpensive. Now they are
starting to becoming more and more like IT cars.
I agree with you here. I just disagree that the ACR was totally
tricked out. It had the same spring rates as the standard neons,
same size sway bars, just a little stiffer dampening and slots in
the strut housing, hardly rocket science.
John S.
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