[I've been staying out of this thread for a while... so I have
a number of thoughts stored up... my apologies for this long
note... but I suppose its better than the ten shorter notes it
almost was. ;^) ]
At 10:34 AM 10/8/99 , Jay Mitchell wrote:
>There's a mentality at work here which holds that, somehow,
>automotive tastes and choices are hereditary, in the same way
>that sex or race are. Using this faulty premise, it is alleged
>that certain _people_ are being discriminated against as if they
>can't change their mind about which car to own or how to prep it
>for autox use. So, we wind up with concepts like "the Porsche
>guys don't get a fair deal" as if they can't help it that they're
>Porsche guys (come to think of it, maybe they can't ;<).
I'll agree that mentality has shown up... and I'll agree its
missing the point. But I also think that your conclusion misses
the point as well, as have some others... (IMO, of course)
The point is _lots_of_people_ having _fun_, right?
"Lots of people" are NOT going to win the national championship
unless we have so many classes that their national championships
will be meaningless. And with a smaller number of classes, there
will always be some cars that are a little better than others --
its unavoidable unless we get cooperation from the mfgrs. ;^)
Further, it will always be the case that the top competitors will
choose the car they drive based on that. The rest of us who are
not serious enough or not financed enough or not whatever enough
to do that, _will_ be at a disadvantage. Unavoidable!
So, what to do? First, focus on the cars that are _fun_ to drive
fast. Nobody cares if there's a class where Ford Explorers or old
Caddilacs are competitive! Most people who want to autocross want
to do so in a good handling car. We want classes where all the old
Porsches are reasonably competitive... because Porsches are great
fun to autocross. We want classes where all the Miatas, all the
Corvettes, all the small BMWs, all the Camaros and Mustangs, etc.,
are _reasonably_ competitive. Why? 'Cause those are fun to drive;
and as club members, we want as many fun-to-drive choices as we can
have. Driving sports cars, or at least sporty cars -- that's _fun_.
And driving and seeing _different_ sports cars is _fun_.
But, the goal should be to group as many cars as possible into one
class such that they are all _reasonably_ competitive. Afterall,
not only do we want a variety of _fun_ cars, we want a variety of
_competitors_... nothing's more un-exhilirating than winning a one-
driver class (well, except not driving at all, I guess). Friendly
competition among 25-40 like-minded competitors -- that's _fun_.
What do I mean by _reasonably_ competitive? Do I mean if everybody
switched cars they'd all place the same way? NO! It'd be nice, but
its not realistic. I mean that all the cars should be similar weight
and similar performance characteristics, such that they all attack
the course similarly, such that the competitors can relate to each
other when talking about their runs. That's _fun_.
Further, as long as the cars are similar weight and behavior, drivers
can far more easily know when they _drove_ just about as
good as "Joe", but Joe just has a little more power. Still _fun_.
Even if you know you lost due to your weak car. Unless you prepared
the car to the limit, that'll even happen to people who have the
"best" car for the class. In fact, it can make it _more_ fun for
some, since they have an excuse. ;^) Personally, I think the key
is making sure the cars are similar in _characteristics_, rather
than similar in _times_.
Further, similar cars will tend to vary less in performance from
course to course. That'll greatly reduce the complaints about
different courses favoring different cars and upsetting the status
quo in each class... and that'll result in a lot more variety in
course designs... and for me at least, that's lots more _fun_.
Also, the times from event to event are more comparable, so you
can see if you are improving relative to your competitors. _Fun_!
In contrast, if you're driving a 3200# car in a class with a bunch of
2200# cars, you pretty much have no idea how you are driving compared
to the rest. You can't really discuss and compare how you attacked
sections of the course -- your different cars make the courses look
totally different. You have no idea if you are driving better or worse
than your competitors... was their lighter weight the difference, or
your bigger power? Worse, you can't even tell if you are improving
event to event... was it that longer straight, or the tighter slalom, or
whatever that made the difference from last event? Much less fun.
Builds minimal comraderie. Retains fewer drivers. Even less fun.
Should the C4's be reclassed? They seem reasonably competitive in SS AND
I don't see a group of cars where they would be _more_ similar. So, I
don't think so. Should the lower powered Miatae be reclassed? Not sure,
they do seem reasonably competitive where they are; but it does seem they
might be even more similar to the cars where they are going. Maybe.
Should the BMW 325's be reclassed from BS to GS? I think so... they have
nothing in common with Miata, and lots in common with GS cars. And they
are a blast to autox, so its unfortunate to not have them classed where
they are _fun_ to autox.
Overall, I think our classing should be more weight-oriented than it is,
and I really like the SP restructuring for the reasons above. But I think
even more improvements are possible with continued focus on weight and
_how_ they perform, not just what times they can produce.
Variety of sporty cars; variety of competitors; meaningful comparisons
of runs; meaningful comparisons throughout season; variety of courses;
lots to talk about. That's what's _fun_ -- that's what I want from
the car classes. I don't need a totally level playing field to have fun.
Brian
P.S. Disclaimer: I don't mean to imply that I can devise a better set
of classes than the SEB has done! I can't -- and haven't even tried to
digest together all the cars they have managed to classify! I am just
saying that I think the focus should be on getting similar cars together
in order to maximize the _fun_ factor, rather than getting similar times
together assuming a traditional nationals-like course. And it may be the
SEB is already doing just that as well as it can be done...
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