My friend and fellow VW driver, Iain Mannix, touched on something that
I don't think anyone is taking into account with this whole M3 debate,
and that is the mental factor. How you perform at an autocross is
directly related to your attitude in most cases. You have to believe
that your car can win, otherwise it never will.
I'll go out on a limb and say that the reason that the current ESP
crowd is raising so much stink about the M3 is that they never had to
account for the mental factor with respect to car types. It's the pony
car class after all, right? It's been that way for so long that the
competitors aren't used to 'trusting' their car. The problem is that
everyone in ESP seems to be pretty stuck in a rut... Now, with the
introduction of the Bob and Patty show, everyone with a Pony car has
lost all faith in their ability to win.
Iain talked about it with DSP... most VW drivers had given up hope that
they could catch the Fiats. So they stopped developing their cars and
drove with a chip on their shoulder about being misclassed. I say
kudos to Iain and Kevin Wenzel for making the goal of catching the
Fiats, and dedicating all available resources to attaining that goal.
And that's my advice to ESP... go back to the drawing board and *make*
your cars compete with the M3. The longer I autocross the more I
believe that the driver is 75% of the equation and car prep the other
25%... no-where in there is misclassing. Most cars can compete if
prepared to the extent of the rules, and driven by a tru hotshoe.
I'm going through the same thing in GS right now... I drive a Corrado.
Most VW people had given up on VR6 cars ever competing in GS. But
none of them had prepped to the limit of the rules. I built my Corrado
to the limit with revalved shocks, which was the step that no-one was
taking. And I think it's paying off... I was within .5 seconds per
side from the fast Type-R times at Peru. Here's the lesson... for me
to make up those .5 seconds, I have to *believe* that I can do it. If
I don't believe, I don't have a chance. I believe and I am dedicated
to getting there.
So ESP... stop talking about how hopeless it is, have faith in your
cars, and prep them to the limit of the rules. Go testing, try
different shock valving, different spring rates. I firmly believe that
a well prepped and well driven ESP pony-car should be right with the
Tunnell-mobile. Just my .2c on an often underestimated factor... the
mental one.
-Jason Saini . Chicago, IL
-'93 Corrado . GS Sleeper
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