George Ryan wrote (among other things):
> One more thought. There have been several threads about going
> from Street
> Prepared to Prepared, and how it can't be done. That is the
> progression I am
> talking about. One can't take a Stock car, set it up for
> Street Touring, add
> a
> few more goodies and have it in Street Prepared, gut it and
> mod the engine
> for
> Prepared, then go full blown with a blower for the Mod
> catagory. There is
> no progression.
Nonsense! That's exactly what I'm doing. Maybe you can't do it at the
national level, but national competition will always entail optimizing for a
class. Besides, I seem to recall you objecting to using Nationally hot
drivers for the basis of comparison (sorry if I'm misattributing this). At
the regional level, it's quite simple:
Start with a 98 Integra GS/R
Run in GS: 2nd two years running in season points. 7 class wins, 2 index
wins.
Now add coil-overs, 7" rims, an intake and exhaust. Presto! Halfway through
the season I'm leading STR with 6 class wins and one FTD. Ok, the FTD was at
a tiny event with only 20 cars, but it was still a lot of fun.
Next year I'll add an LSD, work on the ignition and run DSP. Locally, the
car is already competitive there.
After that it's off to Jackson Racing for a supercharger and SM (sorry
Dennis, not this year). Again, the car is already competitive in SM locally.
After a few years of that I'll probably buy a new daily driver and tear out
the interior of the Integra and road race it. I could still run it in D-Mod
if I wanted to autocross it. I might just do that.
Now you may think that I'm boasting here, but anyone who's seen me drive at
a National Tour knows that I'm a quite ordinary driver. At the regional
level, all you need to move from one category to the next is the desire to
do so.
Eric Buckley
7 STR: 98 Integra GS/R
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