In a message dated 7/18/00 4:17:18 PM Central Daylight Time,
washburn@dwave.net writes:
> This is not right, a great driver deserves to win. If no one else can make
> the car run the top number, maybe it isn't the car.
<< With all due respect Gary, this still makes no sense to me. If a car is
physically capable of a given performance, you HAVE to use that
potential performance when classing. If you class as you propose, you
are only making it *easier* for the truly gifted to look around for a
"soft" class and swoop in for a kill. You cannot fool physics...if a
car can do it, than it can do it. The fact that you and I cannot make
it do it is OUR problem. >>
<< Pat (STILL trying to figure out how to make a Neon "do it" ) Washburn >>
Pat, what I am saying is not that these cars should be classed easy for the
novice. EStock is a very well balanced fun class as it sits, with close
competition from several different cars. The 95 Celica ST has shown good
performance, especially for a dog motor, soft sprung economy car, but now it
has to be put against far superior cars because they have not shown the
performance lately?? Most likely, their poor showings were due to not having
an ace driver in them. ALL of the cars need to be driven by true ace drivers
to show their true performance. Tires and shocks have changed alot, and with
new parts and setup these also ran GStock cars can probably still run strong
with their current GStock competitors. So just because one car does bad, it
should get classed soft when there is no ace driver driving it?? I don't
think so. It has been shown year after year that the "car of the moment" is
one driven by an ace. Then the car gets pushed to a faster class, and the ace
driver finds another car to drive to a win until it gets pushed up. I can't
afford to change cars every year, I just bought this one after Nationals last
year, knowing it was going up a class. NOT 2+
No matter how you class their cars, the ace drivers will win. They end up at
the top no matter where they are. I hope one day to be with them, but it will
still take some time. In the meantime, it is proposed to bring mechanically
superior cars into my class because they were not as fast at Nationals. Ace
drivers will go back into some of these cars, and take an easy win. They say
the cars are now past their prime and can't keep up, but they are not being
driven by the aces. I hope to get Jeff Cashmore to try my car and see if it
is the equal of his, and then I will know it is just me, and I will work on
me, I already have been, and I am getting closer. But the 2000 Celica GT is
already looking like a class killer, even though Jeff did beat a few. Just
wait til they get dialed in. There is no mechanical reason the 2000 won't
kick our 95 butts. Power/torque, camber, spring rates, weight, you name it.
Same goes true for many of the cars they want to throw in with us since they
only took 5 championships at nationals, and now went 2 years without one.
A 1.8L torquless car with soft springs is not going to run strong against the
old GStock croud with powerful engines, stiff suspension, and larger tires.
Jeff has won in the car because he is a true ace driver getting that little
more out than anyone else. He deserves to win, not to get shoved in to run
against superior cars because he is good. Should all Neons be forced to run
with the Miatas in BStock because Mark Dadio beat them at nationals?? Or all
of the AStock cars can go to DStock now except for the 968 that was the only
one to run faster than Mark??
I don't want to be given a win. When the car got moved to EStock from HStock
it was a fair move based on real performance by several drivers over 2 years.
I still chose to buy it based on a few years in EStock. But now this does not
seem to matter. Cars with also ran drivers are getting moved down with no
real hard data to show how they could run today. I know I should be able to
go as fast as Jeff, just as you want to catch Mark, but when the cars get
classed so even Mark and Jeff can no longer win, we are the ones getting
screwed. To give you a good example you can relate to, how about we put the
Porsche 944 S2's into DStock, since they proved to be so slow at Nationals
last year??
Gary M.
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