Ron Katona Wrote:
> If he wanted to remain on top then why sell a proven, successful,
> winning, developed, familiar SP car (apparently in ESP again next year)
> to drive the unproven and undeveloped E46 M3 that'll be giving up 300 lb
> and 50 hp to the Z06? I think maybe Bob was looking for a class that
> would be extremely challenging and at the same time allow him to develop
> a new car. Some guys enjoy the view from the top, some enjoy the climb.
Perhaps this is the first step on his road to an F-stock national
championship:
September 2003
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After two years of development Bob's E46 M3 finishes 2nd in SS at Nationals,
losing to a Z06 Corvette by a margin of .3 seconds.
March 2004
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E46 M3 re-classed to F-stock, since the M3 is really a "german pony car".
Also, anyone can see that the M3 looks more like a Mustang or Firebird
than a Corvette or Rx-7. F-stock drivers are extremely upset, but they are
admonished to wait and see how things turn out.
August 2004
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Bob's E46 M3 has won every National Tour and Prosolo it entered during the
year by a decisive margin over the Mustangs and Camaros. Talk begins on
team.net about how F-stock must be a soft class. F-stock drivers come
to the disturbing realization that if it's not accepted as a given that
their class leaders are excellent drivers, then it is extremely hard to
argue that their class is not soft.
September 2004
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Bob's M3 wins Nationals by a convincing 1.5 seconds, defeating the previous
year's F-stock national champion. Let's call the defending champion "Fred"
and say he drove a '98 Camaro. Fred defeats the 3rd place driver by 1.5
seconds. Amazingly, even though Fred was the previous year's national
champion, outsiders to F-stock comment that clearly Bob's driving was the
reason for the convincing victory, apparently assuming that Fred must be
one of the average drivers since he lost by 1.5 seconds. These people also
sarcastically remark that perhaps if the M3 should be reclassed, then
'98 Camaros should be reclassed as well. The rest of F-stock decides to
wait and see what the SEB says, assuming that the evidence is clear that
the M3 was misclassed.
October 2004
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SEB determines that there is no evidence that the M3 should be moved,
essentially saying that keeping Mustangs and Camaros competitive is not a
good reason to re-class a car. Why the M3 needed to be made competitive
was not discussed. Someone mentions that the M3 was moved because M3
owners thought it was a good idea and none of the FS drivers seemed to mind.
On team.net the following statements are made:
"It is interesting that M3 BMWs weren't winning nationals in SS but won
in FS"
(I think both sides of the argument find this interesting for different
reasons)
"Well, Fred won Nationals in 2003 by 1 second, why weren't all the '98
Camaros reclassed?"
(Perhaps because many of the other cars in the class were also Camaros?)
"I don't know Fred, but I know Bob and Bob's a excellent driver."
(It is impossible to compare the skill of two drivers if they are in
different cars)
"That Camaro was not prepared to the limit because it didn't have <x>."
(Perhaps Fred did not feel that <x> would be an improvement)
"Bob's M3 was prepared to the limit -- he didn't make the <y> modification
because he didn't think it would be an improvement"
(Can't argue, see previous statement)
November 2004
-------------
Bob tells a friend he is not going to compete in F-stock anymore, and is
preparing his car for A-prepared. "I really want a CP championship!"
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Sometimes when you get a creative idea you just have to go with it.
Hopefully I haven't offended Bob Tunnell too badly, whom I have
never met but have heard is a nice guy.
The M3 in ESP thing is something that doesn't affect me directly because my
car and I have no prayer of ever seeing the trophy spots at Nationals
(first I'd have to go -- maybe next year). What I find extremely
irritating are the statements about driver skill that have been floating
around here lately.
There is no way to tell whether Bob Tunnell and Mark Madarash are equal
drivers based on the data that is available. The only way I can think
of to make such a determination would be to have them run back to back
several times in the same car and compare times. Even this would not
be perfect. I'm not at all clear why people who essentially say that
Bob is 1.5 seconds faster than Mark and an M3 is equal to a Trans Am dismiss
the idea out of hand that Bob and Mark are equal drivers and
the M3 is 1.5 seconds faster than an '88 Trans Am. There's just no
way to know, so it comes down to opinion.
Here's another possibility:
Perhaps Bob Tunnell, Marcus Merideth and Steve Eguina are all equal
drivers, and Mark Madarash is 2+ seconds faster than all of them
(if they were driving equal cars). How can you say for sure that
this is not the case?
The M3 was moved to ESP. It dominated. There is no way prove whether
this is exclusively because of Bob Tunnell's driving skill. Therefore,
for the good of the class, it should be moved.
-Peter Dunlap
pgdunlap@swbell.net
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