Alan Dahl <adahl@eskimo.com> wrote:
> On Monday, December 4, 2000, at 07:48 AM, dg50@daimlerchrysler.com wrote:
>> The current move towards the weight limits (short term) and the
inclusion
>> list (long term) is to provide a better mechanism for determining what
>> comes in and what stays out. The scary cars are the small, light,
RWD/AWD
>> cars that are out there (small cars that put power down as well as the
big
>> cars) - especially because they tend to be rare. Spec Civic is OK, spec
RX3
>> is not.
> Someone would perceive a car as being a threat to the Honda/Acura
hegmogeny and that car
> would then get banned prematurely.
There is a big difference between being merely "a threat" and being
"unbeatable". It would not bother me on whit if no Honda ever won a major
SM event, just as long as they had a fair shot at it. The same, in fact,
goes for any make or model of car - it doesn't matter who actually wins, as
long as the majority have a fair shot AND THEY SEE THEY HAVE A FAIR SHOT.
> While I think an RX-3 would be a good car for SM right now because of
it's size and
> suspension development level of cars like Tom Berry's car, there is no
way that if SM was
> left alone that the RX-3 would be the hot car 5 years from now.
You can't know that for sure, any more than I can. I DO know that at this
weekend's IDRC event, the fastest FWD Honda ran a mid-9, whereas an RX3 ran
a 7.48@176MPH....
The FWD record is like 9.2. The DSM record is 9.18. The Supra record is a
high 8 These are purpose-built drag cars, so there isn't a linear
extrapolation in performance to the autox course, but still.....
> What I object to here is Dennis's implication that if someone spends big
$$$ developing an > unique SM car that the SCCA could come along and ban it
later, wiping out the owner's
> substantial investment every bit as surely as moving the S2000 to B
stock.
Nobody objects to this more than Dennis does - which is why Dennis is
flogging the SM List and the SEB to get a better set of eligibility
requirements in place as fast as humanly possible. I'd really, really hate
for someone to build something truely worthy of banning and then have to
ban it. Punishing success sucks.
> If you want SM to be just a Honda/Acura class let's just call it that
right now instead of > calling it an open class and then constantly
penalizing or banning other cars for daring to > go faster than the
"favorite son".
It's OK to go faster, just as long as it's FAIR. Let's be clear on this -
not every car that wins SM will wind up banned, and you don't have to drive
a Honda to win!
In fact, of all the cars that drove in SM Nationally this year, not a one
is worthy of banning. For 2001, the weight limits that KeS posted are what
we think will be approved, and those take care of the cars that were of
real concern (RX3 and cars of similar size/weight/driveline). For 2002,
we'll probably have the final version of the VERY incomplete (at this time)
inclusion list, which is the best solution for everyone - "apply to get in"
offers less grief than "apply to get the other guy out"
DG
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