"Matt Murray" <mattm@optonline.net>
> Thanks for the sensible reply. But one thing still puzzles me. When did
944s
> walk all over the rest of SM? They were never given a chance to come up
to
> bat. Where as the Supra got the Alex Rodriguez treatment. :^)
The problem here is the word "Porsche". As in "super-expensive,
purpose-built, factory sportscars/supercars, mentioned in the same breath
as marques like "Ferrari" and "Lamborgini""
Now you and I may agree or disagree on each and every one of the terms
above, both as applicable to Porsches in general, and the 944 in
particular. The real-world cost and/or performance of the Porsches is not
as big an issue here as the Porsche image, and what it communicates to our
typical SM-member. Is it fair to expect modified Civics and Mustangs to
compete against "supercars from Stuttgart"? Will the drivers of said
Mustangs and Civics feel that it's fair?
When it comes to class participation, feelings and perceptions are often
more important than objective reality. And at this point in SM's evolution,
we must be very careful not to step on the seedling before it grows roots.
That's not to say that all Porsches will *always* be verboten in SM, and
there's a group within SM that feels they should be allowed, someday. But
until we have more data and a little more resistance to fear, the safe
option is to keep them out for now.
If a local region decides to adopt SM2 (as they are highly encouraged to
do), the Porsches will be welcome to run there, and if data from these
classes suggests that the 944 does not present a problem, then it may well
be brought into SM at a later date.
OK, so how about the Supra and M3? Shades of grey. The Supra, M3, and 944
all live in the same general area, a line had to be drawn, and the Supra
and M3 wound up on one side, and the 944 wound up on the other. It's
entirely possible that had we done it over again, any or all of those cars
could have wound up on either side of the line.
DG
|