Unfortunately, Steve, you may be right. It is truly a "Welcome to Prepared"
that you are experiencing.
My Fiero was moved back and forth from originally E-Mod, to F-
Prepared, to A-Prepared, back to F-Prepared, and then most recently back to
A-Prepared. All in 7 seasons!!!
All these changes occurred from 1994 (when it had to be in E-Mod, before the
"GT rules" ) to 2000 when I sold the car after having done a complete, major,
extensive and costly rebuild in order to get it at least in the ballpark with
those same Lotii, Sunbeams, etc. that you mentioned. Over $15,000 was spent
after the end of the 1999 season, including having a new competition motor
built to IMSA specs, a competition transaxle with limited slip, an entirely
new coil over double a-arm front suspension and a link type rear suspension -
- sound familiar?
I called it "Chasing the Spotlight" in an article I wrote in North American
Pylon a couple years ago. Trying to keep up with both Prepared
classifications and the FastTrack "clarifications" made me feel like a circus
clown.. One almost catches that pesky light, and then they move it.
How did I handle it? After 7 years of playing the SCCA classing game, I didn't
handle it too well, I'm afraid. I sold the car, quit as a member of the Board
of Directors here in the NeOkla Region, quit as a Solo Safety Steward, and
became involved with another sanctioning body that is a little more "relaxed"
in it's rulemaking (and also a lot more consistant with it's rules).
I still occasionally run in an SCCA Solo at the regional level with my daily
driver V8 Fiero (in the new SM2 class). But I have vowed never to run in a
National level event again, and never get more involved than to show up, make
my runs, work a corner, and go home.
The car? It was at Nationals again this year with it's new owner. He has got
it running a lot better (and faster) than I could ever have gotten it. But
the Fiero was still getting beaten by Corvettes and Sunbeams that weigh almost
the same as it must weigh now - because of the "weight penalties" they threw
at that little 4 cylinder when they moved it from FP to AP??? That GT2 car
must now weigh the same as a GT1 Fiero with a 300 horsepower 4.3L V6 in AP,
BTW.
What really surprises me in your case is that the SCCA is thinking of
relegating a car still in production (the Miata) to the same level of
step-child thinking as they have with the 19 year old Fiero that went out of
production in 1988!
G
-----Original Message-----
On Tue, 1 Oct 2002 at 15:07:57
Steve Hudson <smhudson@austin.rr.com> wrote:
> The issue of rules stability is vital for increasing participation
> in the prepared class.
>
> I purchased my Miata last year and over the winter began
> building it into a DP car. Going in I knew this would be at
> least a three year process to build the car and start getting it
> sorted out. I studied the rules and the proposed rule changes
> that were published in Fastrack and based on the current rules
> and the proposals I chose to build a 1.6L engine for the car.
> Building a race motor is *way* beyond my mechanical skill
> level, so I'm having the motor done by a professional. It's
> finally finished and I hope to get it in this weekend.
>
> Now with less than three months notice the SEB proposes to
> move the car to a completely different class, with different
> preparation rules and also change the competitive balance
> between the 1.8L and 1.6L Miatas. Keep in mind that
> Fastrack has not been published yet, so everything I hear
> about the proposed changes is not official. The weight
> proposed for the 1.6L car is 1650 and only 100 pounds
> more for the 1.8L. It will be very difficult to get a Miata
> down to 1650, so in reality the difference is less than 100
> pounds. Had I known this was coming, I would have built
> a 1.8L engine. My investment in the engine is now wasted.
> 10" wide wheels are not cheap and neither are the
> bigger tires to go on them. Allowing unlimited fuel injection
> costs more money also. All this so I can compete against V8s,
> Tigers and Corvettes!
>
> Welcome to Prepared?
>
> Moving the Miata with almost no notice from DP to "unlimited"
> AP in order to "save" AP and to protect the older DP cars from
> competition is NOT the way to increase participation in Prepared.
>
> Steve Hudson
> DP #82
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