Rich,
Let me see if I can make this just a little clearer.
>So I was surprised to see a LAT Stock Tiger taking the best time on the
track!!!>
I would be surprised if there were ANY LAT STock Tiger on the track, let
alone one taking best time!! You seem to be confusing your experience back
in '77 with what happened last Sunday at Big Bear. There, in fact, were
several very well prepared Tigers (obviously) in every category. Perhaps,
as the average time would suggest, a higher preponderance in Modified, but
these categories are not really defined on the basis of autocross
capabilities nor are they rigorously enforced in any case.
I might add some additional background with respect to Messrs Taylor and
Clark. Both drove their cars down and back from the Bay Area. I drove mine
down and back from San Diego. In fact I have driven my car to the previous
two TU's and on the same set of tires I autocrossed on last Sunday. They
are Yokohama AVS Intermediates and have a tire wear rating of 160 and have
about 20k miles on them. Taylor's BFG R1's and Clark's Hoosiers have a
wear ratings of about 40 or less. The BFG's and Hoosiers are basically race
tires that are DOT approved. I consider my car a street car that I (very)
occasionally autocross or run an open track event with. I suspect that Stan
and Terry have the same view of their cars. We all take special
satisfaction in being able to take our "street prepared" cars to an event
and beat up on a lot of trailered in "autocross prepared" vehicles. I
remember, for example, at the Tigers United in Santa Maria in (I think) '78
where the local autocross club hosted us and we ran our cars against
strictly autocross prepared, non-street legal cars. I remember in
particular that both Stan and I had faster times by at least two seconds
over the fastest cars in their club. And again, we both drove to and from
the event. BTW, this was a very tight and twisty course. I don't buy into
the opinion many seem to hold that Tigers don't handle well. They need some
judicious tweaking (stiffer springs, sticky tires, etc.), but nothing
inherent about the Tiger keeps it from being competitive except the driver.
And speaking of the driver, let me again emphasize the importance of the
driver versus the car. Dan Walters, who took top time in Modified was
driving someone else's car. God only knows how fast he could have gone if
I'd let him drive my car. He's got to be at least two or three seconds
faster than me. He's just flat out better than me, no matter how much
practice I have. With a million dollars worth of tennis lessons, I still
wouldn't be any Andre Agassi either. I know that's hard to admit. Most of
us guys think we are fabulous lovers and fantastic drivers (or visa versa).
Truth is we're doing well just to drive 'em home and get 'em pregnant!! (or
again, visa versa)
Well, I hope this clears things up just a little bit better for you. I'm
just laughing too hard to continue any further right now.
Bob
At 02:55 AM 7/3/98 -0700, you wrote:
> Actually I noticed several things. The gaps between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd,
>became tighter in progress classifications. What I was suprised to see
was that
>a stock class Tiger "could" turn a better time than a prepared Autocross
>amchine, which I assumed there were at least a few in the personalized or
>Modified classes. I may be wrong here, since I wasn't there, and don't
know the
>class specifications. I only remember the Autocross that I ran my Alpine
in way
>back in 77, where I had to run in a "prepared" class which was a disaster for
>me, since The only things that were prepared was the Delin Bushings,
Adjustable
>shock, non stock carbs with no air filters, and the Racing compound BFG
T/A BR60
>X 13 radials. The tires alone put me in that class...Only problem was
Mine had
>maybe 45-50 HP left in that tired old engine. My competition was a couple of
>road racing MGB's, and a couple of nicely prepared Super 7's. If you doubled
>their times, I still wasn't close....But I gave her all she'd take.....you
could
>almost here Scotty saying.."Cap'n She's brrakin oop"... My famous Molten
>Piston happened 3 days later.
>
> I guess I expected some very prepared, (and previously tested and
proven),
>Tigers in the upper classes. So I was surprised to see a LAT Stock Tiger
taking
>the best time on the track!!!
>
>
>
>Rich
>
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