> This is getting interesting, and more than a little esoteric. If
> we're trying to recreate the essence of racing in the "good old
> days", is it worth remembering that part of that history was the
> development and change that was a constant part of racing? With a
> "rolling" cut-off age, at least we now know what next year's car is
> going to be!
That's assuming that the goal is racing. FOr some groups that is the goal,
for others, it's having fun while exercising old cars. Both have their place
(which is why I now have two cars.)
>
Clip
>
> Is the goal something other than getting old racing cars on the track
> for fun - in groups of comparable speed and size? If you permanently
> fix the age of the cars and require a racing pedigree of each car,
> you're likely to end up with a very small number of eligible cars -
> which you can't modify, you can't build up from a street car, and you
> probably can't afford. Hardly a recreation of sports car racing in
> the 60's and 70's as I remember it.
>
We have to consider "eras" here. We in fact have a number of eras that we
recreate (my own of-the-cuff definitions): 1) the prewar era (in the US
lumped into one class, covering everything from early 1900s relics to very
fast cars from the late 30s), 2) 50s & early 60s cars (pre-prepared sports
cars, FJrs and sports racers of the era),3) later SCCA production cars
(rollbars, modified engines, wider tires and flares), Can-Am and fast
formula cars (FF, FBs, FCs and Atlantics), and 4) modern era cars (tub cars,
like the "slicks & wings" classes and GTP cars).
(I started in racing in the late 50s and kept up till the demise of the
CanAm and Trans-AM, so I saw the end of the gentlemen racers and the
beginning of racing as a business. Perhaps the 1972 cutoff was the estimate
of when racing went "commercial".)
The IDEAL vintage event from a participant's and a spectator's point of view
includes all these eras, in fact becomes a living diorama of racing's
history. Hell, I never met a race I didn't like, including dirt-track
midgets, indycars, stock cars, sports cars, motorcycles, and I've enjoyed
lots of vintage events with diverse groups.
My suggestion for eligibility is 1) it must not be eligible for any modern
racing class and 2) it's preparation must conform to the original rules it
ran under.
Then it becomes a problem of finding enough compatible cars for a track
group. That can be settled in areas with lots of races (like the west and
east coasts) to having special events - Can Am, FV or FF reunions, marque
races, etc. to encourage more people to come to that event. In samller
events, group for safety - put the cars in classes by speed and
agressiveness!
Personally, I've given up on the mega-events like the Lime Rock Fall
Festival, Watkins Glen, etc, in favor of the smaller events, where racing is
better, more track time is plentiful and the racers are friendlier.
I believe that some groups' encouraging too much competition leads to
setting more rules, which incites cheating, which leads to more cheating to
keep up, etc. My rulebook would have two rules: 1) It must be safe and 2) It
must conform to the rulebook of its era. Cars not meeting these rules would
be excluded for safety reasons or forced run with a 2 foot high "lemon" on
the trunk until they are put in conformity with the rules of the era!
Enuff soapboxing for today -
Jim
Jim Hayes fotec,inc./Fiber U
jeh@fotec.com 151 mystic ave.
http://www.fotec.com medford,ma 02155
phone: 1-800-537-8254 1-617-396-6155 fax: 1-617-396-6395
Fotec WWW Home Page: http://www.std.com/fotec
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