>The resurgence of historic racing has actually increased the numbers of
>cars that were previously either mothballed or sitting around somebody's
>back yard rusting away. Many privateers have now gone and restored they
>rusting hulks just so that they can participate. If it was not for
>this, these hulks would have long since been scrapped.
I completely agree regarding production based race cars. We have the
same situation here in the US Vintage Race events.
>The other point is that because of the commonality of certain cars in
>historic rallying (Porsche, Mini, MGB, Cortina etc etc), certain
>organizers have actually limited the numbers of entries of a certain
>marque (the Porsche 911 is a special case).
No argument here. There seem to be plenty of MGA's, Triumphs, Alfas and
Porsches to fill the production car grids. The Monterey Historic still
gets around 3-5 times as many applications as they have grid slots. Now
you know why I opted for a one-off Formula Junior rather than fix up one
of my Alfas for vintage racing.
The problem lies with open wheel cars and sports racers. These were
never made in very large numbers, and attrition IS a factor. With all
the chassis and suspension parts having to be custom fabricated, some
sit around for years waiting to be restored. The production cars can
always find a donor for major assemblies that suffer damage. The
production cars can also be LOTS cheaper to buy. There are plenty of
production cars available in the $10K-30K range. While you can get a
Vintage FVee for well under $10K, a decent sports racer or a late Lotus
Formula Junior could set you back $60-80K.
The other problem is that when organizers start letting in much newer
cars, what was once the hot ticket is suddenly a dog. Technology
changed SO rapidly in sports racers and formula cars, that you get
bigger and bigger speed differentials. This makes it more dangerous,
IMHO.
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