But Bill, we do call it racing. When it is a race, the field has to be made
relatively flat, and the best way is to have the right engine. Who's going to
say the one person's 300HP 289 V8 is low tune and another's 325HP isn't and
needs to be with the "race cars". And if 300HP wasn't enough at this race,
well Joe Blow recommended a cam which would make 325 for the next race, but I
should be able to stay in the same low tune class. It's a can of worms.
>>> <WSpohn4@aol.com> 01/17/01 04:36PM >>>
In a message dated 17/01/01 12:50:39 PM Pacific Standard Time,
S800Racer@aol.com writes:
> >>
>
> Just because there are multiple examples of this problem does not make
> it
> OK to cheat. Yes, I think of it as cheating. The first guy to put a big
> motor in his Alfa/Porsche/Tiger/GT40/you-name-it did it to gain the "unfair
> advantage", not for reliability or safety. When he was not thrown out on
> his
> ear, the rest did it to keep up.
>
Sure, the first guy, but what about the rest of them?
I understand that the Porsche guys have been allowed to use later engines at
Seattle, claiming that it is hard to find the proper original 2 litre
versions. I don't know if this is a valid claim, or whether they just want to
go faster.
But the guys in the Tigers aren't going to beat anything much anyway, unless
quite highly modified - why should the rest of us care if they have a more
highly modified 260, or a less modified 289? Or for that matter a dead stock
302?
This isn't supposed to be competitive racing - it's supposed to be fun, and
I'm not sure the rules used for SCCA translate properly to such low-key
competition.
If a guy shows up with a larger engine in his Alfa, I wouldn't send him home,
I'd just make sure he was classed with cars his own speed. If he wanted to
race with the lower class, he could always stick a 1300 back in.
If an early Morgan that was built with an 85 mm Vanguard engine, with cam
running directly in the block showed up with a tuned TR4 engine instead, I'd
just class him with the tuned TR4s and other similar stuff instead of the
early 50s stuff he'd normally run with.
If an early Sprite showed up without the problematic early 1098 engine that
came unglued unless you rebuilt it frequently, but with a stock 1275, it
wouldn't really bother me.
To each his own, I guess. For me, the concerns would be: Are they racing
safely, do the cars make a nice period spectacle from the trackside, are the
drivers having fun, and is everything more or less in period - ie no V8s in
the Triumphs, etc.
Guess I spent too many years as a tech inspector for regular racing to enjoy
the sort of detailed pickiness that was necessary in 'real' racing, where
championships and money were at stake, in vintage racing, where the best
story at the barbeque is a winner of sorts, and there's no gold to be taken
home for finishing ahead of the other cars.
Bill
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