My biggest complaint with Prod has always been the stock brake requirement (and now the fuel injection rules). We are building race cars with, in some cases double the factory HP, tires that can generate 1.5+gs in cornering capabilities, etc and we have to keep the stock front calipers and rotors sizes. (But we can convert the rear brakes to a disk setup and use any aftermarket race caliper, rotor, hat, etc).
We are building race cars why must we leave one of the most critical components as they came from the manufacture, yet we allow competitors to throw away the rest of the brake system and build a one off custom setup. We have allowed twin masters, alternative pedals, alternative lines, alternative stock sized rotors, light weight aluminum hats, custom rear calipers (only if you are converting to disk brakes), etc, but we have kinda tossed the philosophy that stock brakes were the corner stone of production racing.
Lets look at some of the modern cars that are now moving into Production, the S2000 and RX8 both come with 12+in rotors and massive calipers, the RX7 came with light weight aluminum four piston calipers from the factory, The RSX and TSX come with 11.8in rotors, etc. We have allowed some cars to run up to 18x8 in wheels, yet the rest of us are stuck on 15x7s (which is swell as wheels and tires are cheap).
I can buy/build a front brake setup that is cost effective and better than a stock setup for very little money. It doesn't take stupid money to build a good four piston caliper setup. 11x1.25 (or .810) rotors can be had for less than $50 each (half that if you score). These are simple stock car parts. You have already bought the custom hats to save weight. You have already converted the car to rear disks with lightweight calipers, why saddle the cars with questionable front brakes? Does it really make for great racing when your competitor's brakes give it up halfway through a session?
Is it really a win to beat a guy by equipment failure?
We are mostly limited by wheel size anyways, so you are pretty much limited to a 12in rotor for a 15in wheel. I am sure we could come up with a simple rule package that benefits everyone, attracts people to the class and allows everyone to compete on a level playing field. The TA2 cost rules seem to offer a reasonable architecture for other situations as well.
GT3 is dead, GTL is doing pretty well, GT2 is dead (for traditional GT cars), lets face it, Prod is the new GT class for those of us with no interest in playing with tube chassis silhouettes.
