Another Letter to the CRB on H Production Parity

[Al Seim]

I'm not Hap (obviously) but the simple answer is that you can't get any more power out of a 948 and can't get the car any lighter. (Substitute "much" for "any" if you will)

But what you can do is stick a 1275 LP engine in one, thus the "relatively unique" L1/L2 hybrid classification. It's my impression that most of the guys running full prep Spridget chassis have already done this. I sure would!

So the answer to speeding up an L1 948 Spridget is to make it into an L1/L2 Spridget. And adjust from there if necessary.

Al Seim

 

[Joe Harlan]

I'm not Hap (obviously) but the simple answer is that you can't get any more power out of a 948 and can't get the car any lighter. (Substitute "much" for "any" if you will)

But what you can do is stick a 1275 LP engine in one, thus the "relatively unique" L1/L2 hybrid classification. It's my impression that most of the guys running full prep Spridget chassis have already done this. I sure would!

So the answer to speeding up an L1 948 Spridget is to make it into an L1/L2 Spridget. And adjust from there if necessary.

Al Seim

So then we will end up with the performance window of the old GP and just lose the bottom half of the class. in my mind it would be easier to slow down (not with weight) the newer cars so they fit properly into the performance index of the class. Making a new build less expensive and more attractive from that stand point.

 

[Acme Speed Shop]

How do you speed up the fullprep HP cars Hap?

Good question, if we're talking about a 948, well it's day is done, if were talking about others like 1147 Spit, and 1098 Spridget, who the hell knows, maybe weight, but thats has been done recently, maybe give them a unrestricted weber side draft.

I think of all this is like when the MGB got moved to FP, that car represented no real numbers and it didn't increase the numbers of FP. When it come to cars of the minority, well you try to give them some reasonable help, but you don't ding the entire class for the cars no one is racing anymore.

As far as slowing down the new cars, they already been pounded and slowed down, Lawrence made that point already, where does it end to get the old cars up to speed, do the new cars pull a spark plug, run on three tires, maybe we give the old cars a 30 second head start , it all starts to look ridiculous.

 

[hoffman900]

As far as slowing down the new cars, they already been pounded and slowed down, Lawrence made that point already, where does it end to get the old cars up to speed, do the new cars pull a spark plug, run on three tires, maybe we give the old cars a 30 second head start , it all starts to look ridiculous.

Hap,

The bitter irony is that the last year the CRX was in production was 1991 - 24 years ago. Most of these 'new' cars can be registered as historic vehicles in most states (25 years or older).

 

[Acme Speed Shop]

Yes, new and old are relative to the class.

 

[James Rogerson]

The very reason I licensed my 1984 Civic as an antique. If I run the Mitty this year it'll be in the Honda. Now that it is HSR legal.

James -r

 

[harvey]

The very reason I licensed my 1984 Civic as an antique. If I run the Mitty this year it'll be in the Honda. Now that it is HSR legal.

James -r

That's just PLAIN depressing

 

[James Rogerson]

Well Les I am running my PV544 three times this year. That should make you happier.

James -r

 

[RICK HAYNES]

I considered starting a new topic, but I thought this was closely associated with Ron's original subject. I just recently put in a competition adjustment request for the Lotus 1500 in F Production. It was rejected, of course. Having never had a suggestion accepted by SCCA in 40 plus years, I think I can conclude that I am pretty much out-of-step with the mainstream thinking of the club in all areas. I'm sure that anyone reading this topic can think of cases in the past where they felt a particular car won a national championship, or more, with specifications that gave it an advantage. I know of a number of cases myself. I don't think any system would completely eliminate this happening. However, I've always had concerns about the process by which the decisions are made. The general membership has never been privy to the deliberations of the ad hoc and CRB. I've complained about this before to no effect. I would like to see a system put forward where the membership can hear exactly what information is being supplied to these committees by their various members and the comments of the members in response. I'm fairly certain that there have been cases where certain members have supplied information that was incorrect or prejudiced to certain cars. With the closed sessions, this can go on with impunity. I would think with today's technology that these meetings could easily be transcribed and distributed electronically, or live streamed so we all know what information is being supplied to and digested by these committee members--and, if it is indeed accurate. In response to my suggestion of doing this in the past, I've been told that this would have a chilling effect on the deliberations and members would not feel free to express themselves. I've never thought this was a legitimate reason. If a member cannot support his opinions and statements with facts he shouldn't be making them and he should be willing to defend his opinions. I've always felt that people who don't want others to hear what they have to say are usually saying things secretly they don't want to defend publicly. These committees don't just make decisions that determine whether all the hard work people do on their cars will ultimately pay off on the race track, nowadays, they are making decisions that are determining the very real market value of thousands of dollar worth of equipment that can be made obsolete with one vote. Just think of all the expensive, but now worthless, H production 948 engines sitting under garage benches around the country. If you agree that the time has come to open up the deliberations of these committees, I would suggest you pursue this with your director.

 

[harvey]

Well Les I am running my PV544 three times this year. That should make you happier.

James -r

I'm always glad to hear about a Volvo on track, I took my 142 to its new home.