At 12:00 PM 3/23/99 -0600, steve.cirian@us.pwcglobal.com wrote:
>Maybe it is the NA cars that are not suited for autox, if rules must be
>passed to make them competitive...
Yeah, okay. Whatever. The Normally aspirated cars that rolled out the
factory, that make up probably 90% of all competitors, that were around
long before a few turbo's are the ones NOT suited to autoxing. Suuuuurrre.
>Sorry for the sarcasm, but if the rule goes into effect, I and a lot of
>others will have to spend money to modify our cars to meet it.
Fwiw, I noticed in SportsCar this month a very interesting report written
by the esteemed Mr. GH Sharp.
I'm not going to take his words and twist them, and you all can read the
article yourself, but here is a quote.
"Often a greater amount of consideration is given to how the rule change
might impact the installed base of competitors in the class or category to
which the change will apply."
In the case of ESP, that is pony cars. The Turbo's are not the established
vehicle there.
It seems to me turbo guys want the rules to be the "same" for both types of
car. They think that they are the "same" as they are now (as opposed to
the proposal's way). But, in fact they are not. Look at the fact:
Downpipes etc. can add boost to and engine. That is BOOST, not unforced
air. That is something that no normally aspirated car can do. Changing a
chip can add chip in some cars does add boost and change curves etc. Not
so in a NA car.
These things help turbos much more than a "normal" car. And in the case of
the Supra, you have a much faster SS car running against cars from FS when
it comes to ESP. Why? I dunno, but I assume it's because SCCA felt the
Turbo WAS a handicap. They weren't afraid of it like everyone here is so
fond of saying. If they were afraid of it it would have been an A or BSP
car jsut like the RX7. DSM's could've gone to a higher class too, but they
didn't. If they were afraid of them, they would've.
I personally think the proposal goes a bit too far. Again, let you have
the pipes and other stuff, but impose a hard limit on the amount of boost
you can, just like the weights Prepared and Mods must meet. That way if
someone is protested, it's clear cut.
Owning both types of car, I wouldn't pick a turbo car to autox (unless it
was an RX7 <GGG>). But the fact remains, there have been TWO cars that are
turbo's prepped to the hilt in SP. BOTH are VERY, very competitive, maybe
even dominant. Despite what the rest of you say, I doubt anyone else's car
out there has the time and effort installed that Aebersold's or Marinus'
cars do. And the rest of you (particually the DSM guys), the chassis isn't
that great either. Maybe the car is not competitive for reasons other than
power? Power is over-rated generally, driving is under-rated almost
always. Or, maybe there is another reason Brian Preibe could win DS in a
Neon on 3 cylinders...................
I've beat this horse long enough, so I'm done.
Sam Strano Jr.
Strano Performance Parts
800-729-1831
814-849-3417 (tech.)
www.stranoparts.com
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