I should'a kept my Elan.
Bruce Wentzel
Green Dot Racing, Inc.
BSP 71 Corvette LS6 - the original Greendot
-----Original Message-----
From: Doug Hebenthal <doug_h@hotmail.com>
To: autox@autox.team.net <autox@autox.team.net>
Date: Sunday, April 04, 1999 11:22 PM
Subject: Re: 911's & SP Proposal
>I have stayed out of this thread until now. Let's talk about
Curt's car
>for a second. It is as close to a perfect 911 for autocross
that
>exists. No expense was spared to create the car, no advantage
that the
>rules allow was passed up. It started from nothing and was
built by the
>best in the business (wrt 911's) to be a winning car. That car
cost as
>much as 4-5 Lotus Elan's to build. A Tri-Point RX7TT falls into
this
>same category.
>
>I also have a car that up to now has cost 4 or so Lotus's to
build, and
>I have probably another one to go before it is competitive (a
911 RS
>America). In this car the driver needs to get up to speed also
(me) but
>past national champion's have driven the car against Curt and
Loti and
>in both cases it is not quite there yet.
>
>Why do I bring this up? Because two years ago, a Lotus Elan
showed up
>to Nationals after having been driven once or twice all year (A
Lotus
>Elan), ran on three tires that were three years old and one that
was two
>years old (he corded one of the three year old tires) and walked
away
>with the national championship. This same car showed up to the
Wendover
>ProSolo as its next event (some 9 months later) and gave Curt a
heck of
>a time. Same tires from Nationals the previous year...
>
>I have run against some other Lotus's in California where the
caliber of
>driver is not up to Shauna and Curt and yet the car is right
there in
>the lead or very, very close behind. The best car in ASP is a
Lotus
>Elan. The RS7TT is very good, and with a great driver behind
the wheel
>is competitive, but competitive with an average driver behind
the wheel
>of a Elan.
>
>There is also this little problem with numbers. There were not
enough
>'66 and '67 Elan's made to make it in SP. They were
grandfathered in a
>long time ago, and stayed in even after all other "Letters" from
the SEB
>had been nullified. They should not legally be in SP.
>
>So the best of breed version of the 911 or the RX7TT (and
considering
>the current uproar about increasing boost with Legal mods, maybe
even
>these cars will be rendered helpless) with great drivers in them
can
>compete, on some courses (the north course at Nationals last
year was a
>high horsepower course!) can be competitive...maybe. That to me
does
>not make an interesting class, or one that I will return to
nationals to
>run in.
>
>Doug Hebenthal
>81 ASP, Got killed by all of the above last year...10th in ASP
>
>
>
>>Jodi Fordahl wrote:
>>
>>> Having
>>> driven the car the last couple of weekends and lots of other
ASP
>911's I
>>> would say that Curt's car has the best shot at doing well at
>Nationals than
>>> any other I've driven, but I don't believe it can win.
>>
>>It puzzles me when he comes within .8 seconds of Shauna's
combined two
>>day times at Nationals and yet I hear someone say they believe
the car
>>"can't win." Is it really the case that neither car nor driver
could
>>possibly have had the potential for that extra .4 sec per day
that
>would
>>have been needed? Are we to believe that the car is perfectly
prepped
>>and the driver drove it perfectly? I accept that this is
possible, and
>>that Curt is one of the drivers who might pull this off, but is
it
>>probable?
>>
>>It IS clearly the case that Dwight Mitchell's 911 could win
ASP; it did
>>so in 1990 and 1994. And no, I don't know the course conditions
or car
>>prep levels or the mental state of his competitors those years,
>although
>>I'm sure Scotty can provide all that information to prove that
Dwight
>>really shouldn't have won and the Lotus drivers are all subpar
and none
>>of the Lotuses was as fast as it could have been, etc.
>>
>>I'm not interested in anything but common sense here. It
appears that
>>there is a tremendous amount of superstitious fear of Lotuses
that is
>>entirely unjustified. As high performance cars go, they're
cheap, and
>>there are still plenty of Elans and Europas around in case
anyone is
>>feeling rained on because "they can't find one." Parts are
available
>and
>>generally cheaper than German car parts, and the cars are, for
the most
>>part, easy to work on. Why is there such hysteria about these
cars?
>>
>>Jay "it's just a car" Mitchell
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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