The proposal on the table is to allow free sway bar mods at either end of
the car in stock classes. Let's look at this from a novice's point of view.
Most stock class cars understeer by design. Understeer is "safe"; it results
in fewer backwards off-course excursions then an oversteering or a neutral
car. Since we know that adding a bigger bar to the front is only going to
increase understeer the current rule is kinda useless ( unless we remove or
reduce the bar in which case we may get excessive body roll but more neutral
handling ) So the current rule basically is a low-cost, low-impact one: a
novice can only make their car safer and probably won't do anything as
removing the bar may actually slow them down due to unwanted camber change
at high wheel deflection. Note that this analysis is not limited to FWD
cars.
Now, what happens if we allow free rear bars? Folks start putting massive
rear bars on cars. This is potentially great for experienced drivers/tuners.
They can now dial in effective spring rates, reduce unwanted geometry
changes and make their cars neutral resulting in faster times. The novice
however may be in trouble. Looking at the results experienced drivers are
getting from bigger rear bars; the novice goes out and gets the biggest bar
he can find and then adjusts it as tightly as possible. Result - potentially
dangerous oversteer.
Other issues I have with the change:
Added parts cost.
Potential damage to relatively underdesigned stock frames when combined with
massive bars.
Additional stress placed on stock suspension components with potential for
increased failures.
Removal of the current classing status quo to be replaced by an unknown but
equally unfair new status quo.
Additional rules = additional bickering/protests
All this for what advantage? none!!!
BTW Limiting sway bars to the same end as the driven wheels will really draw
the approval of the AWD crowd. If you really want to propose a rule limiting
sway bar mods to one end of the car it should be based on weight
distribution not driven wheel location. Of course this won't work either in
the case of 50/50 weight distributed BMWs :-)
Regards,
Alan Pozner
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