without getting to rehashing a lot of what's already been discussed ... and
some of the dispute I'm beginning to suspect is merely a GT-based CP guy
talking to a Prod-based DP guy -- a bit of apples and oranges here because
even within Prepared our rules are different.
Which may be much of the problem. But....
> But the Runoffs-winning GT-5 RWD tube chassis Mini-Cooper is
> an example of why I think 15.11 is showing it's age. Cars like that
weren't
> on the brain when the rule was thought of. The only difference between
this
> car, and it's EM equal, is the EM car doesn't have to have a Austin (or
> whomever owned them) engine.
Got that right.
> I think Prepared was always supposed to be production-based only, while
> Modified is where the custom chassis' could be raced. Somewhere along the
> line, something got switched around.
Actually, not quite. Way back when -- and we are talking when the FIRST solo
rules were written -- both were sort of envisioned. But back then (early
'70s) "GT" did not exist. There were Production cars and Sedans. The rules
did differ somewhat (Sedan - think Trans-Am car from the Mark Donohue
days -- still production-based, not tubeframe). GT and all this tubeframe
stupidity arrived in 1980.
CP was always the sedan class it essentially is now. But FWIW, the Corvair
was a DP car then! Mostly, DP was the larger sports roadsters and EP the
smaller ones. I was EP then with my Spitfire. AP was Porsches and Lotii, BP
was Corvettes. There was no FP. We were all basically Production rules
except CP was more Sedan rules -- but in truth the rules were not all that
different.
Then GT happened, in its initial appearance replacing the Sedan classes. In
hindsight, it was probably one of the dumbest things SCCA ever did. That
genie, once out of the bottle, has had effects way beyone what anyone
imagined. One was that in 1985 the DP/EP classes were realigned. In
essence, but with some gross exceptions, DP was a Production-rules class
with a few smaller GT cars mixed in and EP was a GT-rules class with a few
larger Production cars mixed in. Why they decided smaller-engined cars with
strict prep rules were now quicker than larger-engined cars with more
liberal prep rules (see bump chart) I've never understood, but that is how
it was until the separate Prepared rules were put into the Solo rulebook.
Ah, times were simpler then!
--Rocky
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