Kim, I'll go ahead and respond since I (and my co-driver) was the only
Cooper S at Nationals this year.
I requested the move based on Dean Sapp, Marshall Cone (my co-driver), and
my performance in the car.
At the time I requested it, I had no intention of running my personal Cooper
S for 2003, and still may not, so I can honestly tell you that it was not
about me getting into an easier class.
Although Dean is not as familiar about FWD lately, he is still a
recognizable driver at the National level. His performance and feedback to
me was taken into consideration. But, the most noticeable reasoning behind
my suggestion was my back to back performance in the Cooper vs. Cooper S.
It was very difficult to drive the Cooper S any faster than the Cooper, and
in many circumstances, the Cooper was faster.
Locally, I owned my Cooper S since early May, and had been autocrossing the
Cooper and Cooper S since late February (non-US car). By Nationals, I had
logged about 9k miles on the car, only driven hard and for fun, it wasn't
even my everyday driver. At the local Solo II level, my competition was
more difficult than it's ever been and my PAX times were the worst they've
been in awhile, yet, in other cars and different classes, I did much better.
Nationally, I did fairly well at the Rome Tour. But, that course was
slaloms all the way down, and slaloms all the way back, the ONLY place the
Cooper S was shining in D Stock. I was even complaining about the
turn-around to come back because I could not get the traction/acceleration I
needed.
What's funny, is that the same people I was beating in the Cooper in H Stock
at Pros were beating me at the Tour and Nats when I ran D Stock. I found
that difficult to understand, until I ran the cars back to back.
At Nationals, I ended up 3 seconds back, and I thought I drove the car
great.
So you know, there's a reason I was the only Cooper S at Nationals this
year. Other people, including good National drivers, own them and didn't
want to run them because they felt it would be uncompetitive. I wanted to
run it to see how right they were. You can't imagine how many people asked
me why I wasn't running H Stock after winning the Pro Solo Series in a
Cooper.
As for the modifications for the Cooper S, I still don't think there are
many. I don't believe shocks are going to make as much of a difference on
this car. Sure, they'll do something, but the stock shocks are very nicely
valved and there are plenty of stock shock winning drivers/cars. As for a
bar, well, I'd go to a softer/standard Cooper front bar to try to gain some
traction, but give up a little transitional ability (which is phenomenal
BTW).
Also, there are no bigger tires for the front. We're running 215's. To run
a 225, you'll be cutting close to the .25" offset rule as well as having to
run a MUCH larger diameter.
I don't believe the power of the car is useful unless you can put it down,
and that will always be very difficult in a Stock Class Cooper S.
My opinion of the Cooper S in G Stock is as follows. I am happy about the
move, knowing what I know about the cars it competed against in D Stock and
knowing what it'll be against in G Stock. To me, putting any FWD non-LSD
car in D Stock is banishing it. I do not think it will dominate GS, but it
will be a top contender.
****This is of course my opinion. I am typing this to give everyone the
reasoning behind my request for the move. I do not know this to be the
reason the SEB moved the car.****
As for the Celica GTS, I know of plenty of people that realize that car will
only be faster on certain courses. I've been told by people who drive both
that the GT has better torque. And having driven a GT-S, everyone seems to
agree that it drops out of it's power band when shifted.
We all know here that you can't class a car based on only power-to-weight.
How and when the power is applied is obviously very important.
Thanks,
Brian Garfield
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-autox@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-autox@autox.team.net]On
Behalf Of Fine, Kim
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 8:49 AM
To: 'autox@autox.team.net'
Subject: New Car Classing
P.S. - Oh my god what were they thinking - Cooper S into GStock? The few
guys that ran them in DStock last year had no modifications done and they
were running pretty close. God only knows what some sway bar changes, shocks
and bigger tires on the front to try and relieve the horrible wheel spin may
provide.
Kim Fine
#19 DS/L1/T7
02 Subaru WRX
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