Howdy,
On Sun, 14 Mar 2004, Chuck wrote:
> Yes it would be massive at first, but do-able, especially if a list of the
> most critical specs needed were compiled as minimum starting point to be
> built on. A source reference should be included with every spec submitted
> i.e. FSM pg 16; dealer brochure; Chilton manual copyright xx/xx/xx pg 104;
> etc. as well as the submitter's name. The beauty is that if a couple people
> have the FSM or other credible references for a vehicle that is not
> available due to age, $$$ or ??? even if it's for one they no longer race or
> is their fun car (most of us are packrats...) they can help by submitting
> those specs, they don't need to come from a competitor running that car.
> That opens up a wealth of info resources from the entire AX community. I
> think it would build quickly for all but the most obscure cars because under
> the current rules most of us already have a good portion of the info in our
> possession. I'd be willing to add a couple bucks to my entry fees to cover
> SCCA contracting a webmaster (there's a lot of cash strapped tech people in
> our community who'd love to make a few extra $ to support their "habit") to
> oversee such an undertaking, still be a LOT cheaper than buying a bunch of
> documentation, I wouldn't risk DQ for forgetting to put my FSM back in the
> trailer after using it, and would give me an easy reference to check if I
> suspect something is amiss on a competitor's car that is not the same make
> as mine.
This could potentially work (or at least help) in the Prepared classes,
where many of the things we're interested in are standard specs
(wheelbase, track, stroke measurements, etc.)
I'm not so sure it would help with stock/sp level things where you're
much more restricted to what the factory gave you. How are you going to
quantify the distance between control arm bolt holes on an F-body
k-member? That's not a spec in any book that I know of, etc.
For prepared, your idea has merit I think. More so than I gave it at
first glace now that you've fleshed it out some to include how things
could be verified, etc.
I still think its unlikely to ever actually happen, but as a start I could
work with Scott (the webmaster) at sccaprepared.com to see what it would
take to setup a database of car specifications that registered users could
work with.
Mark
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