ba-autox
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Vehicle eligibility...

To: Smokerbros@aol.com
Subject: Re: Vehicle eligibility...
From: Bill Hamburgen 650-617-3329 FAX -3374 <billh@pa.dec.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2000 09:32:58 -0700
Fair enough, Charlie.  You're right about the administrative issues.
The buck stops with you.  

To be a bit more philosophical:  Quantitative data without experience 
can be dangerous or worse.  But experience without quantitative data 
is a good start, and you certainly have the experience to continue to 
do a good job of filtering out the likely disasters.  Thanks for your 
continued service to the sport.  

Over and out... again.  But for real this time - gotta catch a plane!


/Bill

> Bill Hamburgen wrote:

> << BTW, Charlie, I agree with you about running out of suspension travel 
> being an important determiner of when a vehicle flips.  But it's hard 
> information to use when teching some unfamiliar vehicle and trying to 
> assess if it's likely to flip.  Automotive categories are getting fuzzy 
> and a quantitative index might help.  To pick a couple concrete examples:  
> you'd almost certainly let an ordinary Subaru or Volvo sedan or wagon 
> run.  But how about a Subaru Outback or Forester?  Or a Volvo 
> Cross-Country?  They have the same basic chassis as the vanilla version, 
> but an extra inch or two of ground clearance.  Where do you draw the 
> line?  >>

> and Charlie replied:

> Uh, I think I already drew my line at: "Vans, SUVs and Non-lowered trucks." 
> I should probably amend that to "non-lowered SUVs."  The Typhoon comes to 
> mind as a lowered SUV that you'd probably allow to run.
> 
> The problem is that you come up with a formula, and someone (me) has to 
> administer it.  There will be exceptions.  It'll exclude all VW's, or Mini 
> Coopers, or something, and we'll make an exception.  As soon as you make  
> the first exception to the formula, you might as well throw it out.  Quite 
> frankly, I don't want to go measure a vehicle to see if it can run.  We 
> don't have to be all things to all people.  And whether you like it or not, 
> there is a lot of subjectivity in our sport.  I get enough questions thrown 
> at me in the course of an autocross day.  When someone else is SFR's 
> "answer man" they can use whatever formula they want...
> 
> CHD



<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>