--- "John J. Stimson-III" <john@harlie.idsfa.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 08, 2002 at 06:10:47PM -0700, Andy McKee wrote:
>
> I've seen that argument used, and you will get nowhere near as much
> difference in a hand-picked stock shock as you can with a
> custom-valved or custom made shock. No matter how bad the tolerances
> are, you're just not going to luck into an OEM shock that works the
> same as what you'd get if you phoned up Guy Ankeny and said "Here's
> 3500 bucks, set me up with some Penskes for my Miata". And it will
> take you more time and probably cost you more money.
>
Have you seen manufacturing variance data on stock shocks? Besides tolerances,
there are year to year changes, different OEM manufacturers. You might end up
with a specific year option package car as the one to have, making the cost of
entry to that class equal to the car. Not to get sidetracked nitpicking, the
point I was attempting to make was that no matter how you regulate the class
(short of all spec classes) you will *always* have those that pursue the rules
to the limit and possibly result in a have/have not situation based on
perception.
> Actually, a while ago I added up my autocrossing costs, including
> entry fees, hotels and gas for tours, tires, performance parts, and
> alignments, and new Penskes are comparable to the sum of everything
> else I've spent on autocross so far. Used Penskes are comparable to
> everything I've spent this year, which is the year that includes car
> preparation on the Miata. I guess an autocrossing budget must look
> real different for people who run Hoosiers on cars that are hard on
> tires.
>
> I guess if you really want a budget-controlled near-spec class you can
> pick up an MR2 and run E-stock. Those guys seem to have an agreement
> not to get into shock escalation, and I think that's great (even if
> they do all run Hoosiers :p ). I just wish that attitude weren't
> limited to E-stock.
>
> --
If you have seen how ES has evolved over the last few years, I'm not sure you
would be making those statements so strongly. My former CS MR2 wouldn't even
be that competitive now. Lightweight wheels, custom shocks, built motors, and
stripping/adding of options like ABS are not cheap. ES hasn't moved along as
fast as some other classes where the typical budget is larger, but be assured
that it is progressing to the point where the perception will be that you have
to have an X optioned X car to win.
Maybe I should have clarified my budget comments. For *me*, the shocks are not
that large of a relative cost. I've already spent more on tires this year than
a set of DA Penske's would run. That doesn't even include travel costs or
other parts cost. However, I compete on a pretty rigorous schedule of National
events. That's my choice, so I won't complain about or apologize for it.
-Andy
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