This is Pat Ryan's response to the question of how a racecar with a recent
history should be restored and used. He didn't originally post it to the
group but said it's OK to forward it on.
<< Hi Don,
I faced a similar situation with my son's Spitfire. National Champion in
1969 (Don Devendorf) 1970 Gordon Smiley. When purchased it was in '90s
competitive condition.
Obviously since its "famous" race was within the "historic" range for SVRA
and HSR there was less variation between its 1969 appearance and the 1966
year of manufacture. Leaving it as it was in the '90s was not an option.
The only place to race in that condition would have been SCCA. HSR will
find a place for most anything that shows up, but generally they want cars
to look like they did when raced in their era ie. vintage cars pre '67 and
historic cars pre '75. SVRA has tried putting all non period prepared cars
into a catch-all group (10). This is new and rules change almost daily.
The track time for this group was generated by killing off the "Exhibition"
group in hopes of more entry fees. Time will tell if this policy continues.
Peter McLaughlin now owns the club and he can do whatever he wants. So far,
group 10 entries seem smaller than Exhibition entries. Mostly what you see
in group 10 are '80s cars like Corvettes, Kelly Challenge, NASCAR and
Trans-Am cars. There is very little close competition in the group, it is
spread out, and if there is any dicing it is often mismatched, like a 240Z
with huge flares and slicks dicing with a stock looking World Challenge
Corvette on radials.
If what you want is close racing with cars of the period then I suggest
preparing strictly to SVRA rules, then you can run the car anywhere you want
and have a great deal of fun in the process. The only downside: HSR allows
bigger motors and many non period modifications, so if you get to the front
of your class in SVRA with a proper sized motor you will be blown away by
one or two cars in HSR. Serious consideration should be given to this. I
would listen closely to the people who run TR4's in SVRA and HSR. Look at
the schedules and see who you will race with most often.
In SVRA group 6, where I run my Camaro, we voted as a group to prepare our
cars to the SCCA GCR regulations for the year of manufacture. Group 6 is
the only production car group which requires the entrant to prove that the
car was built and raced before the end of 1972. The dilemma before our vote
was: should we prepare our cars to "year of manufacture" or should we all
be allowed to use the 1972 rule book. The former encourages period
appearance and is not a moving target the latter allows '63 cars a chance to
race competitively with 1972 cars.
There was lots of debate on this and nothing was clear until it was put to a
vote. Nearly '80 percent wanted period year and a promise that the rules
would not change for at least 10 years. That was 1990 and still no change.
We now have extremely close racing....almost spec racing, and since the
group 6 rules require the competitors to be the primary technical rules
inspectors there is very little visible variance from the rules. Somebody
is always pushing the envelope, but the variations are not obvious to any
but very informed observers. Engines are pumped and cars are weighed every
so often and are 99% in compliance.
This is not how it is done in Group 1 (Spitfire) or Group 3, where your car
would race. No history is required, and they basically have formula rules
for cars in those groups so that some of the older cars can be updated to
the end of the period. Since your car is at the end of the period there
would not be much difference. So it seems pretty simple to me.
As to history, yes there is interest in a car's history, but only a very
small percentage of the spectators or your fellow competitors will care.
History from 8 years ago has never been worth much and time will only tell
what value it has in 20 years. No harm in saving unique pieces so someone
will have the opportunity later. We did not pay a penny more for this car
because it had national championship history, it was only mentioned after we
bought it (1993). Only the "famous" cars get a premium in Group 1 and Group
3, like Group 44 cars and such.
Hope this background is helpful. I have raced with SVRA for 9 years (over
75 events) and have served as Group 6 representative and was one of the 7
owner/board members from 1990 through 1995.
Pat Ryan
Montgomery, AL
psryan@novazone.com >>
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