In a message dated 09/07/01 11:01:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
mcobine@earthlink.net writes:
> There are lots of cars that their entire racing career is in
> the '90s as a vintage car. They have never raced in any real series. Can't
> find a vintage racer? What the heck, let's build one from scratch.
>
> Am I the only one who thinks this doesn't quite click with the original
> intent of vintage racing?
>
While I understand your point, and sympathise with your feeling, to a degree,
at least, there are some problems with the updating issue.
First, if you only allow cars that raced in the 'good old days', you
instantly put a premium on the value of those cars that can show bona fide
history, as opposed to an old car that is newly converted to a race car.
Another problem is a subset of that issue - what date do you choose for the
good old days. Many cars in the hands of amateur racers did not start their
competition careers until several years after they were produced. A 1962
TR-3, for instance, was too expensive for many club racers to buy new and
convert to a race car, but many were converted in the late 60s and early 70s.
Next issue - safety. While I am generally in favour of sensible updating of
safety regs, the question comes up as to whether a car that ran under the old
rules, in period, must be updated.
One of the easiest examples is roll bars. Should those of us that race open
sports cars from the 50s and 60s be forced to install roll cages? While I
would never argue that it would not increase safety, I would nevertheless be
loathe to install one in my MGA, for instance. Not such a problem in the TVR,
except maybe to leave space for a generously proportioned driver to somehow
crawl into the bloody thing through the already narrow doors.
I don't quite know how to react to your example of Grand Sport Corvettes. I
tend to agree that if the car was not built as one, you should not be able to
turn it into a replica - you certainly wouldn't have been able to do that in
SCCA or what have you, in the years following the appearance of the real
thing.
But I'm not sure how I feel about someone that, for example, comes across an
old Sprinzel nose for a Bugeye, and wants to use it on his car. That's at
least a bit different from someone that wants to build a replica of the
Lemans Triumph TRS cars using a TR-4 chassis as a base.
Then there are updates you want to have people use (rollbars and belts)
versus those that some organisations do not (modern and more reliable
ignition systems, Accusumps, etc.)
No easy answers out there, IMHO.
Bill Spohn
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