I'm back from the weekend, and rather than reply to _every_ letter in this
thread that I missed, I'm going to summerize here:
> On Fri, 30 Apr 1999, richard nichols wrote:
>> turbofords is high enough to make a *lot* of power within the
>> other limits of Street Prepared rules, if there were no
>> rule-based boost limit.
>>
>> IOW, if I could run unlimited boost
This is a silly point of semantics, but it's an _important_ silly point of
semantics: Not "unlimited", but "maximum".
The word "unlimited" conjures up visions of Porche 917s and 1500HP turbo F1 cars
in the turbocharger-impared. I know what you meant, and I know you know that
there's a maximum amount of power you can make with your stock turbo, but
someone who isn't familliar with turbo systems doesn't know that.
That's a lot of what we're fighting here - perceptions. Words like "unlimited"
are scary words.
<detailed description of SVO buildup snipped>
>> Now do you want to play with me? Will it work with the stock
>> turbo? I can find out, if anyone really cares to know.
I'm not a Ford SVO expert by any means, but that really doesn't matter:
1) You only make that extra power under full boost. That right away limits the
areas for improvement to areas of the course where you're full throttle, and
there's still lag to deal with.
2) If it turns out that the car is _much_ faster (in turns of times run) the
limitations of #1 notwithstanding, bully for you - you now have a competitive
car.
3) If the car winds up being too fast for the class, you will be reclassed
higher.
> I care to know! For two reasons:
> A. If there is a magic way to make more power from my SVO I'd
> love to know.
Who wouldn't? :)
> B. (More on topic) I think the whole point of all these rules
> is to encourage participation, and facilitate meaningful
> competition between vastly differing vehicles. I think that
> allowing boost modifications in a "street" class makes sense
> because this a very popular "street" modification. Thus, a good > thing for
encouraging participation.
I agree completely. Plus you get the additional benefits of reducing the load on
Impound staff, having enforcable rules, making turbo car people feel a little
more included (and a lot less persicuted) and taking out a large part of the
foundation of hte "all turbocars are cheaters" myth, increasing some of the
peace of mind of the naturally aspirated.
I still can't see who loses by allowing boost controls in SP.
This next issue wasn't raised in this message, so I can't attribute the quote,
but the point was raised to the effect of "how do we know that there's not some
potential overdog lurking somewhere in the class structure just waiting for a
boost controller to let it loose?"
Well, we don't. We DO know the following though:
1) Street cars, in general, tend to have undersized turbos as manufacturers tend
optimise for low-end throttle response, not max power. That's not an absolute
fact, but it is a very good rule of thumb.
2) Autocross Is Not Road Racing or Drag Racing. We spend a disproportionate
amount of time on course at full throttle compared to other kinds of
motorsports, so improvements to cars that only take effect at full throttle have
a relatively small impact on run times, especially when lag is tossed into the
mix. That is not to say that it will have _NO_ impact (of course it will!) but
the effects of a given percentage power increase pay lower dividends in
autocross than they do in drag racing or road racing.
Accordingly, we are unlikely to suddenly create hundreds of overdog cars.
Similarily, small errors in classing power ratings (one way or the other) don't
hurt the class structure.
3) There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cars that have never been seriously
autocrossed by "shoe" drivers. Of these cars, there are undoubtedly a couple of
dozen that are missclassed overdogs waiting for someone to discover them. This
is irrespective of being turbocharged or not. If someone discovers a "new" car,
or if someone discovers that a new rule (or even an existing rule nobody had
ever utilized before) is more effective on a particular car than previously
thought, then the Club must handle the change and reclass the cars involved - so
we aren't creating a situation that couldn't occur otherwise through other
means.
Given the other benefits of this rule change, a few potential reclassings seems
a cheap price to pay - especially when SP is being completely reclassed anyway.
DG
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