Ben,
I see two reasons why you are noticing the trend to big torque/HP cars.
First, the C-4 Corvettes can now be had at or below $10K for a really
competent car. The Datsun Z's, the RX-7's and the Nissan 300's are also
coming down in price. What was a near exotic ten years ago, is now about the
same price as an econobox. Which would you rather race?
Second. Go try and put down a "TECHNICAL" course sometime and prepare to
leave town before the competitors find the tar and feathers.
The big, fast, "God I was deep into third gear" courses have become so
accepted as the norm that our car selection has moved to the big cars that
can use all that horespower even in the slaloms. The larger Solo II courses
are now probably faster than the Solo I courses were ten years ago. Is this
still really an autocross?
Larry Steckel
>From: Ben Thatcher <bthatch@juno.com>
>Reply-To: Ben Thatcher <bthatch@juno.com>
>To: solo2atlanta@topica.com, autox@autox.team.net, bspvette@topica.com
>Subject: The HP nationals trend
>Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 23:09:39 -0400
>
>It seems that autocrossers are increasingly falling in love with big
>torque and big cars. Take a look at the entries for Nationals in 2000.
>
>As of 9/4/2000 there are 1108 entries. Of those 374 are in classes
>dominated by V8s or big HP cars. That's 33.75% of all the entries.
>
>In the Stock classes the biggest class is BS/BSL (Miata spec class) with
>70 drivers. However, SS/SSL (Corvettes and RX7s) are in 2nd with 69 and
>FS/FSL (Pony cars) in 3rd with 65. The SS and FS crowd makes up nearly
>29% of all stock drivers.
>
>Go to Street Prepared and we find even more of a shift to big cars.
>BSP/BSPL (Corvettes, Datsun 2xxZs, and Nissan 300 turbos) has risen from
>the dead with 51 drivers and ESP/ESPL (Pony cars with a strong stirring
>in of the BMW M3s)has 47. This makes a total of 41% of open class Street
>Prepared and 46% of ladies class Street Prepared are driving the big
>cars.
>
>Prepared is totally dominated by CP/CPL (Pony cars) with 77 drivers. Add
>in BP/BPL (19 drivers mostly in Corvettes or Turbo Nissans and Turbo
>Rotaries) then the big motored cars make up an astounding 55% of open
>Prepared drivers and 45% of the lady Prepared drivers.
>
>Modified is a bit fuzzy as EM is the only class that is really close to
>the concept of a big motor in a big car. With a 1500 lb. minimum weight
>these cars aren't exactly large. However, 46 mod cars are in EM which
>makes up 24% of open class drivers and 19% of Ladies class drivers.
>
>What this shows to me is that even though many in SCCA think of our sport
>is ideal for the tiny car nimbly dancing through the cones while, in
>fact, a large number of us prefer the brute force a high horsepowered car
>lets us play with. There's no substitute for massive torque!
>
>
>Ben Thatcher
>Apex Benefit Services & Motorsports
>Stockbridge, GA
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