>Anyway, for regional-only folks, basing the classes on nationals is
>of limited meaning.
Yes, classing is based on national level results. But would it be more fair
to base it on regional results? If so I'm afraid you'd be way more screwed
than you are now. In many regions a driver of your caliber would PAX #1 at
every event in your horribly underprepared Del Sol, so you would probably
end up in SS with those Z06s you are competitive with.
The current system isn't perfect, but at least it tries to base the handicap
on the car. The very top of each class at most national level events is
fought for by drivers who can consistently get closer to the potential of
the car under the rules as they are written than you or I could. I just
don't see how classing cars based on local results would be more fair than
that. What if I were a new guy under your scenario and just plunked down
$16k that I had saved up over 5 years of summer jobs for a new MINI. I'm
not mr. nationals guy, but I do lots of regional events and I don't suck
that bad. Is it now fair to me that I have to compete in SS against vettes
or CS against Miatas just because some ringer guy named Jake showed up and
PAX'ed 5th in a MINI?
Maybe that's an exaggeration, but my point is that when you only have 9
stock classes to represent the hundreds of different models out there, there
can only be 9 levels of absolute perfomance at which a car is truly
competitive. If you pick your car to meet other needs (utility, financial,
emotional etc) as most people who don't have a lot of time and money to
invest in the sport do, the probability of hitting one of those 9 levels is
very, very, very small. There is just no way that everyone can be happy and
competitive, I'm afraid.
Now, if you feel there are enough people who want a regional-only class that
better suits your needs, there are provisions for that. Lots of regions
have regional only classes. If there are enough dissatisfied civic/del sol
drivers who feel there should be an SFR K-Stock class (I use K because the
next two letters after H are horribly ironic, as in I-Stock like me stock
and J-Stock like Jake Stock:) then it could happen.
Anyway, this is all just my opinion and absolutely meant as healthy debate
and nothing personal. Insert smileys where appropriate:)
Peter
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