No Doug, back in the mid-80's, I remember building hot 948 engines for a
friends Sprite. Jim was quick in it and everyone thought he was cheating. They
even claimed he had a Nissan 5-spd g'box. You could easily see he didn't, just
by looking. I built the SCCR rib case box that was in it too. Gradually, one
by one, the guys he beat went to 1275 motors at a "lower state of tune", to
reduce engine rebuild frequency and cost, so they said. I just put Jim's
engine together right and it lasted a long time and we just did a valve job
every once and a while. Many times, the people he beat were running close to
15:1 CR and they were quicker on Saturday, but wouldn't last the weekend. Jim
left SVRA for SCCA and has been on the podium in GT5 a number of times and the
guys w/ the 1275's went to HSR. Then of course the 1275 war escalated into the
Sprite/ Mini challenge and rumors of near 1500cc stretched 1275's. Through all
this, SVRA pretty much towed the line, while HSR became known as "Horsepower
Sports Racing". VDCA is headed in the right direction, to some extent. Just
think, in SCCA, MGA's still run 1600 engines and Frogeyes, at least last year
still ran 948's. Shouldn't that tell us what is right.
Roger
>>> <S800Racer@aol.com> 01/17/01 03:48PM >>>
In a message dated 1/17/01 3:15:20 PM, WSpohn4@aol.com writes:
<< Hey now - then they'd have to make the Alfas all run 1600 and 1750,
instead
of 2000, and the Porsches - God knows what they run - I think there is some
secret contest sometimes, and the guy with the early 911 (or 914) that crams
the biggest latest engine into his car wins.
Then there's the Tigers. Most of them were made with 260 ci engines. Guess
how many still have them? And Ford GT 40s, million buck cars, and a friend
that owns and races one told me that a few years ago (at Laguna, I think)
when they had a big get-together, his was the only car with an original 289
with the Gurney-Weslake heads - everyone else had larger, later engines. >>
Just because there are multiple examples of this problem does not make it
OK to cheat. Yes, I think of it as cheating. The first guy to put a big
motor in his Alfa/Porsche/Tiger/GT40/you-name-it did it to gain the "unfair
advantage", not for reliability or safety. When he was not thrown out on his
ear, the rest did it to keep up.
Requiring correct motors, brakes, carbs, trannys, etc. levels the playing
field and, in most cases, reduces costs for everyone. If it is not within
the rules/spirit/mission of the Club, the cheaters should be brought in line
or sent to race with a different club.
Doug Meis
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