Amen, Brother Andy. On THAT point we absolutely agree.... What does that tell us? Nothing. It's just one of many reasons you can't use on-track as a measurement between classes - or even between drivers. You have to be able to quantify levels of prep (tires, shocks, hp, etc) AND driver ability all at single events - how do you do that? You can't.[/b]
Guys - With respect, please don't let the red herrings get you. ANY time spent agitating about whether an SM and an ITA (whatever) are a good match competitively - 30 pounds here or an illegal exhaust system there - is yet another distraction from the really big issues at play here. Even if they ARE running the same lap times, do you want the system to shift toward one where cars of whatever specification are grouped by lap time, rather than by their mechanical attributes?
Absolutely. But if SM entrants banned together to change THEIR OWN rules, of their OWN accord, to allow them to more easily cross over to IT, that would be AOK as far as I'm concerned. If this initiative had come from a groundswell of ITA people enthusiastic about adding another route into their class, that would be a different thing than what we're seeing here. (I'd still think it's a bad idea, but making our own mistakes is at least a little more palatable than having them forced on us.)...expecting SM to change their ruleset so it is convienent for IT to gain a few more entries is just dumb. same is true of the reverse, which many here are arguing. it's dumb of IT to change their ruleset to allow a few more SMs to legally enter an IT race. ...[/b]
K