Uh Oh B-Spec :(

[StephenB]

Interesting Article... Not about B-Spec specifically but about the sales of the Mazda 2 in this market.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/08/29/slow-selling-mazda2-may-not-be-renewed-for-u-s/

Stephen

[Terry Hanushek]

I wonder if Mazda will factor in all of their Mazda 2 B-Spec sales before they made their decision? :( :D :shrug: Sad, the first B-Spec I saw was a Mazda 2 at The Devil in the Dark in 2011.

Terry

[Chip42]

the 2 is overpriced, underpowered, ugly, and not well advertised. of course it's not selling well.

ditto the versa, yaris, and VERY UGLY sonic.

I see Kia rios and Honda fits everywhere, and a few fiestas. I'd say the market is OK, but got swamped with players too quickly and they didn't all bring their A game. only the strong and all that.

[gran racing]

I actually liked the Sonic. (We got to play with a Sonic LTZ; sameless article plug here (http://goaheadtakethewheel.com/rwrt/2012-chevrolet-sonic-5-door-ltz/)).

[Chip42]

not a bad car, but IMHO not a pretty one.

[mossaidis]

in NYC we see hands down more Fits, Fiestas, 500's, Mini's, Yaris and then Smarts followed by 2's. I like the Yaris actually, probably influenced by the H-Prod Yaris featured in SCCA's Sportscar mag. Off topic, I am wondering how the Dodge Dart will influence Touring and IT...looking up specs now.

[Knestis]

The Dart is pretty bad-ass...

http://blog.roadandtrack.com/wp-content/uploads/GRC-DodgeDart4.jpg

But turbo AWD cars aren't allowed in IT.

;)

K

[Ron Earp]

How's B-Spec doing these days participation-wise?

[dickita15]

Not so good. SS racing is driven my manufacturer incentives. Not many car companies are putting any budget behind them.

[Knestis]

I don't know how these conversations went at the club level but talk on the streets was that "manufacturer involvement" was discouraged.

I think that the theory was to avoid Big Dog teams, like we ran into way back when in the SportTruck days when each manufacturer had one team and didn't provide any additional support. It would be interesting to see if there are ways to provide incentives for manufacturers - lots of them - to make it easier for racers - lots of them - to get into their cars, with the endorsement and support of the sanctioning bodies.

K

[betamotorsports]

As of last week there were only two B-Spec cars registered for the runoffs. Toyota is putting its Yaris support behind the cars running in HP.