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Midiv will be considering a proposal to create the IT7 class in Midiv at the convention in November. If you will race in IT7 in midiv you need to contact your RE to build support and send me an email or phone indicating that you will compete so I can make a showing of support.
Mike Trier <[email protected]> 515-289-2759
Mike, have you posted this over on the midiv forum? www.midiv.org
I'll contact my RE... have you talked with the guys at RX7 Heaven? Charlie Clark?
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Scott
It's not what you build...
it's how you build it
<A HREF="http://www.pfmracing.com" TARGET=_blank> http://home.swbell.net/srhea66/PFMSigPic.jpg
www.pfmracing.com </A>
YES YES YES
Let's do whatever it takes to show support for an IT7 class in MIDIV. I'm in the Ozark Mountain Region and just sent an email to my RE. The content of that email follows... I'll post his reply when it is received. In the interim I hope that all RX7 drivers will contact their RE's to push for this. Let me know how I can help.
Hello Mr. Faxon,
I'm hoping that there will be serious consideration for creating an IT7 class in MIDIV for 2004. I know you are already aware that other SCCA divisions have adopted rules for an IT7 class in the recent past. I know from reading the IT Forums that there are a number of RX7 drivers in MIDIV that are ready to support this endeavor.
My question for you Mr. RE is, how can we best lobby for your support during the upcoming November convention? I will take the lead on getting whatever supporting documentation that you suggest. A petition? A formal request letter signed by interested RX7 drivers? Please tell me how we can best support this request.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Respectfully,
Scott Goble
SCCA Member
Scott and I have already contacted our RE and she is aware of our position. Her request of us is to educate her as to why IT7 is a good idea, so that she may present our case well. Can we have some pros please?
Nadeem
[here's my note to our R.E.]
Hi Jan!
I assume you have heard from Scott Rhea and Nadeem Bari on the subject of supporting IT7 as a regional class, and I wanted to chime in as well.
I’ll say right off the bat that I overall support IT7, and think that it would certainly benefit St. Louis region and Midwest Division drivers, and our road race program in general.
As a little background, IT7 is a regional only class, that exactly follows the ITA rules, but is limited to first generation (1979-1985) Mazda RX-7’s. The class has been proposed, and adopted by many regions, as an answer to the problem of the RX-7’s lack of competition potential in ITA. Because Improved Touring does not currently support competition adjustments, the RX-7 has fallen far behind more modern cars such as the Nissan 240SX and Honda CRX. Even cars which have been fully developed and driven by excellent drivers fall far short of the mark.
Although IT does not, and never has offered any guarantee of competitiveness, there are compelling reasons to provide a class specifically for the 1st generation RX-7. First, the cars are inexpensive to buy or build, and extremely reliable. If there is a better entry level IT car, I can’t imagine what it would be. Additionally, the success of the RX-7 in Production class racing makes it an attractive platform, as a driver who aspires to national racing can do as I did and build an IT car, then continue development to E Production.
Finally, Mazda provides excellent support to all of their drivers, in the form of expert technical advice and deep discounts on stock and competition parts (for those rare cases when the needed part can't be found in a local junkyard).
The availability of a cheap, reliable car means that drivers who might not be able to race at all can race, and those who are on a limited budget can race more often. The biggest hurdle to an entry level racer currently contemplating an RX-7 is the perceived lack of competitiveness, particularly as compared to the much more expensive CRX. Adding the IT7 class eliminates this hurdle.
Adopting IT7 represents a minimal burden on the race program and officials. The only cost to the region that I am aware of is the cost of six additional trophies for a double regional weekend. IT7 would continue to run with the IT run group. There would be some impact on timing and scoring, as it would add one more class to track during the busy IT race, but I do not believe this would be a major issue.
Those trophies would almost certainly be paid for quickly. The IT prep RX-7 is a car that is fast, fun to drive, inexpensive to build and maintain and readily available. Giving it a place to be competitive will have a minimal impact on the region in terms of cost and effort, but will almost certainly increase our pool of drivers, and the number of races that those drivers attend.
Thanks for your consideration!
Steven
[This message has been edited by sburkett (edited October 02, 2003).]
Well put Steven!
Steven, thanks for the great letter. Very well constructed in my opinion. I hope you don't mind but I posted a topic on the MIDIV site and copied your letter in hopes that RX7 drivers in other regions would use it to lobby their RE's for support of an RX7 clas in MIDIV.
If you, or anyone else, can think of any way I can help promote this issue please let me know. Anyone is welcome to call me or email me at any time.
Thanks again,
Scott Goble
(417) 848-7584
[email protected]
I posted this on the IT7 thread in the Midwest Division Forum, but it's worth repeating:
The Pro IT race at Heartland Park the weekend of October 18th and 19th will include IT7 as a class. Since the weekend is not a MidAm points weekend, this would be a good opportunity for all of the ITA RX-7 guys to show their support for IT7.
If anybody needs an entry, it can be downloaded at the following URL:
http://www.kcrscca.org/forms/octentry.pdf
Thanks,
Chuck Clark
Kansas City Region RE