After reading the latest thread in the BMW section, about the SIR test results, I wanted to start a discussion about using SIR technology in IT. The more I think about the E36 situation, the more aggravated I get about it. The car got special treatment, plain and simple. The PCA section of the ITCS clearly states that restrictors will only be used in extreme cases, and only after a review of on-track performance (i.e. results). We were told that the recent realignment and adjustment of several cars, was a result of running most of the cars in the ITCS through the process. How does a mechanism that's only supposed to be applied after a review of actual racing performance, get applied to what's supposed to be essentially setting specifications as if the car were newly classified?
If it was really supposed to be a 'new day' for IT, and all of the cars in the ITCS were classified under the new process, why don't we deal w/ it as such? The weights should be set per the process, and after the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th years, the performance vs. the rest of the cars in the class should be evaluated. If an adjusment is warrented at that time, that's when it should be made. The rule was put on the books, and w/in two years, it's already being set aside to make special allowances for one specific car. Why the heck do we even have a rule book, if this is the way things are going to be done?
Sorry for the side-track. Back to the discussion of SIR technology in IT. A couple of poster-child candidates for downward re-classification, the 1st gen. RX7 and the AW11 MR2. IIRC, it's strongly believed that these cars can not really be made much lighter, to get them to what would be competitive weights in ITA. By the same token, Darin and other ITAC members have said that they can't have much (any?) weight added to them, to move them down to ITB, since they would exceed the weight allowances for the cage tubing size specs. If we're going to adopt SIR technology in IT, this would seem to be the solution for these two (and any other cars in a similar situation). Don't increase the weight, but move them down to ITB w/ an SIR that's designed to limit the hp so as to achieve the desired wt/hp ratio for ITB. If we're going to use SIR technology as a performance-balancing tool in IT, it should be available to ALL cars, not just one that is getting special treatment!
While I think SIR technology can be a valuable performance-balancing tool, I think it's too new, and too untested to be used effectively in IT, and it creates more issues, questions, and problems than it's worth, at this point in time.