First let me say that my opinion is biased. I've raced and crewed for ITB VW's for quite some time.

Second, I have not sent a letter to the Comp board or BOD since I suggested weighing with driver (the 180lbs was my idea, hate me or not).

But part of what shocked me with the honda was seeing the lap times they turned last year, in their first year of compeition, with very little development. To me, the accord seemed to be the demise of the class. Much like the CRX did to the RX's in A, the accord had to possiblity of turning every competitive car into an 'also ran' overnight.

To me, its one thing to see a car that has been classed for a while (a few years) start kicking butt. It takes time to fully develop a car, the much hated volvo's have been raced since 1972.. And they still get a little faster every year. The accords were as fast or faster than the Volvo's on the first year.

That said, I think the Accord drivers got a bum rap. The SCCA had in the past gone out of its way to classify new cars into a class higher than they thought they would run. Then a few years latter when a fully developed car was considered to be moved down, it was easy to justify. It happened with the ITB Rabbit (yes they ran in ITA), and it happened with the 8v 1.8 Golf (they also ran in ITA).

In time, the volvo's will take care of themselfs. I've heard that they have a shortage of pushrods and were petitioning for an aftermarket piece. Given a few more years they just may end up moving out of IT due to lack of spares. The Audi is another problem.. Just remember, no Audi has ever survived a tear down at the ARRC (nor honda for that matteR). I don't prusume that anyone in particular is cheating, but it happens often enough that I just don't feel confidant until I've seen the tech crew measure the piss out of it.

In the end we have to petition the board to allow comp adjustments in IT. Charlie Clark, the new member from the MidWest is said to be in favor of it, so I suggest you keep those cards and letters comming.

--Alan

BTW, anybody for classing the ITB Rabbit into ITC?