I'm on the ITAC; we recommended to the CRB that they turn down this request. The reasons are:

1. Ron Earp is a racing buddy of mine; I work on and drive his 260z, and I also know several Z racers very well (Steve Parrish, David Spillman, Jay Miller, Mike Mackaman, etc.). The drums are still available, you can occasionally find an alum one on ebay etc. Steel drums are still available at your local parts counter. Plus, i think there is some discussion about having new ally ones machined.

2. IT class philosophy -- perhaps the strongest one we have -- is that we don't make line item exceptions for IT cars for parts that are NLA, or unsafe, etc. You choose your car and the warts that go with it (and I'm certainly in that boat with an ITS TR8). At some point, some cars naturally age out of IT due to lack of parts (I think RX2/3 rear brake parts are totally gone). At that point, you go vintage or build a newer IT car (I have a 300zx sitting in a shed waiting for the day the 8 can't run anymore).

3. As Kirk indicated that exception for the Calais/etc. is an anamoly. I'm not sure why it is there and it frankly should be removed. It is the ONLY exception like that and totallly contrary to class philosophy.