February Fastrack

[lateapex911]

ITx comments only - I'll go vent in the ST areas as needed.

1. - the MR2 weight change. great to see motion on this. unfortunately, while a 95# drop is good, by "process" it's still very heavy. I'm affraid that some motion in the right direction might end up keeping it from getting all the way to where it "belongs" in terms of hp/weight as it will be seen as "fixed." the car "should" be 2260# - i think we would all be happy at 2350, or 5hp optimistic.

2. - wheel sizes: the ITC VW beetle is the most discussed of the new breed of small cars with big wheels. find a >15" diameter x6" wheel. currently, going smaller is not allowed, so such cars would be stuck with rare/custom ($$$$) or stock (###) and also have to run larger ($$$) tires than much of their competition. obviously, this is more true for ITB/C. in all classes, the ability to pick wheel sizes is "cheap gearing". again - it can go sideways here, like anywhere else, if someone is willing to throw down the moolah. so it goes in racing. I say open it up.

and on EP - Greg Ira wrote in requesting a re-weigh and the response is "no, but we'll adjust this stuff instead..." I laughed for about 5 minutes before I could get to reading the list. -50# to a bunch of stuff.

Greg asked that the Miata have 113 pounds ADDED. Instead, he got 50 pounds REMOVED from 4 cars, and 100 pounds removed from the 260Z. I THINK Greg's a Datsun guy, and it's a memory stretch, but I think he's a 260 guy, so if my very hazy memory is correct, he kinda sorta got what he wanted, well, within 13 pounds, LOL

Regarding the MR2-. Andy's math is no doubt correct, and well, I think there is no way, nada, zilch, zeeeero, zed chance that the 25% factor will get lowered for that car, even if god himself presents dyno sheets from 5 engines and all ITAC guys witness the builds and dyno runs.

[JeffYoung]

Ira runs a nationally competitve (he's finished second at the Boreoffs a number of times) 240z (not 260).

[Chip42]

Greg asked that the Miata have 113 pounds ADDED. Instead, he got 50 pounds REMOVED from 4 cars, and 100 pounds removed from the 260Z. I THINK Greg's a Datsun guy, and it's a memory stretch, but I think he's a 260 guy, so if my very hazy memory is correct, he kinda sorta got what he wanted, well, within 13 pounds, LOL

Regarding the MR2-. Andy's math is no doubt correct, and well, I think there is no way, nada, zilch, zeeeero, zed chance that the 25% factor will get lowered for that car, even if god himself presents dyno sheets from 5 engines and all ITAC guys witness the builds and dyno runs.

1 - I get the final result, and Greg's pretty amazing to watch IRL too. I just thought the wording of the resonse was humourus.

re MR2 - my point exactly. it's a shame, because you basically wind up with a car that's ~280# overweight based on ACTUAL whp to weight vs other cars in class (car is known to make ~110whp on an optimistic dyno - or ~15%). does it "make it up" elsewhere? possibly, depending on the track and circumstances. this is why I think 2350# (20% gain) is resonable, and likely the best we could hope for, and why I'm upset the change was done to 2430 rather than 2350, as I know it's more or less a done deal now.

and I feel for the 1 or 2 FX16 guys out there who will theoretically get moved down to 2330# now with the same actual whp as the MR2 in a less "advantageous" car.