Thanks Darin, now I don't have to read between the lines putting bits of info together. Nice post.

I think that we should remember that the RX-7 is not the only car with issues, but it is perhaps one of the more "classic" examples. It has done well, but really, it was never an overdog either. But it has had a large following, and the mere odds stacked the deck and it has seen some success. But other cars were classed in such a way as to render it uncompetitive, and then rules changes dealt another death blow. And once one car was classified and was too fast, others were classed to break it's stranglehold. And the RX-7 slipped further and further down the results sheets.

But for every RX-7, there is another car, a BMW 2002, or a Fiero, or something that becomes more and more marginialized with every new addition to the class.

To me, the big picture needs to be kept in view, and from my discussions and from what I read here, it is being done. We have 4 classes, but really the numbers don't distribute evenly. We are wasting space in the lower IT classes.

Solving the problems in ITS (the NEON, et al) excaberates the problems in ITA. The end result looks to be a trickle down strategy, moving the backmarkers down a class and adjusting them accordingly. It could result in a more even distribution of cars, and, as more cars would have a fairer shot at success, more should come out to race.

Utilizing the ability to reclassify and adjust weight at the same time, along with PCAs is a great two prong strategy. And does away with the addition of a new class.

Will it cure all? No. The ITC backmarkers will remain backmarkers in all probibility, and those guys racing unique cars without a lot of numbers will ahave a tough time proving a need to be moved or adjusted. In theory, though, the needs of the many will outweigh the needs of the few, and IT will be a better place.

And to those who say that there are no guarantees, I would submit that that clause doesn't mean that an attempt shouldn't be made to make IT the best it can be.

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]