I had a somewhat-related discussion with Mr. Blethan yesterday. As some point during the day he commented something like, 'I really like rain; I wish it would rain all the time." I kinda wrinkled my nose and said something like 'rain is not fair'.

And it's true: rain is NOT fair, because we classify our cars based on the typical, most common scenario, that being dry conditions. If, for example, we lived in climates where it rained all the time, then we'd classify our cars differently, and FWD might actually have an "adder" instead of RWD, and because we don't have near as much weight transfer McPherson struts wouldn't be the massive disadvantage it is versus nice-geometry, multi-link suspensions (and brake size isn't as important, nor is massive power, ad nausea).

If we are to consider AWD in Improved Touring, it must be considered in the most common, typical scenario, just as we do now when considering FWD versus RWD, McPh versus multi-link, etc. We KNOW that some cars will have advantages in different conditions, but it is completely IMPOSSIBLE to classify for anything but the 95th-percentile.

Not offering an opinion either way on whether we should allow AWD, just offering a basis for discussion. - GA