The Philosophy of Super Touring...

[Greg Amy]

So what's the solution? First and foremost, sit down and develop a clear philosophy for the STL class. My personal desires for the class would be to create something that allows for a level of prep and modification that exceeds Improved Touring, but stays well clear of the "all out" mindset of STU. In my mind, that philosophy would allow modifications that meet the following criteria:

- Is it "easy" to do? Can you bolt the items on or does it require significant fabrication or engineering skills?
- Are aftermarket options for this easily available? Can you buy those parts off-the-shelf somewhere or do you have to fabricate them?
- Is it reasonably inexpensive? Are those bolt-on, off-the-shelf items relatively cheap to do?
- Is it common on the street? Is it something that "kids" do to their street cars when they buy their first car?
- Is it something that's not permanent, something that can easily be "undone" to put the car back to a lesser level of prep (e.g., Improved Touring)?

Some items that immediately come to mind over what we do in Improved Touring is:

- engine mounts
- battery relocation
- shifters
- plastic body parts
- alternate control arms
- alternate brakes
- etc.

Things like that. Don't get me wrong here: I'm not stating that allowing this-or-that can't get expensive, can't be fabricated better, and/or can't be hard to do (and I fully expect someone clever to retort by linking to a $20k brake package). Of course it can. I'm talking "generally speaking" here. My general rule of thumb is that if an option exists in the JC Whitney catalog (granted, not a "quality" option, but one nonetheless) then it's a probably good candidate to be considered for STL.

Once that general ideal is agreed upon, then let's create a clear and concise philosophy for STL, based on a combination of both IT and ST stated purposes, and write it down and make it part of the rules. My first shot off-the hip suggestion is to put this in the STL section, even making it Part A, Philosophy:

Super Touring Light is intended to provide the membership the opportunity to compete in widely-available vehicles of 2-liters displacement and under, allowing limited racing modifications trending toward World Challenge/STU preparation but remaining well below that level, those of relative ease of availability and economy. No STL modification will exceed that of STU, thus the cars will be legal for that class; members who wish to exceed STL level of preparation are encouraged to participate in STU.

Regardless of the words used, this needs to be hashed out and codified. Then, all requests and adjustments will have a benchmark against which to be judged.

Thoughts?

GA