March 2014 Fastrack

[Ron Earp]

You've still got a DIFFERENT motor in the car - which doesn't always justify a new spec line, but don't attempt to call a Guernsey a Longhorn.

I'd be hard pressed the call a motor with two less injectors and a different oil squirting pattern different, especially when the pertinent specs, the horsepower and torque figures, are unchanged.

What attributes of an engine would demand a new spec line;

*Different distributor?
*Block with different casting bosses and motor mounts?
*Different piston compression height?
*Different cylinder head castings with different combustion chamber shapes?
*Piston with different ring thickness?
*Cam with three degrees more duration?
*Heads with different water passages?
*Forged rod the same weight as a powdered metal rod?
*Different oil pans?
*Different front cover?
*Different balancer?

Right now in ITS there are multiple cars with these attributes, some with multiple attributes, that exist on the same spec line, with identical horsepower and torque rating across the years. I won't argue that some of these attributes are more desirable from a racer perspective, but they don't change the balance of competition.

If we were to go back and consider these changes and create new listings for these cars we'd expand the number of IT listings by 20 or more. And it would do nothing to make IT more competitive or keeping IT an entry class that is flexible enough to be attractive to newbies and old hands alike.

You're an IT racer, what do you race and would you prefer to start breaking classifications apart into multiple years throughout all the IT classes?