...I refuse to allow that swing to happen based on top level SM's beating up on low level STL cars. It's short sighted and those people who bitch about SM's in STL need a reality check. They should NOT be faster than you. Use them as a bogey for development. Once you pass them, then get another target.
Nobody - I think, and certainly not me - is arguing from that point of view, Andy. My personal bogey very quickly became the class frontrunners in the NE, most of which happen to be the tiny handful of real STL-spec Miatas running. My proposal was VERY clear about that. I don't particularly like the idea of using other classes/categories as field fillers but there's exactly NO excuse for an SM beating up on a "real" STL car. The class structure should be - and is currently, I think - set up so that those "participatory," "double dip," or "give it a try" entries are not truly competitive.

I KNEW going in that, as soon as I crossed the Regional/National barrier, that we're in competition adjustment territory. (Note that I don't even put a "bleah!" in there when I type it in this context.) That said, I'm convinced that the "better than the sum of its parts" or "better than on paper" part of the puzzle can largely be encapsulated in the definitions associated with what makes a sports car a "sports car." It's a proxy variable but it should be a pretty good one, as it takes a number of hard-to-measure factors into account.

We shouldn't have to wait until a particular sports car has beaten up on every other option to put lead on it - thereby, as it happens, clearing the top of the podium for another make/model with inherent advantages over the pedestrian 4-seaters. We SHOULD design a class that's got as many make/model options as can be practically put on a relatively level playing field. I personally don't have any real issue with Miatas but I DO have a huge concern with the Club limiting the appeal of its racing program by giving them - and other 2-seaters - another place where they and their 2-seat friends bring a pretty fundamental relative advantage to running at the pointy end.

K