STx Notes, December Fastrack

[Greg Amy]

...would chevrolet/pontiac/etc... be in the same family as toyota as toyota has built so many GM cars (FWD nova, GEO/Chevy prism, Vibe) or just those cars count as toyota?

IMO, I'd say "go with the badge" that was on the car. If the transaxle was ever installed in Pontiac, it's free game for any GM product. But if the transaxle was only installed in the Toyota version of the same car, I'd suggest it's not legal for a GM car... - GA

[Chip42]

IMO, I'd say "go with the badge" that was on the car. If the transaxle was ever installed in Pontiac, it's free game for any GM product. But if the transaxle was only installed in the Toyota version of the same car, I'd suggest it's not legal for a GM car... - GA

where's the line, though? GM and ford gobbled up everyone at one point. does isuzu count as GM (absolutely SHOULD for the past 10 years or so at least but what about their older cars)? SAAB? is volvo ford, still? mazda? Jaguar?? MB and chrystler have split, but could I take a 98 AMG motor and put it into my dodge challenger? there's bloodlines that run deeper than might be obvious on the surface.

I can accept that a "customer car" such as a GEO would be a GM for purposes of sourcing motors, and that such sourcing would be limited to that "brand". but what about the other direction - sourcing parts from a customer model (say the Geo prism) for use in a car of the original manufacturer (in this example, toyota)?? the "best" USDM toyota 4AGE was in a geo prism GSi. by the "intent" I feel this should be 100% legal, no questions asked, for a toyota car (corolla, MR2, whatever) as it's a TOYOTA motor, and an evolutionary version of one sold AS a toyota in the US previously.

Honda/acura, VW/audi, pontiac/chevy, etc... are really obvious "sister" companies. some of the others not so much - even mazda/ford/volvo/jag/etc.. which have a lot of overlap (same engines and/or chassis in many cases) I think would be a stretch to call "sister" marques but could very well be identical cars under the sheetmetal (Jag S/Lincoln LS/Tbird or Mazda3-Volvo30/40/50)

I'm basically only asking in order to get ahead of the problems that WILL eventually arise from different readings by racers/officials/competitors

[Greg Amy]

where's the line, though?

As you're implying, it's rather large, wide, and very gray. I don't think there's a hard, fast answer for you. But I would suggest that if someone were to try something non-obvious (e.g., putting a Pontiac G8 engine into a Toyota Yaris) that they'd at least try to pass that through SCCA Technical first...but in the end, it's the protest/appeal process that they'd have to overcome.

As far as I'm personally concerned, I think the intent of the ST rules are intended such that doing something like that is OK, but that's not an official position by any means... - GA

[benspeed]

Greg - that disclaimer is getting some heavy duty work :-)

You're doing a nice job of pointing the compass through the fog, bro.