|
Ahh, the beginning of the off season, when the bench racing begins!!
My thoughts
Ok, here are the negative ones…
• Production numbers are too high. You don’t want “ringers”, so that means that something like a Honda Civic Si is a different model from the Civic EX, LX, etc. My gut tells me that someone like Honda could care less about racing the LX or EX (which might make those numbers) when they they would like to race the Si.
• You mention that existence of “special edition” parts must be made available to the general public, etc. Isn’t that a huge loop hole? So you now have the Honda Civic LX (that meets the numbers), but you can get a “kit” that effectively transforms it into a Si? Even if priced at cost, it would make no sense for a reasonable person to buy the LX, spend the time and money to convert to the Si “spec”. But a factory effort could do this. This could kill all but factory efforts.
• Regarding the comments about different tracks will help equalize the cars. That assumes that the series is able to do that successfully. You still may end up with some cars that absolutely suck and the manufactures wishing they could install part “X” from a model that doesn’t make the cut off.
• For a manufacture to get in they have to agree with the “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” theory. For smaller volume specialty cars that are attractive to motorsport enthusiast that might work. But for high volume cars (Honda Accord, Toyota Camry) it is sad to say, but those buyers could car less about how well they might do on track. And the manufactures know this.
• You talk about manufactures getting their butts into gear to build competitive cars. Again, the business they are in is to sell cars, not sell “race cars”. I am of the opinion that for the most part, corporate pride at the track is a dying thing. Short of maybe Ferrari and (sadly) to a lesser degree Porsche there is little in the way of major manufactures who car about motorsports outside of it being a way to help sell cars. I think that Honda has some racing pride and frankly I think Toyota only wants to race to try to prove something to everyone else (inferiority complex in the wrong place). Everyone else (Ford, Dodge, Chevy, etc.) are just in it (at the corporate level) as a way to help sell cars. Granted, there are people in those companies who would love to do as you suggest, but they have to be a minority. So unless you can offer them a way to help sell cars, they are not doing it for “the sport”
The positive ones…
• If you want this to work at a lower level of professionalism, then it can be done. But it would be a total grass roots effort with little or no manufacture support. This is why things like Spec Miata, Honda Challenge, Ferrari Challenge, etc. work because they are supported by racer and in many cases, racers who have a love for a specific marque.
• If you do want manufacture involvement, then you have to decide how much. For example do you want a full out factory supported team that just blows away the privateers due to prep level? I would suggest trying to find a way to legislate something like what Porsche does with the 911. They don’t directly have a factory team, but they want to sell customer cars. I think that has a way to keeping everyone on a level playing field.
• If you want manufacture support, then you have to drastically lower the homologation numbers. I agree that a number like 1K would be too low and invite ringer cars. I think that rules about update/backdate can be put into place to allow specific upgrades. I think you might make better headway with zero internal engine modification, but allow some external tweaks (intake, exhaust, etc.). I like the idea of not stripping the cars, but I suspect for people who would want to take this seriously the interior is just going to be in the way. Just let the pull stuff out of the interior, but require them to add ballast to come back up to an agreed upon “stock weight”. You could also require stock front/rear weight distribution. Allowing removal of interior may also add in addition of safety equipment.
The bottom line is that as you spell it out, it would be too risky for a manufacture to jump in. They may want to watch privateers to see how they do before they jump in with a factory effort. And if all of the manufactures sits on the sideline then you end up with what looks like SCCA club racing (which if fine, but not what you are looking to do as far as I can tell). Or if only a few manufactures jump in, they will not have enough competition to remain (such as Corvette in ALMS)
_________________ Richard Casto 1972 Porsche 914 2013 Honda Fit Sport 2015 Honda Fit EX http://motorsport.zyyz.comMoney can't buy happiness, but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than a Kia.
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
I am just trying to play devils advocate and poke holes. I would love to see something like this happen.