I think people are misinterpreting what I said or I wasn't clear in my message.
I'm not suggesting that we outlaw "pro" motors,and everyone should run "junkyard motors", nor am I suggesting that pro-motors are cheater motors. What I am suggesting is finding a way of betterequalizing our class, whether that is through restrictor plates, weight, whatever. I think people are missing the point, Traqmate is going to give accurate data, especially when comparing cars, it doesnt have to give a a true dyno hp number, but, if it can determine which cars in a group have significantly more power that's all we need to know.

Its worth mentioning again that a trend is starting, people feel they HAVE to have a rebuilt motor that has every boundary pushed to the extent of (but within) the rules. I'm not arguing if this perception is valid but rather, that the perception exists, and is bad for the class. What if every guy that is running below say, 5th place, feels that its because they dont have an X motor? They all rush out and spend X amount of money to do so, its an unending cycle. Whether it really helps or not doesnt matter so much in that it really is not a good thing for 944 spec.

We used to believe that there were not many ways to gain power on these engines and no matter what a builder did they always retained stockish numbers. Now, with my experience in the class and with the cars I can say that I know this to not be true. I know there are ways to get power out of these engines, there are better part$/combination$/ tuning/trick$, and I'm not even an engine "guru". We can't stop this "ingenuity" but we can help people reason that they dont have to have all of thi$ to stay competitive through small, reasonable, changes/measures.

I didnt want to race spec miata because I didnt want to have to spend 10 grand on an engine that exploited every aspect of the rules. To go further on that, to me, there is no difference in a 10,000, 4,000 or 50,000 engine, its all money I dont want to, nor feel that I should have to, spend in this class.
Cars should NOT be making MORE hp than they made when they left the Porsche factory.
Yes, I can, and have won, races with less HP, but should I have to race with less HP? If there is an easy fix to this then why not? The "fast guys" should have nothing to worry about if they really are fast. In theory this will change nothing on the podium but will change our pocketbooks, energy, perceptions,suspicions and possibly give us closer racing.
Oh, and lets not contend that, "pushing the rules, well, that's just racing". That's the lamest argument I've heard and serves to resolve nothing but rather settle for spec miata mentality. Lets put our heads together and figure this out . I'm not suggesting trying to make everything equal, everyone knows that's impossible, but rather MORE equal. 2-5hp is not the issue, 10-15+ is...

Sorry for my rant, but I feel its necessary. I passionately care about the class, and its future.
Chris

Best way to deal with the perception that the cars/motors are the issues is to switch cars. How fast is Dirks in your car, or you in his?

The first motor I built 4 years ago, knowing nothing about any tricks, made 137/141 at Nationals in 2007. That motor still won this year, 4 years later, with 100+ hours on it.

The motor that won Nationals in 2010 made 138 HP. Where are the these killer motors if not at Nationals?

There is not as easy way to equalize cars. I've made my case on TM data in another thread. If you guys want to work on refining that locally, great, but it's not ready for National rules. Think about the implications. Everyone shows up to Nationals with their car (theoretically), equalized to a local car from their region. Then what, we re-equalize 30 cars on race day at Nationals?

Chris, I feel your passion. No one wants this to become SM - it's why we all supported the painful change to outlaw chips & headers. We disagree on wether we're there, or headed there on our current course. When a 138 HP car with a <$3K motor dominates Nationals, I feel pretty good/proud about where we're at.

I won the Nationals last year with 135 hp measured at Miller. That same car and motor finished 2nd this year and could have won that race.

I don't see the Arms Race either.

"No new rules is good new rules". I race with one of the fastest guys in 944's here in my region. We had the same guy build our motors, mine is fresher than his and yet he can beat me or anybody else in a 944 on our home tracks at will. Last years national champ makes visits up here to race with us and our guy usually wins. Other front runners at nationals with "Pro built motors" also regularly make the pilgrimage north and more often than not leave with the small trophy. IT IS NOT THE MOTOR!

Part of racing is pride in having a better car than the other guy. I take a lot of satisfaction from having built my car myself and I am very aware that it doesn't measure up to others but with our current ruleset it means I don't have to spend a lot of money to catch up, I just need to work harder on the car and my driving to close the gap.

Dyno testing would be the worst solution we could try. Way too many variables would make the results useless unless tested every weekend. Then do you test after qualifying, and since our qualifying grid is set by practice times, do we test three times a day at $120 per pull? And who's dyno do we use and what type is the correct one? What air pressures do we mandate for the dyno run and what kind of oil and intake?

If you have specific cars in mind that you think are making too much power, isn't there a NASA process to check them out. I'd be willing to bet that if you approached these guys with the "built" engines, they would gladly give you all their secrets. I'd bet even more money that there aren't any secrets to reveal. Didn't Austin pull 127hp at Miller? That should prove cunclusivelly that it isn't more power that's making the difference.

NO NEW RULES, PLEASE! I can't afford it!

rd7839 wrote:


Hey, I take offense to that

ONE of the fastest guys!