nice to see a nismo being used properly, not just sitting in some garage

 

saw a redline nismo parked at a restaurant the other, looks amazing

 

yeah like a lot of other people I am not sure I agree with how redline classes cars. How much sense does it make to have 600-900hp cars in the same class as any other miata, or RWD car? I think modified needs to be NA only, leave the forced induction cars to Unlimited.

The R1 rule for 2008 is about as ridiculous as anything I have heard. I know a while back there was a discussion on this so I don't want to bring all that back up. Just glad they are doing away with it for 2009.

 

Nah, thats the beauty of time attack. It doesn't have many rules. It allows people to get creative and push the limits of production cars. If you want a ton of rules, run N.A.S.A., thats my take on it. There is no set of rules that will make everyone happy or cater to every car. There will always be better cars than others. N.A.S.A. has 1,046 different classes for their time trials and people still complain.

 

to me all Redline is doing is giving the guy with the most money to put into his car a chance to win. Now i know on a lot of courses a high hp car isn't always better and sure that may give the local miata driver a chance but really....... twin turbo Z's matched with the local kid who drives a stock 240? where is the "beauty" of that? Redline doesn't have to have 1046 classes, just maybe at least make an effort to even up what they already have. If they aren't all about rules then why limit the type of car that is allowed to compete? why not allow tube chasis cars? People will always complain, no matter what is done, that is just racing. But the way it is now, its not "creative", its BS. Not sure how to word this but to me its like a grassroots event that is geared toward amatuers and people that typically wouldn't have a chance to drive on course. Then all of a sudden a bunch of deep pocket business people come in and just start owning the competition. Before you know it all the "grassroots" players have up and left because they know, no matter how much they do to their car they just can't compete with what is showing up at the track. Now where is the grassroots in that???

 

Yep, after a couple of years of the same 2-5 people winning everything, participation will drop.

 

I think it's weird that cars in the unlimited group can change tires and also run in the modified class which they will obviously dominate.

But the thing I see now is that the unlimted cars are not running modified suspension mounting points, sequential gearboxes, etc which will render the current cars less competetive.

If you read the class rules the unlimited rules state that certain cars "supercars" must run in the unlimited class. But what is the defenition of "supercar"? I certainly would rank these super modified Z's up there with a Porsche CGT or ENZO. So what's up with that?

I'd like to see a southeastern track added to that list like Sebring!

 

i figured most of the Unlimited cars would be running sequentials and quad-adjustable motons and crap like that?...guess if youre not racing for money its not worth dumping $$$ like that into it. They just need more events, pretty fortunate to have one in my backyard. Road America, Watkins Glen, Miller, Mid Ohio, LRP, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Portland International, etc would all be interesting, see how the time attack cars stack up against the racers that drive for paychecks on tracks where bigger series go.

 

Racing will always favor the guy with the most money, even in spec Miata, thats just the way racing is.

My solution to keeping participation up is getting rid of the drift class and substituting it with a "Super Stock" class which will be even more limited to Street. Participation is key to the success of time attack, but you gotta remember that its not the only piece of the puzzle. The sport needs spectators and media coverage to grow, just like any sport. People want to see their favorite companies and teams build crazy fast all out cars.

JETPILOT - You are looking at things the wrong way. An Unlimited car who switches tires to run Modified obviously isn't an Unlimited car. If its running Modified it obviously fits into the Modified Class rules, not the Unlimited rules. They have already announced though that they are limiting cars to one class next year though anyway though.

 

i don't understand then.... Scott won both URWD, and MRWD this past race at Nashville in the same BC racing G35 car.

 

Yeah, the one class rule wont take effect until 2009.

 

true, the more money you have the faster you go. I do think the most successful sports and activities are the ones where you have enough levels that the professionals can have good competition, but the everyday joe can go out and compete in his local area and have fun (think bowling and golf). Right now, this series is so limited that only the big bucks can play and even hope to be competitive, even on a local level. NASA and SCCA have local, regional, and national levels so there is opportunity for eveyone.

 

I agree.... I have no sponsors. I pay everything out of pocket. I will be competing in modified RWD and I spend approx $1500 per track day (test and tune) at my local track which is Sebring. I pay per day $465 in HPDE insurance, my brake costs are approx $250, my tires are approx $250, 1 night hotel $100, gas $100, track fee $300 and food for me and the wife. That's not including the $60K I paid to get my car to a competetive level with all the failures etc.

Other than sailboat racing or a heroin habbit I can't think of anything more expensive than this.

 

+1

 

so unless you are already FI. How will you feel after spending 1500 bucks for a redline time attack all to find out you will be up against 700+hp cars? seem fair?

 

You should enter the class your car fits into. I think its more than fair considering the rule book is easily accessible to the public. So what you're saying is, you run an N/A 350Z on R-Compounds and you want the rules changed so you don't have to change anything about your car to be competitive?

You are obviously talking specifically about factory N/A cars as I would hope you are not suggesting a stock Audi A4 being bumped to Unlimited because it is F/I.