SCCA Racers - Important Announcement, FProd Competition Adjustment Options

[ChrisFoley]

The Club Racing Board has seen fit to restrict our engines as a result of the Runoffs win by Mark Hotchkis.
This season we get to use 34mm venturis instead of the 38s we had last year. It is time to gather our evidence and write letters to the CRB expressing our feelings that this is an unfair competition adjustment which will hurt all the regular FP 914 competitors. The Kirby/Finch car will probably never be raced again and the rest of us are being made to suffer as a result of the superior effort expended by an essentially professional racing program in an amateur sport.

[ChrisFoley]

Here's what I wrote to the SCCA Club Racing Board:

I feel that decreasing the choke sizes to 34mm is an inappropriate and excessive reaction to the Runoffs victory and lap record set by Mark Hotchkis at the 2005 Runoffs for the following reasons:
.The Kirby car was professionally prepared to the highest level and was driven by a former Indy Lights Series professional driver. The car is fully developed after being competed continuously for 25 years and no expense was spared in the car’s preparation for the 2005 Runoffs. It was at the absolute peak of potential. This is beyond even the best prep and performance I have seen from a Huffaker Midget.
.Steve Sargis matched the pace of Mark Hotchkis for more than half of the race, and challenged for the lead numerous times. In fact, he had the fastest lap of the race until lap 13. He both qualified and raced below the existing lap record. Mark Hotchkis made three laps below the previous lap record (lap 13,14,15) and Steve Sargis also made 3 laps below the previous lap record (lap 5,13,14), yet no competition adjustment has been made to the Spitfire for the 2006 season. Also, Steve Sargis lowered the lap record at the 2004 Runoffs, but no competition adjustment was made to the Spitfire for the 2005 season.
.John Saurino qualified below the existing lap record, and despite going off track early in the race and falling to last place, he managed to slice through traffic to finish third. He never had a clear lap due to traffic which means that his best lap time is not a good gauge of his potential, although the way he passed nearly 40 cars in 17 laps to achieve a podium position is a good gauge of his performance and potential. Yet, no competition adjustment has been made to the MG Midget.
.Craig Chima also qualified below the existing lap record, ahead of Mark Hotchkis, but was out of the race on lap 2. He never had a chance to show the full potential of his MGB. Viewing the Speed TV coverage leaves no question that his MGB was every bit as fast as the Kirby 914 on the straights and that he would have been able to challenge Mark had he continued. Yet, no competition adjustment has been made to the MGB for the 2006 season.
.The lack of sufficient trap speeds from qualifying at the 2005 Runoffs means there is not enough data for valid comparisons of speed potential to be made on that basis.
.No other FP 914 has finished higher than 5th place (Les Handley, 2002) in the last 5 years while a Spitfire or MG Midget has finished first or second in each of the last 5 years and beyond.
.Changing the chokes from 38 to 34 mm is a 20% reduction in intake area for the engine. The data simply does not support such a drastic change and I do not understand what basis was used to justify this.
Please rescind the adjustment and reinstate the 38mm chokes for the FP 914-4. If not, the only other appropriate course of action for the CRB is to make negative competition adjustments to the other 3 vehicles which qualified or raced below the previous lap record at the 2005 Runoffs. If the intention is to slow the FP frontrunners, please be fair and make competition adjustments to the Spitfire, MG Midget and MGB.
Thank you for your consideration.

This post has been edited by Racer Chris: Jan 22 2006, 10:15 PM