GGR points classifications proposed changes for 914s next season, what do you GGR folks think? Options

[DanT]

Proposed by Billd on the GGR chat site

this is on the GGR web chat site...it is a proposal to make some changes to the points system with regard to 914s

GGR folks should take a look at this and the current rules> this is a proposal for 2007 rules changes.


1. Base points for 914s:

Proposal: Change the autocross base points for a 914 2.0 to 225 for a 914 1.7 or 1.8 to 200 and for a 914-6 to 250. Change the time trial base points for a 914/6 to 175.

Rationale: The current AX base point assignments for mid-engine cars are not appropriate. A base point assignment in line with the 2005 PAX scores would be more fair. A 914 2.0 had a 2005 PAX score of 0.881 which less than the 0.885 of a 911T (class G) which is currently assigned 250 points. The 2.0L 914 has a power to weight ratio comparable to an early 924 which is assigned 150-175 points or a 912 which is assigned 175 points.

The argument that 914s deserve a 150 point differential from their TT base points for autocross because they handle well is not valid. Under the current rules, car modifications such as springs, torsion bars, and sway bars are relatively inexpensive (in terms of points) making it easy to achieve balanced handling on all cars. Thus penalizing a 914 by 150 points for balanced handling puts it at a serious disadvantage compared to a 912 or 911T with suspension modifications.

This proposal does provide a “mid engine” penalty over and above the TT base points for 914s but makes this penalty a more reasonable 75 points for a 2.0L 914.

The base points adjustment proposed for a 914/6 is based on the fact that a 914/6 (class F) has exactly the same 2005 PAX rank (0.881) as a 914 2.0 and a weight to power (20 lbs/hp) only slightly better than a 914 2.0 (23-25 lbs/hp) and less than a 911T (16-1Cool and hence deserves only a small penalty (25 points) compared to a 914 2.0 for both autocross and time trial. The 914/6 is about 100 lbs heavier than a 914-2.0 and has 15 more horsepower – 110 vs 95. This is a small difference – worth 25 points, not 100.

As further data to support this proposal, the attached spreadsheet shows all times recorded for cars in classes A, B, C, G, and F for the 2004 and 2005 autocross series. All times are normalized to the TTOD (i.e., 1.28 means the time is 1.28 times that of the fastest car that day). Times above 1.5 times TTOD were discarded as outliers – this is clear from the scatter plot. The results show that the three 914s belong at 200, 225, and 250 respectively. The 914 1.8 has an average time of 1.33, slower than any of the other car types compared. The 914 2.0 had an average time of 1.28 – tied with an early 911T (250 points) and a 912 (175 points). The 914-6 had an average time of 1.26 – between the early and late 911Ts. Note that all of the 914s are slower than the 944 (225 points) and 924S (275 points).