Live chat: Miatas, Mustangs and more for new SCCA Club Spec program

I'll bet the Miata class will look very, very much like MX-5 Cup because there are a bunch of cars in existence. I think they use Penske shocks, a sealed engine/ECU/transmission and are otherwise mostly just safety upgrades.

In reply to Tom1200 :

What would you suggest then? I can't think of anything that people might ACTUALLY buy, that are cheaper than an NC and early S197.

Tom1200 said:

While I don't mean to be a wet blanket I fear I will be:

Define affordable?

I'm in my 34th year with SCCA and will be a lifelong member but what the folks at the National Office view as affordable is typically a skewed towards that small percentage of members that compete at the RunOffs.  

If would be worth remembering that only about 10% of licensed drivers attend the RunOffs and those 10% who do, only make up 2-3% of SCCA members.

It would be nice if the rules were skewed towards regional "club" racer budgets and not Majors front runner budgets.

Note I'm not immune to the fact that spec classes purpose is to boost participation numbers rather than making racing affordable.

And finally just because someone has no intent to participate in a class doesn't mean they don't have good ideas.

I think both classes are likely to be popular but for God sakes please focus on the running costs.

You know this has nothing to do with club racing, right? These are TT/autocross classes.

In reply to dps214 :

He literally didn't read a thing.

camopaint0707 said:

In reply to dps214 :

He literally didn't read a thing.

Yeah................. I'm a complete Fkin idiot this morning...............this is what I get for glancing at a topic on my phone.

Note I deleted my posts.

With that said my opinion remains the same; keep this for the local competitors. SCCA seems to focus on National level folks with these types of classes.

I'm actually kind of excited to see what comes of the S197 package.  I've toyed with getting back into a V8, and that may be just the ticket to do so.  My hangups with the Mustang was it was never as competitive as other V8 options, but if it's in it's own spec class, I'm right back in.  

Tom1200 said:

With that said my opinion remains the same; keep this for the local competitors. SCCA seems to focus on National level folks with these types of classes.

That's sort of the way the autocross program is built, though:  nearly everything is a template designed to work at the national level, but allowing local regions to modify to suit their population.  There are all sorts of region-only classes and (with the exception of safety) modifications to the rulebook.

Unfortunately, neither choice of car gets me excited here...the NC Miata leaves me cold, and my Mustang experience in SSP-spec chase cars was more hair-raising than I want to repeat!

In reply to Tom1200 :

mistakes happen.  and to your point, a lot of national level folks had input on this

JG Pasterjak said:
and the earlier S197 (2005-’09) Ford Mustang GT.

camopaint0707 said:

In reply to Tom1200 :

mistakes happen.  and to your point, a lot of national level folks had input on this

Ironically we are looking at Miatas and the way would use it fit club spec.

I've just watched various classes (Solo and Club Racing) get completely out of control once they go National.