Turbo/Supercharged cars in production

J

jon

Guest
I have tried to change the rules for turbo cars in production in the past to no avail. While I am all for allowing forced induction in production so the rules do not limit new cars being built and brought into production, we can not allow forced induction in production without some sort of way of keeping boost levels in check.

Doing away with the rule, as has been proposed, without a rule to keep boost levels in check is wrong and has been proven in past years to be unfair advantage with a turbocharged car in a production class.

My suggestion was to keep boost levels within specified range, as close to stock boost level as possible and to be checked with a peak and hold boost gauge under the hood that was sealed by a official and subject to regular and random inspections.

It is way too easy to get a lot of boost out of todays production engines with minor software changes. Voting out this rule with out any clear limits to boost pressures will allow someone to unfairly have a advantage over all others in their class and would be against the spirit of the production class. We need a clear and defined boost pressure limit rule with the checks and balances set in place before this rule can be changed.

Please let me be clear again, I am not against forced induction in production, just need some way to control it so all is fair.

Just my $.02

Jon Bonforte
G2 #99 E Prod
 
What, F1 in the early '80's isn't convincing enough?

1000+ hp out of a 1500cc engine in 'qualifying' trim.

Which, of course, means that you have multiple engines
just to get through the weekend.

I agree, Jon- it's far too easy to just turn up
the boost at will, and very difficult to police
without active measures.

Toby
 
More than just "difficult".

Of primary issue is the idea that some form of gauge or record along with constant vigilance will somehow solve the problem.

Anything that requires an instrument "sealed by a official and subject to regular and random inspections" requires resources that are already in critically short supply. We simply don't have VOLUNTEER time and effort to spare for a very small potential number of cars that are supposed to be running in a category specifically designed for closely matched, lightly modified, and affordable race cars. Our stewards and race tech officials have a full plate of duties on a typical race week-end without adding time to be pro-active, random testing turbo police.

I don't want to limit anyones ability to go racing, but turbo cars in Conference Production should just be a no-no. Considering the tiny amount of turbo cars out there, I think they are better suited to other, less regulated classes. I'm not saying they shouldn't race, I'm just saying Conference Production isn't the place for them. If turbo cars are going to be racing, then it should be a class where a suitable displacement equalizing factor can be applied based more on maximum HP possible and eliminating regular and random attention from our stewards. That way a turbo owner can tune for reliability as a trade of for power just like all of the normally aspirated cars. I can build a 14 to 1 compression motor and blow it up every other race if I need a wad of horsepower, but that reliability issue will affect both individual races and championship points. If a turbo driver wants to crank up the boost to where they have an advantage they should suffer similar reliability issues, that way it regulates itself.

Lest we forget, technical inspections in Conference are primarily about safety, and only the smallest amount of proactive effort is dedicated to performance related legality. The random inspection that ONE car gets per race week-end and the regular weighing ritual are about it. Even the weighing process is being evaluated and streamlined because it needs to take less time. Performance legality is primarily the responsibility of the competitors themselves. It rarely happens, but if you feel that a competitor is taking unfair advantage of you then make use of the protest process - don't expect Conference stewards to do something if you aren't willing to do it yourself. We don't need to shift responsibility to keep someones car competitive to the stewards just because they are averse to confrontation or don't want to be known as the guy who protested a competitor. Protesting is an integral part of protecting our rules that has unfairly developed a negative connotation. Anyone with a legal car should be excited to prove it's legality thereby drawing attention to the fact that he is in fact beating you with superior driving and car prep skills and not an ilegal cam or wastegate. Better yet, Conference is a pretty friendly group and although I have heard of people that won't let you look under their hoods, I have yet to meet one. I really enjoy the technical aspects of racing and I look through a lot of cars out of pure curiosity and interest and I have yet to have anyone try to conceal anything.

Lastly, it is my opinion that drivers are a lot less willing to cheat their friends, so get out there and start making friends of your competitors!

Rick
 
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