ghoffman

http://www.world-challenge.com/news/story.php?ID=1319

Ok, I guess I am not that bright, but how do you have a "Professional" series with this quote:

"Entry fees for the series will be half of a normal Touring Car entry fee although no prize money will be distributed. TC2 cars will carry a different color numberboard and windshield banner in order to be distinguished from Touring Car on the track."

So, what are the 1/2 entry fees for?

AU N EGL

Fill the grid with the VW SCCA's Sponsorship cars ??

davidfarmer

just like DE's, it takes a lot of money to put on these events. Plus, when I was racing, much of the bulk of the real Prize Money was given by sponsors, so arguably the entry fees pay for the event.

Regardless, as I said in the other thread, this is a bad idea and it will only dilute the series. They are just going to have to tough it out for a few years until people can afford to race again!

ghoffman

Sorry, I did not see the other thread. I agree David, I think it makes SCCA Pro Racing look like Club racing with little slow cars.

Todd Benne

Perhaps Mr. Farmer can fill in some of the blanks having been a competitor in WCGT, but, I think one of the issues that has plagued that series is that SCCA Pro allows themselves to be talked into rules creep by specific teams.

It happened with the Caddies. Now there is or was debate about the ACS Mustangs. Did Porsche have the proper brakes? Etc etc. Now TC is faced with Real Time twisting the rules and getting the Xtrac which completely goes against the intent of the new TC rules for new build cars.

The cost to run the sieres has chased away all but the wealthy and factory funded teams. So, SCCA Pro has created its own problem by not having a strong enough staff to say 'no' when needed.

Will this TC2 class work? No. I have experience in trying to entice the SCCA Club racers to join for Trans-Am and when I operated a semi-pro series for Trans-Am type cars. They are simply not interested. Most do not have the budget to travel nor afford even a reduced entry fee. Most only travel to a geographic specific radius, be it certain mileage or hours from home. Some can barely afford to run Club let alone the cost to get involved in a Pro series and win no money. Most will only run if the rules give them an obvious advantage to win, as witnessed by the various debates and rules politicing in Club rules. I could go on.

Something needs to change within SCCA Pro because the same group of people keep steering the ship into turbulent waters year after year.

LG Motorsports

This is right up my alley.

Yes, the caddy started the rules creep but it also started when Mitch Wright left the series. He was a racer, and he knew when the teams were pulling their leg.

So we had the weak SCCA Tech staff that also had an agenda on who they wanted to win. they wanted "factory teams" to have a reason to come, and they thought they wanted "cute" young drivers to win.

Both strategies were flawed in thinking that RACE FANS wanted CUTE!
RACE FANS want RACING! DUH

So, to control the outcome, scca would add weight to slow anyone down that was interfering with THEIR plan. Kind of like Government control, it never works.

it happened in Trans Am also but the reason there was money. Money for body work monopolies. And in the end, it was to make sure that the owner of the series had the best chance of winning, and win he did.

But back to World Challenge. They allowed ABS, TransAxles, big % of tube frames to change a Mustang into a Trans/World Challenge car and Porsche got whatever they needed to be at the front.

Now the cost of the series car is out of wack. A current world challenge car costs $300,000. with Bosch engine management, Traction control, ABS, TransAxles, Expensive engines then put restrictors on them . Big Brakes, (they actually save money) and all this running on a street tire so it makes no sense.

In 96 and 97, We built and sold retail a winning Mustang World Challenge car for $75,000. Then In 2004, we built our winning Corvette World challenge car for $100,000. Now the Transaxle and two axles cost that much. The cars complete are 3 times the cost from 2004.

We need to bring a Corvette Challenge back. There is a Porsche Challenge, Ferrari Challenge and should be a Corvette Challenge just like in 88 and 89.

The SCCA has a bunch of self serving morons running the show now and for as long as i can remember. They have killed more series than we can count.

LG

At that price

Knucklehead Racing

I think it is a great idea to open up the series to other cars and get the numbers up. The problem which developed is that GT became absurdly expensive and all but elimnated any privateer. The factories for a short period filled the grid but when they started leaving the grid started to get thin. I think the problem in the first instance was permittting the series to become absurdly expensive.

I would like to see them open up GT with other classes similar to a GT4 car in Europe. No wings, limited choices in engines (LS6, LS2 or LS3 with the appropriate pumps etc..) , bigger brake package and coil overs. Period. You woud see a bunch of us modify out T1 cars and jump right in.

I have spoken to a number of racers in T1 and they would definitely do a bunch of the races if the above happened. And why not? The racing would be more exciting with the additional cars and the series would get back to its original roots.

I hope they do it this year so we can get out there and join them at the Glen!