Mack

OK, you guys got me thinking in the other thread.

At what point do I start removing all my dealer/personally installed options?

Juliann addressed some of my pimpin' creature comforts and I can see that, but what about all the other stuff?

Obviously no one really cares at a local event. At least in my neck of the woods. What about a Divisional? And from what I can gather I'd look like an idiot with all this stuff on my car at a National Event!

I'm going to the SeDiv in June. I'm not worried about how well I'm gong to do just looking for a good experience. Should I worry about this at that level. I was thinking about entering the Rookie class they have......but maybe I should wait till I've got the car stripped down!

I'm just looking for some input here. I don't plan on being in a position that anyone would really care but crazier things have happened......and I want to do the right thing!

meat

Do people really protest when you have added non-functional weight to the car (like the headrests, deadpedal, etc..)?

SoloVR6

It all depends on the competition and the nature of the protester. One year I remember some Neon drivers getting protested for not having the spare tire cover in place. I recently heard a story of all of the Fstock drivers having to weigh their spare tires so that they were not adding extra weight to the rear end for traction. Mind you these are Nationals' stories where the competition is fierce.

I do not forsee you being protested for removing the dealer installed options, or for adding appearance items. The worst thing that happens is your actually get protested. Then you just have to fix the protested item before your next run or big event.

FYI my Blue S2K is being ordered with NOTHING! No exterior do-dads or undercoating (and not just cause I'm saving money for tires)

PS. Me likey the plug in your sig Mack, BIG THANKS!

[Edited by SoloVR6 on 05-29-2001 at 06:02 PM]

SoloVR6

Ok, I just read the other post and I didn't realize that those (IMO FUGLY!) strake thingys were supposed to be on the car. I imagine since they serve no purpose other than a neat cone guard I would have to file that under weenie protest and hope we won't see it done between fellow S2K owners.

I plan to use the excuse "Gee, mine must still be on the boat"

Mack

Solo-

I think they're talking about the little flap that hangs down in front of the front wheel. Is that your understanding?

As for being protested ,I'm kinda like you, I hope someday I'm good enough to be in a position to BE protested!!

solo2racer

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Mack
[B]OK, you guys got me thinking in the other thread.

At what point do I start removing all my dealer/personally installed options?

SoloVR6

I was unaware of that piece, I will have to take a closer look at a S2K. I was thinking of the air dam thingy and the little body extensions in front of the rear wheels. I'm not a fan of these and if they are in fact dealer options I'm going to pass.

I'm making notes for next season.

ronbauer

Just thought I'd pop in on this thread. I just got back from the Atwater Pro which was over 900 miles away from home. I found out a very interesting thing on the last tank of gas that I thought I'd pass along.

I'm mentioning this because our car does have the rear spoiler, which has been mentioned to be "illegal." I could of course take it off for Nationals, but then I'd probably get protested for having two holes in the trunk lid..... ;-)

In any case, on the trip down we averaged about 25 mpg. The trip back I was following Joe in the big Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel and enclosed trailer. My mileage went up to about 27 mpg from drafting him most of the way (this equated to about 280 miles on the tank.) However, the last tank of gas where I had to put the top up due to rain, netted 332 miles bringing the mileage up to about 32 mpg! I guess I should have realized that the car would be more aerodynamic with the top up, but this was a huge difference!

So, this said, if someone wanted to protest the rear spoiler for increasing the aerodynamics of the car, that would be a weenie protest in my mind since the car theoretically should be faster on the course with the top up which we all know I'll never do!!!! :-P

BTW, I'm real open about the stuff that is grey on the car and have asked all of my main competitors their thoughts on these items in the past and haven't had anyone have issues.

Typically, the "weenie protests" are filed for two reasons, first of all, an unknown does well and a more experienced person believes there to be something illegal about the car that would be expensive to find out (ie: engine work) and so finds an easy protest that doesn't cost the money, or someone just wants to move up at any expense (not caring that their driving was what caused them to be in the position....)

BTW, the only other item in our car that is grey besides the rear spoiler is the shocks. The only reason I mention this is that I KNOW that others are in the same boat. Our shocks are technically coilovers since the shocks are threaded and the spring perch could be moved up and down. The rulebook states that if you have this, the perch needs to be "welded" into place. A fairly liberal definition of "welded" is being used in our case where we are putting a silicone bead around the collars, thus it would be obvious over a two day event if we tried to change the height. Our reason for this isn't to be sneaky, but that we'd like the ability to use these shocks as coilovers somewhere down the road, and thus don't want to damage the threads in any way.

If anyone has a problem with this, let me know now! We've run with this setup since about this time last year. This is specifically what I was asking all of my main competition about their thoughts. I also talked about it with a large percentage of the SEB at the National Convention this year and they seemed to think this was fine.

Ron

Jason Saini

Don't worry about the shocks, Ron... Guy Ankeny built ours and before ruining our threads he called the SEB and had a little conference call. They all agreed that the silicon solution satisfies the rule. Every set of Penskes (Several FS and MANY SS cars) that Guy sells uses this same technique. At first he was going to use JB-Weld but that would have ruined the shock-body as well. Considering that Guy is on the SEB, and consulted the rest of the gang before selling shocks that way... I'd say you're A-OK with those shocks!

What are your thoughts on the little black under-fender strake thingys that Jason brought up in the other thread?

RandyP

Ron is right that if you want top speed, put the top up. If you want downforce, put the top down. The other plastic bits like spoilers and strakes do not make a significant effect at autocross speeds. Jason, the black things are easier to take on and off than your wheels. The rear spoiler is not.