Net/net why I believe the AP1 struggles to whip a CR in BS is simple.... 275's vs 245's.

I must admit that I would be a bit concerned that anyone that was competitive with AP1's in stock class decided to move to STR or buy a CR. I honestly believe that there would be be plenty of competitors in AS with the addition of the CR against the various vettes. It will be just a matter of if there are enough competitive AP1's around to be in B-Stock.

 

Easy. loooove my AP1 gearing at the big events!

 

You're right Stephen, I do need to reduce my coffee intake. Currently it's 1 cup in the morning, and 1 in the afternoon after lunch. Today I did one after lunch, and added a turbo shot at Dunkin Donuts. Basically it armed me with the equivalent of a Halo 3/ Halo 4 spartan laser for online bench racing.

That said, if you read my post again you'll see that I only commented on a single phrase in your post, "percieved need." I know exactly how you feel, and I'm not attempting to argue with you, I'm just stating the other side of the coin that it is not "percieved need" but "actual need."

You're a straw man that clearly, by some power of the Wizard of Oz, has become a real man.

Cheers -

 

I did say long story short in my first post, but here's the long story for anyone that cares to read where I'm coming from. I didn't intend to start the old CR classing argument but I don't mind either, it's the off season anyway! I have met half of you guys in this thread at least once and I know there is some talent and experience here-I love this forum for that!

So why would I want to run an AP1 in BS??

I bought the car with BS or STR in mind and the car I got already had a couple of mods so I went straight to STR. My STR experience in this car was a failure and I quit out of frustration (there were other reasons also) I have since sold off most of those parts and my intention was to sell the car as well, it beat me and I wanted nothing to do with it. My wife got a Mini JCW that we have been autocrossing and we love it, I all but forgot about the AP1 until recently.

Now that the AP1 is nearly back to stock I am starting to enjoy it again as a street car and I can't picture getting rid of it anymore. This has me thinking the Stock classes make sense for me and I wouldn't be quitting the car. If I were to run it in stock trim I could take out most of the "tuning" aspects as well and focus more on just driving it. The expense would be relatively minimal and I would plan on 2-3 sets of tires for the year which would be very reasonable. We would also still drive the DS mini.

I guess it comes down to this. I want to give my AP1 another chance while still enjoying it as a street car. I mostly want it for local stuff but I also want to compete for PAX wins and FTD's. For national level stuff, I understand it may not be "THE car to have" but I am OK with that.

 

Whether or not that's true, we can still assume that those competitors were happier in RTR because they chose it over Stock. Happier participants is always a good thing. Keeps people coming back.

The fast C4 only has 2-3 more years of useful competitive life according the 25yr stock rule, no? So that problem will take care of itself. Not that I think it's a big problem.

Sorry, Birdshot - I'm partially to blame for this thread getting derailed. Sounds like your question has been answered, though.

 

No problem at all, I really enjoy the discussion.

fwiw, I may go with square BFG 245's. I picked up a used double blade bar from Guy so I can quickly crank in some understeer if I need it. I am also not going to be afraid of throwing a healthy dose of rear toe-in at it.

 

Third gear bro

.... Just don't try to bang out 3rd loaded up in a high rpm second gear transition, I hear it doesn't work out to well.

I much rather go to 3rd gear in a CR during a 64-67mph zone than be in a AP1 digging out of a 40 mph corner like a tortoise on a high dosage of Ativan. Gotta take the good with the bad.

 

Oooops... I'm the other person to take the blame for side-swiping the thread. Sorry about mentioning that! I forget that others in this forum understand and would like to see the CR bump to AS. Haha

I really miss how race rubbah hides a lot of my driving technique failures. Since I don't have the talent to win tires, I really hate the cost of them.

 

I'm not sure if that's the conclusion that can be drawn from that.

Some RTR guys picked the class because they wanted a soft class to trophy in with minimal cost. The lack of a "jacket" kept a lot of those competitors out of class. It'd be different if it became a true class.

Take RTA as another example. Places #1-4 all sold their WRX rides at the end of the season. So it didn't keep them happy and it didn't keep them coming back to the class, despite them doing well.

 

I hear ya, but at the big events, the digs don't happen too much. Then again, that shouldn't be happening at the Tours/Nats... However, when it does, doing the downshift to 1st with the AP1 on A6's can be a glorious thing!! Street tires... ummm not so much. I'm not sure you've experienced grippy A6's with a downshift to 1st.