So I'm readin' up on the Solo II car classifications and notice that my '04 S2k is in AS, with freakin' C4 vettes, new SVTs, and newer SS's and what not...whats up with that?
the RX8, Z4, and even 350Z are all in BS?
on the site I was looking at it said just '04+?
what are the reasons exactly?
just curious...thanks

 

MODS - may want to move this to Racing and Competition.

See the above Forum for more info.

 

How do I move it there?

 

Don't know exactly how the SCCA does the classifications, but most motorsports do it more or less the same way.

Typically base classes are generated by weighting power/weight ratio and some handling ranking. Autocross is extremely tight courses, so lightweight cars and handling cars (i.e. nimble) are favoured vs. "horsepower" cars. The handling rank would get a heavier weighting than higher speed road racing type classifications. That's were you get unexpected or odd placements, like where muscle cars end up.

After intial placement of the cars, the classifications would be tweaked by actual real world national level results. Pre '04 S2000's have ruled national level BStock. The '04 cars have a perceived (and rightly so) performance improvement, so bumped to AS. There have been a few threads in the Racing and Competition Forum about this, but basically it is because of wider rims for wider tires and better mid-rpm torque/power.

Of course there is that political stuff, but I'm not privy to that

 

You can't but the moderators can.

There's a lot of debate as to whether the '04's extra torque and lower gearing helps more than losing top speed in each gear hurts. Also, the extra width of the wheels probably over-compensates for the somewhat softer suspension. Since the PAX index (a way to try to equalize performance differences between classes, however flawed it may be) between AS and BS is very small and differences in class times in many events is virtually a dead heat or even with a BS S2K being faster, it matters more as to the exact course and/or driver.

There's been huge amounts of debate and SCCA is getting ready to class all S2Ks together but must decide if AS or BS is most appropriate. We'll see after the Nationals in September. In the meantime, don't sweat it unless you have a nationally competitive C4 driver in your region. We generally beat AS in ours and it's well-driven and contested...