Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonr
If you are going to race them at a high level, you are going to have purpose built pavement cars. If you have purpose built pavement cars, every conversion car will be battling for best in class. We can't unlearn technology. If you have to "dummy" down the rules so much that conversion cars are competitive what are you really accomplishing?
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I disagree. There is no dummying down happening with what I proposed. What I have done is more clearly define what a Midget is. In fact, competitors by purchasing dirt cars and abandoning pavement have defined what a Midget is. The problem is, I don't think people chose to abandon pavement racing because they disliked pavement racing. They abandoned it because of cost. Having to have two separate cars, allowing testing, tire costs, engine costs and carbon fiber and titanium made it less viable to the team owners.
Therefore it is the rule book which caused pavement racing to become less attractive over time. An example is the wheelbase rules. There is no reason a rule book should have a 10" difference from min to max on wheelbase. That is absolutely nuts and is one of the biggest contributors to the need for both a pavement and dirt car. Actually, you could argue with that wide a gap on wheelbase you need a short track car, long track car and indoor car for pavement!! I wouldn't necessarily call wheelbase some extreme technology gain either. Also, weight is another factor. Increase the weight and you make ti and carbon fiber less of an advantage. So much less that some teams will abandon it because the ROI becomes too low and they can then win without it.
Also, the Z-link type suspension is already used on the Beast pavement cars most people were running. So thats not a major change. The only other major change is the engine set back and no offset engines to the right. Not big technological advancements but changes that are necessary to get this thing back under control and make dirt cars relevant on pavement.
You asked what is being accomplished. I think it is clear, you open up pavement racing to virtually every dirt Midget in the country. That is a huge deal. Access to ACTIVE cars is the way you bring pavement Midget racing back. Nothing else is going to revive it.