Originally Posted by
howardcano
Allowing suspension cars with the suspensions locked is a good idea to increase participation. They have no advantages over a pan car, and all of the disadvantages of a suspension car, including higher weight and increased drag in the drive train.
I TQ'd and won the second annual Paris / Palace Station Can Am Challenge in Las Vegas in 1991 using my Associated RC300D. One of the other guys was running a "locked" RC500. It was the first time I had seen that done, and I had a difficult time understanding why anyone would want to do it. It caused some consternation amongst the other drivers, but the organizers decided to let it run.
After qualifying, the driver of the RC500 stopped in my pit to see what kind of "magic" car had gone faster than his supposedly superior RC500, and was disappointed to see the old RC300 (with gear diff and no radio tray!) sitting there.
He was even more disappointed to find out that his Paris Rex engine was beaten by a Veco 19. Ron Paris might have also been disappointed, since the driver was sponsored by Ron!
Ah, good times...
Howard, What a great story, Thanks so much for sharing it with us. A Veco .19, I hope you had at least a Perry 40 carb on it.
It seems as if we have spent allot of time on an idea that no one really cares about. It's not my class, but if it were, I'd say you need a pan to race with the pans. Simple and clear! We are having a blast, come join us. Ok, perhaps a guy shows up and wants to run his locked out cars to test the waters, on a club level, let em run 3 maybe 5 races to get the feel (no awards or points). At that point you remind them it's a pan class and he needs to get on board with everyone else. I guess we wouldn't be much of a club if we didn't offer this guy a chance to enjoy the hobby.