Glossary - what is "limited production"

[dyoungre]

When discussing rear spoilers / rear wings, ITCS section 8b says that "

Dealer installed or limited production front/rear​

spoilers/air dams/wings are prohibited"

I failed to find the term "limited production" in the glossary. For example, the Miata 'type R' was, in relative terms, limited production, compared to the total. How does the SCCA determine what is "limited production", and what is a low take rate?

 

[Greg Amy]

Do a quick search, I think you'll find a LOT of discussion over this very issue the last couple of years (I'm too lazy to find it...) - GA

 

[Andy Bettencourt]

A few thoughts Dave. Limited production can go a couple ways:

1. A limited quantity offered by a manufacter is one, say 1000 units. This is a factory production model (like the first year of the Type R Integra)

2. A small amount of cars that were produced but with no limit from the factory, just a limit based on demand (like the Miata R - 1218 units in 1994 down to 47 in 1997)

3. Dealer installed/sold items. Items that you could NOT get on a factory delivered unit but may have been produced by the manufacturer and/or installed by your dealer (like a special front facia, rear spoiler, rear undertray, and carbon fiber bits offered by Mazda for the RX-8).

I believe the intent of the rule is to allow anything that came on a production vehicle and has documentation to say so. That is to say #1 and #2 are legal and #3 is NOT. In the case of the 1st Gen RX-7, we have had instances where IMSA-style rear spoilers were being run and claimed as legal. These items were NOT available on production vehicles. There are a million items like this that are illegal. Take a trip to your local Mazda dealer and look on the wall in the parts department and see what cool stuff you could have on your 'as delivered' RX-8 or Miata.