Originally posted by Bruce Shafer@Sep 19 2005, 09:59 PM
These terms are used as subtle attempt to diminish the relevancy of the (unpopular) data that I submitted to the SCCA.
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BS... and in the cow...
YOU are the one that made that leap... What I HAVE said is that your car is an example of an "over the counter" BMW race car... That is NOT and was NEVER MEANT to be a slam of any sort... It was meant to mean that yours can NOT be considered "fully developed"... You can spin that however you'd like, but I have nothing to gain by trying to discredit you... All I'm trying to do is establish that, while you may feel as though yours is "the" example of BMW performance and development, it is not... I don't think you can really argue against that, based on what you have stated...
Now, being that as it is, there are no cars out there who can simply "bolt parts on" and win... I do everything myself as well, so I have no problem with that, but I also understand my limitations enough to know that I haven't thought of everything... I doubt you have either...
The "TOP" cars out there that we are referring to are those on which the parts you buy off the shelf and bolt on are being developed ON... If you are buying it over the counter, and the vendor is still actively racing/developing... chances are good that you DO NOT have the TOP pieces... the latest and greatest, etc...
Case in point... Your dyno sheets state "Bimmerworld Chip"... You yourself have said that you do NOT have a Motec... You simply have a programmed chip from Bimmerworld and that's good enough for you... Well, I can tell you from direct experience with Nissan and Wolf chips that you are leaving HP on the table... It may only be 5, or it may be 10, but either way, you are talking about HP that you aren't showing... 5hp is nearly 75lbs in classification weight...
Bruce, this isn't about you or how developed your program is... It's about trying to establish some parameters from which to make some educated decisions from... You have given us a valid data point, and we have combined that with others...
Whether you guys choose to believe it or not, we ARE working with valid data... I feel I've shown our train on thought on this data well enough to validate our position to this point...
Again, based on the data you have provided, from a car that can be considered an "over the counter" example of a BMW E36 ITS car (not a team, factory backed, car... or rather, something any one of us could build/buy... The "average BMW", if you will...)... the car is currently classified at LEAST 250lbs too light to be properely classified in ITS... It should weigh at LEAST 3100lbs, based on YOUR data...
Nothing "hokey" about it...
By the way, your HP figures show roughly a 25% increase with IT prep... So, if your numbers are valid, then BMWs offer one of the WORST %-increase-with-IT-Prep of any other 4-Valve car in IT... Another point that would be HIGHLY unlikely to actually be true, and another reason why we are skeptical when hearing how "little" HP you guys are getting...