Not arguing with Andy - just with the concept.
Okay, guys, Please explain again how PCAs are different than "competition adjustments." This might seem like picking nits but I'm going to put on my symbolic interationist poofy hat again and beat on the point that it DOES matter how these policies are worked out in the real world.
If someone is systematically looking at cars (all of them, samples, outliers, whatever) and asking whether the spec weights "make sense," relative to some standard or process, that is an inherently benign process. (Even IF there are subjective factors in the process, by the way.)
They system is more or less transparent, repeatable - as long as there is some continuity or overlap in the people doing the decision making - and relative easy to defend from accusations of favoritism.
Perhaps more importantly, the on-track performance of small samples of car/driver/budget factors are less likely to influence decisionss. Finally, it is relatively harder to make a change so while change IS possible, it is "damped" in that adjustments won't be made often.
This is in contrast to the way that CAs have traditionally been applied in club racing. The point at which I can say, "Please take some weight off of my car - or add some to Bob's - because I can't beat him" is the point at which all of the good attributes of the PCA concept, as it was described, go out the window.
Because it's how our brains work, decision makers are encouraged to go looking at easy samples - like the RubOffs - as they try to make "objective" decisions. These data are easy-to-understand but TINY, inappropriate indictors of what might or might not actually be happening across the space in which the policy is getting applied.
If I rationalize my request with math - power/weight or whatever - rather than with, "Wah! Bob beats me all the time" - my motivation is STILL the latter, regardless of how I make my case. Like a little girl who wants a pony, if I ask long enough, loud enough, and with enough support, I will eventually find someone willing to give me what I want.
Now Bob sees how the system works and applies the same strategy. (Or someone else does, when Bob loses interest and sells them his car.) People discover that having friendly ears in the right places DOES make a difference or, more likely and potentially just as damaging, people see the appearance of this going on.
The system loses credibility, performance creeps upward in a given class, decisions get made based on ARRC finishes, slow people driving the same car as the "fast guy" get lead meant for him, rare cars become wild cards, and weights become a moving target.
I would rather have the ossified, pre-ITAC system than that.
K
