Alright, fine, lifting my embargo on this thread.
This was NOT a CRB vote that overrode an ITAC vote. It was the ITAC that recommended the weight based on 120hp, and the CRB accepted the recommendation.
And I personally voted for making that recommendation. I have explained my thought process several times, John (and Bill), in this thread and the previous one back when the weight was changed. I can't speak for the others that voted for it.
Well Josh, that question was directed at Jeff, since he made the comment. Nice of you to not only speak for him, but throw him under the bus as well. Also, this issue isn't just about the Audi, it's also about the A1 and A2 VW's. After all this time, I sill haven't gotten a straight answer as to why the A1 GTI (and more recently the Scirocco II 1.8 8v) are saddled w/ a weight that corresponds to an ~38% power factor.
A while back, the response was that a former ITAC member "had seen ones that put down 100whp". Even if that were true, that math doesn't get you to the current weight. As I've said before, that car (A1 Rabbit GTI) was one of the first cars that was adjusted (I guess it's 5 or 6 years ago by now). The process hadn't been fully formalized at that time, but still, no one could come up w/ any math that got those cars to that weight. The one comment I got from someone on the ITAC at the time (I wish I could remember who said it), was that no car was going to loose more than 100#. Coincidentally, the Rabbit GTI weight went down by 100#.
And no disrespect to Raymond, Stephen, John, and anyone else that's raced an Audi GT, but there have been a lot more Rabbit GTI's on the track. I'm guessing the main reasons why the Audi has gotten more play here, is two-fold. A) Raymond and Stephen are active and vocal members of this community, and
the Audi was the first case that came to light where a decision was made based on the performance at 1 race.