Whatever Rob. The question is 'what will the landscape of ITA look like in a few years?' from a broad stroke. Double dipping Miata from SM work someplaces, and don't work others. Assuming Trav is talking about potential pointy-enders, SM's don't weigh in on what to look for or how the 'competitive' lanscape with shape up. Heck, SM might have a rule change that puts them outside the ITA box in terms of what is acceptable for resonable corssover and be gone completely. To 'bank' on something like that isn't a good idea. Trav is trying to make sure the class he builds a car for is stable, strong and viable for the future - hense my assertion it isn't a 'Miata class'. It's actually a 'Honda class' IMO. We are just looking at it from different angles. Trav can pick through our babble and decide how it pertains to his patch.
If you are getting beat in ITA by SM's, well, that is a whole 'nother thread.
winner!
of course, andy does have a little inside information as to what's going on here, so it wasn't quite a fair fight.
it took only three years for SM to run it's course once it went National, and if the tire rule stays the way it is, i have very little interest in it anymore. yes, predicting the future is VERY difficult, but it's what i'm trying to do. my bet? IT goes National in three years, and the game changes just as it did in SM. when that happens....i want to know what the class looks like.
are we now going to be allowing TC/ABS? what cars are on the horizon that might be coming in with a lot of support and strong following? has IT become more popular and MORE competitive? or with national will it become less popular and more competitive (the worst case scenario)?
well, if SCCA finally gets the balls to eliminate the dead classes or consolidate a bunch as they had proposed a few months ago, i think IT gets both more competitive and popular. bigger fields and better cars at the front is great for both those on the outside watching, and those on the inside playing. taking a look at what our rule structure will look like gives a little window of insight into the costs to be relatively competitive.
i think allowing TC/ABS raises that, because combined with the open ECU rule it's going to take a whole lot of tuning that i'm not sure how you develop (dyno doesn't work) to get an advantage from those systems. now, the faster the class you choose the bigger benefit there will be as a 250whp ITR 300ZX can use a good TC program a lot more than a 125whp ITA CRX. so i think the "slope" on the competitiveness/cost graph increases the farther up you move in the IT speed ranks, making ITA the better choice, but.....
as was mentioned earlier, how long of a shelf life does ITA have? has it reached it's peak of popularity and will slowly wane as those cars age, tubs rust, and parts become more scarce? ITS looks good on the level that i think it's still growing in popularity, which bodes well for resale in the 3-5yr timeframe.
