Quote:
Originally Posted by Paulnuneaton
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...and the hallmark of a design that is fit for purpose is that it stays in production for a long time. (although I'd like to see the similarities between an early '87 Ministock and a current V12).
As Chief pointed out earlier, many many Mardave circuit racers (i would go so far as to say the core body of racers in this class) are here because either:
a) they are beginners - the *percieved* dynamic shortcomings of the car being more than compensated for by the ease and low price of upkeep or,
b) They are experienced racers that, due to pressure of work, family life, finances or whatever, just want something that they can race competitively once a week or so without worrying about constantly upgrading and keeping up with the latest trends. This is the category I fall into, as a long time racer who has come back after a few years away.
This class's USP is it's stability in terms of the technology - that isn't to say that it is or should be a monopoly, but trying to make it into something that it is not will leave us in the medium-to-long term with NO winners - it will become a 'flavour of the month' class for a couple of years before going back to a hard-core who will be no further along and £££ out of pocket. No class that is an 'arms race' of technology with new cars, chassis, this and that coming out on a regular basis is going to appeal to a club racer as much as a stable class with lots of competition, where driving skill can be made to count (I'm not naive enough to thing that it is a 100% driver skill class even as it stands).
I may be stating the obvious here, but if one wishes to race a car (on circuit at least) that is the size of a Mardave V12 but with a fancy chassis, diff rear axle, full adjustability everywhere, so on and so forth, hasn't that class existed since - oooh - the mid-late 1970s? What's wrong with racing a 'mainstream' 12th, if that's what you want to do?
I'm certainly not anti-Schumacher - My aged Mi2EC is a lovely lovely car on the rare occasions I get to race it - but I do hope that the new car, if and when it arrives, does not move the game on too much, as like I said earlier, this class needs an arms race like it needs a hole in the head - just because something has stayed the same for a relatively long time does not mean it is wrong - the full-size Mini Seven / Miglia series have been going for over 40 years with fundamentally the same cars. Please don't spoil that special something that this class has by dragging it to somehwere it does not belong, and stepping on another class's toes in the process.