If you could start all over again and be choosy, which car do you get?

Both, I guess. We'd prefer to spend our time on race day racing rather than working on the car in the paddok and racing against cars that run 15 seconds or more a lap faster than you is less fun. I would say it's more about having a car that could be competitive overall rather than a car that has no chance unless everyone else fails spectacularly.

I enjoy my team and building the car together and all of those things, but I also enjoy the competition aspect of racing and showing up to race knowing that you have no chance of winning takes some of the fun out of it. I mean, even when the car breaks, you still have this sense of urgency that if you get it fixed fast enough, you still might be able to get back out there and compete.

Some of these thoughts are based on the assumption that we're going to be "promoted" to Class A because we won B last time and we have absolutely no business in A. Hell, we barely have any business in B. We only won because we didn't break. I did a write up on our race that I posted in the "Our Crappy Race" forum that explains it in more detail.

^ This.

Plus, what did the first 4 place finishers run?

More:
I read your posts about your experiences; I commented on the other thread about what the Lemons Grand Prize is - the I.O.E.

I also looked at your results from HPR, and compared them with the rest of the field, though only in a cursory manner.

Seems your team is well sorted. What looks like pit times are consistently quick, and your lap times are also pretty consistent; and yes, about 12 sec./ lap slower than the overall lap winner. And, you didn't break.

And yet: the Lemons Grand Prize is the I.O.E.

You placed ahead of (how many?) teams with best lap times faster than yours - in many cases 10 seconds faster. You were in a single-digit place at lap 42, and consistently in 5th or 4th for most of the bottom half of the results.

If it were me - and it's clearly not - I'd put your team in A and keep it there because of both: how well you prepped the car, and how your well sorted team performs.

Until you run a car that can run a 2:45 at best at HPR - then I'd put you back in B.

But this is not the sport in which I officiated, and ran competitions.

In another thread here (sorry, I don't have a link right now, I'm trying to get back to sleep) therood put together a list of overall winners and engines, which I found interesting. It included at least one 4-cylinder overall winner, though that may have been a turbo 4.

Myl other sport - to increase numbers and participation - implemented additional, lower, classes beyond that which was the norm for ... 70+? years; now, each year, there are _several_ national champions - not just the one. The change was very successful, and actually helped increase the quality of the athletic performances because there were more opportunities, and for more people.

So, I'm in favor of class B, and class C.

And yet: the Lemons Grand Prize is the I.O.E.

In the other sport, anyone can buy the best equipment, or basic equipment. And yes, the best equipment generally does fail _less_ than the basic equipment, but it's not going to make you any better, and it's not generally going to change your placement in the event, either. But you won't spend as much time fixing / tweaking things at the event.

Your team was, what, 28 laps behind the overall winner - an hour.6 off the pace. And yet the prep, and pit stops, were first class.

If I were in your team's position of wanting what your team wants (and I'm not), I'd include in my purchase consideration an estimate of how many penalty laps that faster car will be expected to bring.

I have two primary candidates, both of which I intend to complete. One is what I hope will be an I.O.E. contender; because the Lemons Grand Prize is the I.O.E.. The other is one I hope will stay on track and be reliable, and I couldn't care less what class it goes in, or how fast it'll wind up. My 'win' will be getting each to pass tech and start the race. Everything beyond that - for me - will be gravy.

And: if only 4 specific cars had broken and been off track for an hour.15 or so, ...

Just add a fuel cell and run 3-4 hour stints to be competitive. Will likely put you in the top 10 of every race if you already won B class.

Why do people think they need to be fast to win overall?

You're not at the top of the mountain, you're at the midway station.

Why would you throw out all the knowledge you've spent valuable time building up on some other car? Become the golf master!

In my admittedly limited experience, having fun and trying to win are mutually exclusive. I feel like whenever I walk around the paddock, the guys who are trying to win subjectively look like they're having less fun. If your goal is to get as much seat time as possible and maybe you'll get lucky and win.. I'm fully with you there. We focus on keeping the car alive and quick pit stops... the weekend is expensive, let's squeeze out as much seat time as possible. However, in order to win (speaking from someone whose never won, to someone who has won lol)... it seems like you need to do 3hr stints, run new tires every race, prioritize strategy over equal splitting of seat time, and focus on getting a good nights rest instead of waking up sunday morning hungover.

My insight on your actual question though... if you want to win overall, maybe just shoot for the moon and go hella cheaty A class. I feel like there's several cars every race that always end up A0 with a bribe that should be A with penalty laps. K swapped miatas, ecotec swapped miatas, IS300's, some very well-sorted champ-car level BMW's all seem to end up in A0.

Other option are Hondas... they never seem to do well, and because of that they always end up in C or B. Depending on the chassis, they have a few known issues, but have aftermarket support for preventative upgrades, parts are readily available, have lots of cross-compaibility, and can be extremely quick. I believe a 7th gen Si won Class C at Sonoma... K series, manual, LSD... in C class. Kudos to the team for winning in a Honda, I wish there were more Hondas in the field. Our experience with running hondas in time attack is they're extremely reliable once they stop breaking. Usually a handful of items will break, and they're known problems; you overbuild those components, and eventually they end up faster and more reliable than a miata... and it's not a stupid BMW or miata.

I don't know if I'd agree with going to a C4 for more reliability... I had a 58k mile C4 for a short period and something would break weekly until i sold it, and it seems like every C4 that races on the west coast is constantly broken on race weekends.

We run a Gen III F-body (WS6 Firebird) The G-body shares a lot with that platform, it's just a little bigger. We still run the original 305...although it has had a garage rebuild.

Jimmy's Primary Tech here:

I say we race a 986.1 Boxster

What could go wrong?