Markdas wrote:Whats wrong with shortening the car as long as its cosmetic and structuraly sound?
In the abstract, nothing is wrong with it. But bear in mind that safety has to be the first priority in running this race. Sure, Jay can get insurance now, but if he has to make a claim on that policy, you can bet that one of two things will happen: either the cost goes through the roof (and that bears on all of us, since we are the ones paying for it indirectly through entry fees), or worse, we become uninsurable, which means that the series vanishes.
So it's very important that the series be safe, both for the practical (not wanting to get anybody hurt) and for the strategic (the long-term existence of the series). But making sure that these beasts are safe can be exceedingly difficult to efficiently administer, and maybe no more so than with the cut-down car. How does one prove, succinctly and sufficiently and quickly (because we all know how many cars have to roll through tech) that a cut-down car is still structurally sound and safe both to the driver and to the other cars? It's not like we're out crash-testing cut-down cars like NHTSA and IIHS. We can argue engineering specs and et cetera, but that doesn't get the cars rolling through tech efficiently, nor does it really prove that the cars are safe. But if the car retains its factory crush zone, then it's an easy argument: it's at least as safe as it was the day it left the factory (which wasn't able to release the car for sale without meeting at least some standard of crash testing, at least on the more modern cars), which means that the series isn't allowing unsafe cars to race. Which means that, as a series, it is more likely to live to race another day.
We could argue this 'til the cows come home, but at the end of the day, I think you'll not want to do anything that could imperil, reduce, or potentially compromise your factory crush zones.
BoB wrote:Are gutting the doors still ok? You should be able to drop some weight that way.
I suspect that gutting the doors will still be ok, since we have to have dual door bars on the driver's side already. I think the factory crush zones at issue are the front and rear that we've seen cut down in a lot of cars over the years (look at the West Coast cars for some really good examples).
G7owl wrote:I suspect that over the next couple of months while the season switches from 2010 to 2011 a lot of people will be revising themes and modifying their LeMony rides....it would be great if we could get some sort of clarification on what will be acceptable and what won't. I have to say I'm a little worried as we've already had a right good chop at our car, but despite that I'd still say that it's far stronger than an unmolested 1970's Lancia!
It would be good to know if I have to rebuilt as per original shape or if the metimorph...metamorf...changes.. we intend will rule us out of Lemons 2011.
The 2011 rules will surely be out soon. I haven't seen them yet either. But if I were you, I'd read between the lines on John/Evil Genius's post a bit. And while there will surely be some wiggle room, I'd stop cutting out structure if you've started doing that. I suspect that the revised rules are likely to strongly disapprove of cutting out factory crush structure.
Pat Mulry, TARP Racing #67
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