We were talking with one of the PCA race principals at Pocono two weeks ago. Our solution is..... "Cheater Class". You can do whatever you want and bragg about it to everyone as long as you past safety tech. Or you can just say it's "stock". How much fun would that be.............. The winner needs to divulge one secret to his success to help everyone else catch up and reduce R&D time.

 

me 2

 

which reminds me, what is the protocol if you think someone is cheating? Just wander up to the steward and say something? For example, I have video evidence from the glen race last year of me gaining on a car in class all the way through T6 to the point where I thought I would have to lift to keep from hitting him and he picked up several car lengths on me before reaching the toe.

 

^^^^^
I am sure that MANY people cheat in racing and all other sports, but WHY! Can you REALLY look at yourself in the mirror and say, "I am really fast, I won my class" and not throw up knowing you (in the generic form, not pointing fingers at anyone here) did it by cheating?! If being the fastest person on the track is that important to you then you better be a really fast driver...AND drive an impeccably prepared car. Just driving the most HP and lightest chassis is not going to do it anymore in PCA racing!

I do know one person that did "cheat" at a time trial. He entered his XY year 9XX as a US car when the reality is it had a high HP Euro motor and was MUCH lighter (everything was pulled out of it) than it otherwise should have been. He had the best time in the class he was running, but what did it mean??? NOTHING! At least not to me or anyone else who knew what he had done (retrospectively I might add)...

I just don't get it. For me the fun of racing is to drive better than I did the lap, race, or weekend before and if that puts me at the head of my class so be it, but if I am at the tail of my class (more likely!) but getting better I can't complain about that!

YMMV!
James

 

So, in conclusion, the guys race for the fun of it......
if they happen to be finish within sight of the podium racers, they consider that a bonus......

......I wish I could be like that.....

 

Its a pretty small world we inhabit, and eventually most things become known.

Here's an example. In the middle of my re-body project over the winter, I was trying several noxious chemicals to remove the under-carpet gloop from the new tub. A couple of guys came over to see how I was doing, and noticed a gallon can of one such chemical. One guy points to the can and says, "How much do you use to a tank of gas? I'm using one gallon to ten of gas, and it really makes the throtle response sharp." Must have been my stunned expression that caused him to add, " I though all the turbo guys used it!"

Unbelieveable!

 

At the NASA Nationals the "stock" 944 turbos in SP3 / 944cup seem to never make it to the event. There is always a Dyno at that event, but not all the other NASA races.

There was recently a great article in Grassroots about the spec miata class and comparisons made on a pro driver’s car and typical club racers; the end result was that the club racers cars were just not set up as well as the pro driver. Once corrections were made their lap times dropped. It all but squashed their theory of the other car just blatantly cheating. I'm concentrating on set up the rest of the season and let the chips fall where they may. I take pride in knowing that my car is legit and I'm working my way, though diffcult at times, up the results page.

John

 

get a J class car...I want more people to run with...its lonely in J...never more than 4 or 5 cars at the most!

 

Agree with J stock...but Im getting out of it as Im bored...

 

no no no! don't do that....we are in need of J stock cars....we can not afford to lose any. I keep wanting to do contingency programs but most require at least 5 cars per race and thats hard to do at little races.

 

pick a class where everyone has the same car gtc1 ,2,3
Than the cheaters stick out like a sore thumb!!

 

GTC3 is very setup dependant, get it wrong and you'll be very slow.

 

What kinds of cheats are there that are hard to find yet still produce results? No I am not fishing for the next one to add. I am building for GT and your cheat is my given.

Things like displacment, cam timing and CR are easy to measure. Are there things that will make a standard drover stand out but not be detected?

 

A pro. coach.......

 

Yep. That's why I got in to GTC3 after my RSA & now Spec Boxster. Cars are fairly even & fields are decent sized. I loved my 993 Cup but the fields down here were just me & they aren't real big anywhere else. In the 996 Cup, we had 40+ car fields @ many races.

Like Rob said, we have 11 here & about 20 cars in Cali, some of which are running PCA races in addition to POC. I think you will see the class expand dramatically over the next year or two. They are a lot of bang for VERY little buck! We are spending just over a grand or so a weekend all in, ie; entry fees, hotel, food, tires, gas, etc.!

I don't think the PCA scruits own a gear chart! One drive around the paddock/track in some of these "letter" cars to note RPM/Gear would be a real eye opener. You'd be amazed what "custom brew" gearing can do for a car!