I need some opinions concerning the mandatory minimum weights for 944 Cup cars.

Right now, the minimum weight for SCCA and PCA cars is set at 2800. As it is, SCCA guys have to add weight and PCA guys have to strip weight by removing things that isn't PCA legal to make that weight. As the season has progressed, we've noticed that the engine modifications allowed by SCCA makes them just a bit faster than the PCA cars. We're trying to rectify this by adjusting the weights for next season.

We considered setting PCA weight at 2700 and moving SCCA weight to 2750. This makes SCCA heavier and allows people to remove weight so everyone's happy, right? Wrong. What it means is that the SCCA cars have to make less of an effort to make weight and PCA cars have to make more of an effort to strip weight.

So let's say we go the other way. We make PCA 2800 and set SCCA at 2850, that way everyone has to make a considerable effort to make weight. Well, it works until you add in the fact that winners receive ballast penalties in and effort to level the field. Take Zalner for example, he already had ballast to make the 2800 plus the 120 lbs he got from being such a damn good driver. So he's really got somewhere around 200-300 lbs of ballast bolted in his car. That can't be ideal from a safety standpoint.

So.... how do you make PCA cars more competitive while keeping them PCA legal (except for the weight) and not make the amount of weight you're adding or taking out of either car ridiculous?

 

What is the difference in engine prep between PCA and SCCA? What stuff would the PCA guys have to remove to meet the 2800 (or lower) weight limit, and what of that stuff is not legal for PCA?

Make the SCCA guys run with their rear hatches open? They won't have to lift for T3 at Summit, but they won't go nearly as fast on the straights.

 

I'm not an expert on SCCA rules but I believe you're allowed to do things like bore the engine whereas in PCA you can't really do ANY engine modifications. I wish I had specifics but like I said, I'm not well-versed. Alex Ratcliffe is actually our SCCA expert so he would be better versed to answer that question. Pretty much anything we take out, like AC compressor and the interior (PCA requires FULL interior) is illegal. It would be a royal bitch for me to have to reintall my interior just to get back to weight. Part of the problem is that PCA weight requires 2779 WITHOUT driver, whereas we're 2800 WITH driver.

 

i may be out of line asking this question but...........why have the rules differ in the first place?

i'm a member of Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs, a road racing org that runs at Blackhawk Farms, Road America, Grattan, Gingerman, and hopefully soon Brainerd International Raceway. what MCSCC does is make their rules as close as possible to the SCCA so racers can compete in both, increasing participation with both groups. maybe a good idea for SCCA and PCA as well.

i may not know what i'm talking about, but at least i gave you a bump.

 

The rules are written such that those cars (aside from the removing/adding weight) can fairly easily go back to compete in their respective races. The problem we have is that SCCA cars are faster than PCA given their respective rules.