The following is a quote from the Reno SCCA newsletter, a proposal has been made to eliminate the street tire class, and run street tire and race tire cars together in their respective classes, with the street tire adjustment remaining for the street tire cars. Basically, the result will be larger classes, and no more overall street tire class.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by From SCCA Newsletter
For at least a trial year, I propose we run every car in
its normal SCCA class. For instance a BS 350Z on
street tires will run with and compete against all
other BS cars whether on street tires or D.O.T. race
tires. The street tired cars will still be designated
with a T before their class letters and will still receive
a PAX handicap. We might choose to adjust the
handicap as the high performance street tires of 140
tread wear or greater may have closed the gap
between them and D.O.T slicks. The handicap can
be handled later as a separate issue after we have
seen direct competition between tire types on like
cars.
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Reno SCCA Newsletter
Now, I can't help but assume the 1-2-3 finish in street tire by 3 sti's, as well as 5 out of the top 15 PAX finishers being Street tire cars helped prompt this move. I think the HUGE size of the street tire class has definatley diluted the racing in the regular classes and Street Tire Open seems to have become a "keeping up with the Subaru's class".
Honestly, it's not a bad suggestion, in fact, it may bring some "class" competition back to the region. For instance, in Street Mod, the way it is right now, I would have beat the race tire cars in most events last year, even on street tires( as would most of the STi's in seccs). This is mainly due to the fact that we don't have any regular fast cars in SM in reno. Now, in ESP, where Mike K and Scott would have run, they would have been up against the mustangs, 2 of which are very fast and competitive. It would have been likely that they would not have won the class in raw time, but with that pax factor for street tire, they would have done well.
There are positives and negatives to this proposal, I can't help but feel a little paranoid that the Subies are being targeted, but for competition sake, I think it could be a good move. In the long run, I think the idea is to reduce the stree tire "pax break", it looks like this format will aid in that decision.
What are your thoughts?