17.3
Body Structure
The chassis structure must remain intact and stock except as noted.

Since cutting holes is not noted in 17.3, Eric had a request to do so and he gave temporary permission until we could discuss it to possibly put the wording into 17.3 starting in 2014, so those that have done this up to this point in time are legal even at National's.

With that said, for anyone new that may not know how or why we started 944spec, it was to have as equal, as possible cars for the purpose of keeping it as inexpensive as possible and to make it a drivers class. That will be changed when we as a group allow it by discussions and voting, so if you joined 944spec for the original intent and are sitting back and not saying anything, you are actually saying a lot! So speak up either way, it's your right.

I will stick with the intent of the class, no changes that are only for performance advantages and most certainly not something that all cars can not achieve. Changes for longevity or safety, hell yes!

Cutting holes for more cooling to oil coolers:
1 - 0% performance advantage, so go for it!

Cutting a hole for ram air in the head light bucket area:
1-is 100% for performance advantage
2-cars with head lights are at an unfair disadvantage
3-as mentioned, unless every car could do this in the same exact way, hp/tq will vary from car to car at speed and is undetectable until in car GPS type systems are perfected to the point of calculating hp/tq for us.
4-This is a FACT - The more we change these cars the less equal they become!

Using the signal light or fog light for ram air, since it was unanimously voted on should be gotten to without cutting out sheet metal behind the head lights area to keep it equal for cars with head lights.

amen,
norm

To be clear. I am not "voting" for or against this. I was just pointing out that from previous posts and cars passing tech it seemed like this had been accepted as within the rules (btw I only cut the passenger side for a oil cooler and don't have ram air).

What I don't want to see happen is what some people are recommending, i.e. force everyone to a stock air box.

It is my understanding that those ships have sailed, ie, ram air, air box etc...have been voted on and unanimously passed to keep them.

This is more about clarifying the cutting of holes which will need to be added to 17.3

Having seen the picture that Eric posted, I would agree that cutting a hole in that portion of the unibody appears to be a sheet metal modification to the chassis structure. I've never seen that one before. I don't have a problem with allowing that, but wouldn't make that modification myself nor would I advise anyone else to.

The triangular piece of flat metal to which Ken was referring continues to strike me as an unused bracket that is frequently missing in these cars when they are purchased and may or may not have been present in every 944 variant to start with. I'd prefer to see us allow people to continue removing/junking this. I certainly don't want to tell anyone that they must pay to have someone fabricate and install a replacement. That seems like an utter waste.

For those with headlights, you can install a flexible duct from the stock airbox, through the stock hole that the airbox snorkle uses, and around to the foglight opening. One of our guys did that. I'm sure that it is slightly less efficient than a more direct shot, but that's really splitting hairs IMO. I've coached him and his TM data shows no evidence that it is less efficient than the more direct shot in my car.

C.J. has a compelling arguement, but how do we control this with the written rules? I believe it only counts at high speed tracks since the engine is sucking air in faster than you can ram it in up until 88.759 mph. Kidding.
Couple thought paths:
1. Return to stock. simple enforcement. Simple written rule. People will bitch and moan, but I don't believe they'll stop racing over this. The stock parts are cheap and plentiful.

2. Allow the mods and let everyone do it with clear limits. Not so simple rules and enforcement? Is there a way someone, who is not true to the class concept, could trick the new limits?

See why stock is good? I'm sure we could find stock set ups for everyone before 2014. Anyway, I can go either way.

Norm's point about cars with headlights is a good one. You can't get as direct an airpath if you have the headlight in the way. Messy.