Ok all,
Just wanted to give a quick explanation of the rule changes made for 2017.
nasa-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/document/do...7_944_Spec_Rules.pdf
Fuel Rail. The Lindsey Fuel Rail is now allowed. I agree that this is purely a safety measure. With no new replacement parts readily available in stock form, it'd be irresponsible not to make this allowed. Please note that this is only allowed using the stock regulator. After speaking with Dave Lindsey I'm assured there is no performance gain by allowing this aftermarket rail (especially on our NA cars).
3 Piece Cross member. The Lindsey Racing 3-Piece cross-member is now allowed. Since the only portion of the member modified is BETWEEN the stock bolt-up location to the frame, I see a modification to geometry to be HIGHLY unlikely. This will help with maintenance greatly, and I'd like to keep our cars reputation to be as reliable as possible to attract more drivers. This is a nod to our west-coast and southern guys dealing with extreme heat.
Stock Airbox (no-cone filters). Although I think stock air-boxes are a benefit over cone-filter after-market "cold-air" setups, at tracks where there are long straight aways cone-filter setups have an advantage over stock-airboxes and unfortunately dyno fans dont replicate this air-pressure. Since this is a performance enhancer that is difficult to prove, I'd like to just remove this from the equation completely. Ducting to the stock air-box is still pefectly ok. If you have an aftermarket air-intake/cone filter and are worried you cannot get a stock air-box, let me know and I can help. I know of MANY ways to source one for next to nothing if you need help. I'm also giving a 1 year allowance on this change to not let anyone get caught out by this rule.
Short Shifter Although Spec Miata does not allow short-shifters, they have amazingly short great stock shifters and more importantly, an abundance of OE supply. Spec E30 on the other hand has no regulations to shifters what-so ever, as they suffer the same issue as we do (worn out 30+ year old shifters). I know this particular rule may cause some controversy, however I believe that we need to eradicate as much of the obvious short-comings of driving/owning a 944Spec car- this one being sloppy shifters. I still believe most of the slop is in the shift-lever which we've already addressed, but this should remove ANY remaining complaints. I've listed the Only944.com component as its a known quantity, only $93 (without our NASA discount) and he's agreed to generate enough stock to supply the entire 944 Spec community. I also believe that short-shifters may help shift feel, but being 30+ year old transmissions, there's only so fast that you can shift these transmissions.
Drivers set-back. This one was the hardest for me to swallow personally. I don't particularly like the idea of moving items/drivers backwards. I feel like the sliders are a perfectly viable option for tall drivers. HOWEVER. I am aware that many series dont allow sliders, and although I dont write our rules to suit other series, I do understand that there is a concern about floor deformation affecting sliders ability to work (post crash) which becomes a serious safety issue. Pedal extensions ammounts have been increased from 3"- 4". I've also addressed the steering column extension, to allow any ammount of extension (this wasnt illegal before just not clealry addressed). I've also newly allowed for shift-levers to be modifed to have a knob sitting location of 4" rear-ward, given the lever is exactly the same height as an original shifter. This is not an advantage, but allowed to aid drivers who've set back their seating location. Please note I will be especially vigilant at checking cars with these modifications.
Dyno cap. I've raised the allowable hp/tq cap from 138 + 2 to 140 + 2. In my past 6 years racing with this class, I've seen a terrible pattern in the last few years, which stems more from dyno variation than engine builds. I've seen more cars DQ'd by exceeding dyno limits by less than 2hp on several occasions, cars which I know arent even built to the limits of our engine building rule-set. I have just about every dyno record over the past 4 years and am well aware of what each car typically make. Although 2hp is miniscule, I hope to prevent cars from being DQ'd due to un-reliable dynos. I can tell you that 2 of the cars that were DQ'd during Eastern Nats heat-races have never exceeded a dyno limit and have engines that weren't even honed during their rebuilds. One of the cars had dyno'd 2 days earlier on teh same dyno with a 4hp variation from the post-race dyno. I should also note that because of this dyno result, these 2 cars had to start from dead-last despite regularly finishing 2nd in 3rd during the weekend, and that a much lower HP car (Stanley) won unchallenged. The dyno rule is in place to prevent people from overspending on expensive engine builds, NOT to DQ people. Although this rule is probably the hardest to manage, I ultimately want to see as many cars racing as possible, with as few DQs as possible. Every HOT motor I've ever seen has made over 144hp. Please dont light your torches and keep your pitch-forks at home.
Other than this, I've mostly just done clerical work; adding a table of contents, and clarifying a few other items. I've added some advisory notes as well, although I feel like these are more build notes than rules.
Let's have a great 2017 season folks!
