Acronym Advantage?

[jimmacsrx7]

Hello, I have wondered over the last few years as cars have become more and more computer aided about the advantages of the multitude of stability controls in modern sports cars. It seems to me that true car control/heel toe downshifting,even threshold braking could be a lost art in the coming years.
That said,has there ever been any consideration to bumping a car up a class depending on the amount of electronic saftey nets as with a turbo or supercharged car? Or even it's own "tech class"?
It seems to me that a lot of the electronic doo dads make a car turn a much faster time than a similar car of hp/lbs.
I pose this as an open question and would love to hear other peoples opinion.
Note: I am not looking for a rule change,just wondering what other track guys/gals thought.

Jim McNamara
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# 074 Mazda RX7 PA

[breakaway500]

I too feel technology has taken some of the "personality" out of driving todays modern cars.
First,it was assisted controls. Now,the car takes total control of situations. Sign of the times..I guess.

Good thing we are free to choose our own rides...mostly..

You want bad cars? How about The 70's...ug..

A tech class. Well,that is about every car built since about 1996...

That evil E-lectronic ignition started the whole mess,back in the early 70's....

Remember HEI? One of my favorites.Fully self contained,and one wire hookup. Even a caveman could do it...

But I digress...

[rwlbjr]

89 Daytona Baby!

I don't have much good to say about cars built after 1994.

[horizenjob]

I don't have much good to say about cars built after 1994.

+1

What's the point of electronics on the track You go out there to gain an exciting immersive experience. Aids interfere with you hooking up with the car mentally.

Interesting info in the paper the other day about the big crash in California that's causing the Toyota/Lexus bruhaha about stuck throttles. Seems that driver was in a loaner car from the dealer. The throttle became stuck for one reason or another - thing is on that car there was no key, or more accurately it was in his pocket. TO stop the car you need to press a button and hold it down for 3 seconds. This is explained briefly on page 78 of the manual

OMFG, those poor bastards.

Not to mix up threads to much, but this is what's great about formula cars and even prepared class cars. Removing 2000-2500 lbs. of stuff makes a track car much more fun for the driver. Much safer too.

[John F]

I was reading an article about open tracking a newer Porsche which became a computer-aided nightmare when lifting the inside front wheel during a sweeper. It made the computer think the car was on ice and started manipulating the other three wheels to balance the car! Another article showed that BMW engineers put on much bigger brakes than necessary and let the computer run the show. None of the hot shoes could drive them with the system turned off.

[offcamber09]

Tradition vs. technology. Why hasn't major league baseball allowed alluminum bats? Besides the fact that a pitcher couldn't get out of the way of a line drive- wood bats are the traditional way of doing it-requiring more skill from the player and that counts for something. I feel the same about performance driving. I want to know who/what is driving the car when I'm instructing. I know I'll never be able to modulate the brakes as fast as and abs module- but that doesn't make me want abs (for the track).