January 2016 Prelims

Trying to understand this.
Looking at the new Prod Headlight rule. If a car has a glass headlight it must be removed. It cannot be taped. If a car has a plastic headlight then it does not have to be removed.

Does IT require taped headlights? Would this rule cut out double dipping from IT to Prod

Just curious. Something else I have to fix on my '84 CRX.
 
Yup, if you want to run an IT car in Prod, you can do so by running it 100%-legal to the IT rulebook. If you try to take an IT car and meet all of the "musts" in the Prod rulebook, you'll be changing a good bit more than just taped headlights.
 
So if I say my weight is 1955 lbs, I'm considered an ITC CRX running in HP but if I say my weight is 1900 lbs, I'm a pure HP car.
 
With the caveat that you list it as an ITC car at 1955, it has to be 100% compliant ITC trim... Which means it will be well off the pace for a proper HP build.
 
If I raced my ITA Integra in FP exactly as it sits in full IT prep (IT headlights, windshield/glass rules, etc.), I'd have to race it at its 2595 ITA weight and on DOT tires, not at its 2235 FP weight or on slicks. Gotta pick one rule set or the other.

But the point for this isn't to be competitive. The point is to be eligible and participate.
 
I'm coming from literally a Dead Last Regional Spridget. I'm so far behind, I'm a lap down in the next race. My theory is to run my CRX as an IT car for a year or 2 in HP to get use to it. On a good day in my Spridget, I'm at 2:08 or 2:09 at Road Atlanta. (Straight line speed is the issue. I'm the engine builder so that's probably the problem). The ITC winning Honda ran a 1:53. The winning HP Sprite ran a 1:59. This is SARRC not Majors. So if I'm 4 seconds slower than the fastest ITC car, I'm still 12 seconds faster than my old time and 2 seconds faster than the winning Spridget.

To fully switch it over to HP, I need to sell my #12 Spridget.
 
Point taken.

Around here, there's ONE ITB car and everything else is ITA or STL (a few old SRX7s and some ITA/SM cars) and Joe Gersch or his son in a 1974 or so ITB Celica. at MSRH, the fast HP guys are running about 1:50 while the Celica runs 2:1x. I'm not considering it a truly competitive car, but basically expected an ITC car to be slower than that. thus I couldn't imagine anything ITC legal being remotely competitive in HP. Then again, I'm skewed from the perspective of a 1974 Celica with a tired junkyard motor..
 
Darryl - that sounds like a good plan! Just keep running it with the IT drivetrain until you've got a good handle on it and it's running reliably, then start turning up the horsepower. If I were you though, I'd run it to the HP classification from the start, just so you can get use to it at HP weight and on HP radial-slicks. I think all you'd really have to do is replace the headlights with alternate panels and get a fire system installed (if it doesn't have one already). Your OEM fuel tank will be legal due to its placement inside the frame rails and the axles, and you won't need window straps or clips if you're retaining the stock windshield.

As for comparing lap times of IT cars vs. Prod cars, even a super fast ITB car won't be competitive against fast HP cars. Remember that most ITB cars end up classed in HP as well, but with less weight and a lot more horsepower, so naturally they should be a lot quicker in HP-trim. At most tracks, a fast HP lap is comparable to a fast ITA lap, but HP might be a little slower at Road Atlanta due to the long straights and up-hill pulls.

My Road Atlanta laps over the years:
FP Integra - 1:37.8 (record is 1:37.1)
ITA Integra - 1:41.9 (record is 1:41.4)
ITB Civic - 1:45.9 (record is 1:45.8)
ITC Civic - 1:51.7 (record is 1:49.5)
 
It has a fire system and a fuel cell. I replaced the foam but need to weigh the fire bottle. I've already added the clips and straps. I'm on my way but still have a long way to go.
 
I think once you have the safety related stuff, you can then call it a prod class car, then you can run the prod type tires and start having fun running the car.

Front drive is a little different, and the prod tires are a little different. After you start running the car, you can always make upgrades, check with others running the same car to help determine which upgrades will make the most improvement.

The CRX should be a good car to have fun with. I passed up buying one a couple years back, now I look at ever one of them at the track and wish I had bought it.
 
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