Quote:
Originally Posted by Mixer
Yes but you seem to ignore the fact that using production shells:
a) Makes the sport MUCH less safe - witness deaths, broken bones and serious burns because of limitations in safety with road car shells
b) Makes the sport more expensive because the shells are more difficult to repair than bespoke modular chassis, which defrays the more expensive up-front cost
c) Makes NO difference to the racing because the Supercars so a VERY good job of looking like the road vehicles, unlike NASCAR or the Brazilian cars.
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A and B are simply not true. (not for something like Supercars, at least)
A: Any roadgoing vehicle can be made just as safe as a purpose built racecar - you merely need to properly reinforce the driver's compartment(IE, rollcage) and, depending on the speed and the base car, add some extra energy-absorbing component in certain areas.
B: A roadcar to racecar conversion for a series like Supercars would NOT be using the same body panels as the road car - just ones that look the same and connect to the same spots. They would be lighter than the roadgoing counterparts due to a desire to keep weight down, and if exotic materials are banned this would actually make the panels CHEAPER than the roadgoing versions. The main chassis would be no more difficult to repair than a tube-frame unit.
The safety conversions would be more likely to cause a cost problem, but even then for something like Supercars I doubt you'd see much of a difference.
C is just an opinion which I have no comment on.
