Class 'A' and Class 'B' in CART...

[spider]

...no I'm not starting another Enge debate but I was thinking (yes it hurt), could CART run a 'b' class for the Reynard chassis?

With a prize fund at the end of the season? This way you will attract teams with a limited budget to join the series and it'll make the racing theoughout the pack more ferocious as even when the Reynards aren't hooked up they will at least have something to race for come the Sunday!? CART could have a prize of 2 Lola Chassis for the winning team for the following year...? What's peoples thoughts?!

:confused:

[Hazza]

Why bother - they showed at Road America they can be competitive, and realy, its just down to the experience of the teams -right?

[spider]

Hmm, true. I guess that the Reynard is slightly harder to engineer and the mechanical setup of the chassis could be inferior to the Lola? There's a Scholarship class that runs in British F3 that works very well and allows new teams to dip their toe in the series' waters, plus it attracts promising youngsters. The Scholarship class, like the Reynards this year, challenge at the sharp end on occasion but the cars are a year older and therefore are slightly lacking in ultimate pace, as the Reynard seemed to be this year.

It may stop the Reynard disappearing altogether too? I'm certain it won't happen, but it could help attract new teams to the series and perhaps that way Dale Coyne could free up his Lola's, get 2 Reynards and stand a chance of actually picking up some Silverware?!

Just a thought, ponder ponder ponder...

[Jordi]

It's an interesting idea... But would be interesting if it really attracted new teams...

[macdaddy]

I don't think it's necessary. Historically, there has always been one dominate chassis. Be it a March, Penske, Reynard, Lola... The pendulum swings, and after the chassis-freeze is over Lola will hopefully have their hands full with the competition.

[Bizzo5000]

Do you really think Reynard would want to be considered "Class B"? They would pull out faster than.....I'll let the joke die there.

[Flatspot]

Macdaddy is spot on. The only thing that I think should be done is to lift the chassis freeze immediately.

If I remember correctly the freeze was intended to be a money saver. A rhetorical question: How much money do you save if you can't get a sponsor because you aren't competative and can rarely, if ever, place high enough to get into the decent prize money.

The big teams are outspending and winning in other areas anyway. Let them fix the Reynards!

[spider]

Great point, well made Flatspot.

I think the Class B thing would work well, if only for the 2004 season? G-Force, who now own the rights as Reynard went bust, could then offer an Aero upgrade to the 'B' teams to ensure that when the aero freeze is lifted the rookie teams will have 1 years experience under their belt and will be more prepared to fight it out at the front, with a more competitive 'developed by G-Force' Reynard...?

The thing is Reynard have no say on the matter, as they went bust, so the CART board could surely take the decision...I think it'd be worth a punt...

[Hazza]

Hey, y'know how everyone whines about Ferrari in 2002...what about Penske @ indy 94? (was it)

[BootsOntheSide]

The only difference is that the Ferrari car was legal and to the rules, both in letter and spirit, whereas little that Roger Penske has ever done has been.

[spider]

Woah! Controversial stuff - I love it!

[Snrub]

While they're technically even, the Reynard is still weak at a couple of places. IMO they should do something that will make the Reynard ~.075s a lap faster to make things completely even.

[Tailwind]

Are complete Reynards being manufactured with the frozen aero package? Are there no new (Built since the demise of Reynard.) chassis out there and only new parts being supplied and installed on the old bodies? As cars get busted up in races, it would seem like we would run out of usable chassis. I’ve been thinking all this time that there are no new chassis being built. Is this true?