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Originally Posted by clyde
Okay, so what's your alternative proposal that maintains at least a passing resemblance to consistency in preserving competitive balance in healthy classes?
I think your posts have described a position of, "Leave it where it is, if letting the very small number of people that want to run the car drive away the comparatively very large number of people that want to drive other cars and, unlike Tesla drivers, have been showing up, too bad."
I'm sure you wouldn't characterize it like that, but that's what it sounds like.
I do wonder how my own plans influence my thinking. The car I'm probably going to buy would have competed with it directly in 2019 and done horribly at most events just because of weather. At the same time, that was my plan when I expected it to stay in the class. i didn't think it was the right decision to put it there originally, but once made...okay.
The more I've thought about it, the more I've been thinking this is a very good correction in line with the program's goals which include favoring cars that people show up in over cars that might be a good fit, but come with tons of uncertainty, doubt, inspire fear...and people really don't show up in.
There were 53 drivers in BS at Nats last year, 6 in Teslas. At the other eight National Champ Tour events, 5 of 77 drivers were in Teslas. 12 of 101 drivers across 11 Pro Solo events.
I have no insights into what's going to happen, but if I had to guess, I'd be least surprised by a single EV class in 2021 growing to 3-5 EV classes by 2030 with the number of classes dependent on how many sporty EV car models exist by then.
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I mean, Teslas are relatively new, so saying that the drivers "don't show up" in them seems wrong. In fact, it seems like 10-12 percent of drivers driving Teslas is a pretty big number, given that we're talking about a single model. Maybe that's wrong, but it doesn't seem like people are unwilling to campaign them.
Sure, there's a whole lot of uncertainty and fear about what Teslas mean for autocrossing amongst the membership. A lot of people (including, I submit, you) irrationally dislike them. There's really only one way to change that, and it isn't dumping them in a class where they won't have an impact--it's letting them compete and seeing what happens. If they turn out to be an overdog, you can always reclass them, and the good news about that approach is that you'd have data to back up your decision, rather than just fear of the unknown.
A single EV class is really, really dumb. That part I can't emphasize enough. The EVs that will be available in 2021 and 2022 are going to be different enough that classing them all together won't make sense. The whole world is switching to electric and hybrid propulsion; SCCA can't wall them off in a garden and pretend they don't exist. The only sensible approach is to integrate them as quickly as possible and let people get used to them.
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Okay, so what's your alternative proposal that maintains at least a passing resemblance to consistency in preserving competitive balance in healthy classes?
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Leave it in B stock, where it appears so far to be competitive but not dominant? The fact that it has a weather advantage is interesting, but so what? Some years that will matter a lot. Some years it won't matter at all. That kind of gamble is part and parcel of picking the car you want to compete with.