SpecE46 is official

#1

Latest SpeedNews has the announcement.http://www.speednewsmag.com/Aug2014.html

For some this will be welcome news. For others, not so much. IMO the fun is in big classes, not the specifics of the actual car in use. So more classes is always bad.

#2

again, not sure why we post about a class that potentially hurts our numbers in our forum…let them get their own forum, too many damn classes in NASA already

#3

i agree that too many classes is a bad thing, and that large fields are a good thing. but nothing lasts forever, and with e30s approaching 30 years old and decent donors harder to come by there needs to be a successor eventually. spec3 hasn’t panned out, spec z isn’t actually a spec class (multiple power outputs and weights), and other than spec miata that’s about it. planting the se46 seed now ensures that we will still have a great spec race series in six or seven years.

and fwiw there is a se46 forum, and i didn’t start this thread so feel free to delete it.

#4

Too many classes is what hurt scca over the years. People don’t understand you race classes not cars you like

#5

No interest in moving to a E46, ever.

I am curious, though, why Spec3 has languished?

#6

The key to fun is big fields.

Problems get fixed with a lot less frustration when a whole bunch of other guys that have already had “your problem.”

These sum to a hard road for a new class. It’s hard to understand why someone would intentionally join a small class.

#7

This is pretty much why I didn’t build an SE30 when I was still in the Midwest. There were zero cars in NASA Midwest at the time until KB bit the bullet and bought one, then convinced a bunch of other people to do the same. Every big class started as a small class. If it has merit, it might catch on and grow. It takes a set of true believers to put their money down and invest in the class. Eventually this could be the “large fields of similar cars” class like SE30 has grown to be. Only for folks who can/will invest about 2x what an SE30 would cost. (This still represents a substantial savings over many GTS builds…) Still, too rich for my blood.

As for Spec3, I’m not sure why it didn’t catch on as broadly. For one thing, it came out right around the time SE36 came out, which could possibly have divided the potential fields. Also, SE30 is/was alive and well. No need to be a true believer and make the leap of faith when there was close, similar, relatively cheep racing to be had elsewhere. It caught on in places like Mid Atlantic, but not so much elsewhere. SE46 is already seeing more geographically dispersed interest.

SE30 is awesome. It has been my favorite group of people to race with, and the cars are pretty fun for pretty cheap. I imagine some GTS types are looking at all the fun being had and wishing they could get in on the action, only wishing there was a newer platform to do it with. Enter SE46. I reckon it will do well, and probably poach more drivers from GTS than SE30. Time will tell.

#8

The problem with the e36 is that it’s ugly, heavy and slow.

I don’t know where the magical spec e30 tree is. Around the midwest I can find a rust and dent free 330ci for less than I can find a viable spece30 candidate. From my observations I think you typical high production sports car hits it’s lowest price at about 15 years old, so now is a good time for spec e46 to get started, and it will be cheaper to build a spec e46 than a spec e30 within a few years.