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+1 for Stock air box
Air dams: stock or stock like replacement, as long as the overall dimensions are identical to a stock piece then wherever they can get one is fine with me. Having the airdam meet stock dimensions should eliminate any "splitters" or wild aero dams.
Either one would not affect my efforts. But tightening the rules will have existing racers spending $$ on a car that is currently legal. Just like the exhaust thing.
Air Box: No issues there, I would however just state unmodified air box with correct dimension air filter. Whether the horn or duct was removed is a non-issue. My car did not have those things and I’m sure it will be a PITA to find them. I don’t like the idea of guys having to remove their CAIs to replace a stock box. Were assuming their stock box is not in a landfill or something. I tossed a lot of things during my build that I thought I would not ever need.
Air Dam: You can still find the ‘is’ dams. I personaly do not care if someone uses a aftermarket one. If you have the $$ for an aftermarket one, you most certainly have $$ for a stocker. But so what if you want to look a little different.
I think I would have more issues with: It was OK in 2007, it is not now. Specialy if I spent the $$ for the 2007 rule, and now had to spend again to get it to the new rule. But, that’s racing.
If you apply the same logic that went into banning basket weaves… spoilers should meet a spec’d clearance/size. And it should not mater if they are stock, after market or home made.
Carter wrote:
[quote]…
Regarding the basketweaves…here’s how we got to this point. Early-on, we expected to require stock wheels. Cheap and durable wheels. And we didn’t want everyone to feel like they had to buy a 6.5" wheel that would give them a slightly wider platform for the tire. Being racers, we knew this would happen and the cost of basketweaves would go up considerably, and the availability would go down. Therefore, we decided to go with bottlecaps for everyone. Basketweaves are not allowed.
Several months later, we realized that most bottlecaps have lived a tough life and most are not straight. And since wheels don’t wear out, we decided to open it up to 15x7 wheels with a minimum weight…but we didn’t want to go back to the basketweaves option.
So, sell the basketweaves (they bring decent money) and buy a set of bottlecaps for rains. You’ll still have about $150.00 left for one rain so you’ll really be buying three rains. And out of the many, many Spec E30 racecars, this only comes up occasionally.
Carter[/quote]
This whole thread begs the question - if it ain’t broke, then why are you gonna break it?
Without launching into a tirade …
I had some great racing this year, and 1/2 of the way through the season, I was leading the highly competitive Mid-Atlantic championship with legal car. Im fact, my car dyno’d with 10 less HP than Carter’s car at VIR, yet I did fine all year. So why mess with the formula for success?!
I run a stock air box and it seems to work fine but I would like to see allowance for removal of a headlight. It costs nothing, allows more cool air to the motor which is never bad and eliminates some potential glass from the track.
Air dams. I use $5 bucks worth of plastic garden border stuff. I think that it should be stock stuff with the ability to update to the short bumpers. As long as the dams attach to the bottom of the valence they can rub on the ground for all I care. It may help these cars not to push so much although that would make me have to overlap my Lowes air dam and spend $10. 
Peace,
Chris
Rich Vogl wrote:
[quote]Since when have basketweaves been banned?[/quote] Forever. The 14X6.5 iS weaves are not legal. The 15X7 iX or Euro weaves are OK
Rich Vogl wrote:
edit: posted before I read all the other good responses …
the stock basketweaves are 14x6.5 - only 14x6 and 15x7 wheels are allowed. There are 15x7 basketweaves that came on, I believe, the iX’s but their offset is not ideal. Aftermarket 14x6 or 15x7 basketweaves would be fine.
bruce
The simplest and easiest to enforce rule would be to restrict the intake and air dam to be stock configuration. However, to limit the air dam to stock parts I think it would be necessary to allow retro-fitting of the later bumpers to early cars. Original IS air dams are very hard to find (and can’t be had as new parts) now and that situation will only become worse as time passes. Since both types are on-track now and there’s no apparent advantage to either one, allowing retro-fit of the later bumpers and air dams would make sense to me.
chris cobetto wrote:
[quote]I run a stock air box and it seems to work fine but I would like to see allowance for removal of a headlight. It costs nothing, allows more cool air to the motor which is never bad and eliminates some potential glass from the track.
[/quote]
+1 - costs nothing but 5 minutes and is good for the car.
Basketweaves and headlight are similar in my mind - no cost allowances that are good for the car/racer’s wallet.
No 14x6.5" basketweaves? Apparently I mis-read this rule in the beginning when I decided to prep my car. Can someone please elaborate on why they are diallowed? Does it have something to do with sponsors’ tire fitment?
Stock Airbox makes sense. Arguably works better than a CAI anyway. And used ones should be available for cheap. Just look on e30tech or r3vlimited for someone parting out a car. I sold the last few extras I had for like $20-30 plus shipping.
As for the airdam, I say leave the rule as it is. Of course, I just bought the Rieger lip that I think a few people are running already (got it much cheaper than a stock one) and dont want to have to spend more money on something I thought I had already covered.
Basketweaves are not allowed as they are too light as the rules are written. They were purposely left out because they are too hard to find, according to Carter.
Bottlecaps rule!
this message
http://spece30.com/component/option,com_kunena/Itemid,86/func,view/id,18211/catid,16/limit,10/limitstart,20/#18282
on page 3 of this thread has a requote of Carter’s explanation.
bruce
Shaun Pamplin wrote:
basketweaves do not weigh less than 13 lbs nor are they hard to find.
See other post about Carter’s explanation.
bruce
Dwight Varnes wrote:
[quote]Basketweaves are not allowed as they are too light as the rules are written. They were purposely left out because they are too hard to find, according to Carter.
Bottlecaps rule![/quote]
Great. Now I need to find parts for my airbox, to be 100 stock/legal. And find a set of new wheels to mount my tires on. And soon, get a whole new exhaust. Lovely.
I’m definitely for the stock airbox. Cheap, easy, no questions.
Body stuff…updating/backdating of course. Ground effects…if you want to allow people to mess with splitters or similar specify a minimum ground clearance. If someone wants to spend a bazillion dollars on something let’em, it’s not going to make a difference.
Like others, I prefer the Home Depot/Lowes $20 special. ; )
Bruce Leggett wrote:
[quote]basketweaves do not weigh less than 13 lbs nor are they hard to find.
See other post about Carter’s explanation.
bruce[/quote]
Bruce, not to beat you up on this, but I am pretty certain the wheels are exempted from the rules by the weight requirement. That is what keeps them from being allowed. Otherwise I think they would be legal as they are not specifically named in the rules.
"Hard to find", well, depends. Yes, you can find them. They are not as plentiful as bottle caps, but a good many of them I have come across are bent. I don’t think their usable numbers are very high.
According to the ETK the stock 14x6.5 basketweeves weigh 6.35kg…that’s more than 13lbs. To my recollection (without looking it up to confirm) the rules state that allowed wheels must be 14x6 or 15x7.