Archive for November, 2007

Some of you might not realize that I serve on the Improved Touring Advisory Committee. This is the group that proposes rule changes and classifications for the set of 5 IT classes in SCCA club racing.

One of the first issues we discussed when I joined the ITAC was changing the ECU rule from “anything that fits in the stock box, no wiring changes.” The intent of this allowance was presumably to allow commonly available off-the-shelf “chips” to be replaced.  More modern systems allow for “reflashing” the memory in the computer, which can update the software.  But there’s a problem with the rule’s wording.  It allows more than just chips and reflashes; it actually allows the entire computer to be replaced with an aftermarket system.  However, it can be very expensive to stuff an aftermarket ECU into the stock housing, and make it work with the stock wiring connectors and stock sensors. It was never the intent of the group that proposed the rules that people would do this, but their wording allowed it, and so, of course, people did it.

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All three clubs where I could race have announced their race schedules for next season (here are the links):

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One thought I’ve had, given how hard it is to leave home for a long weekend, is to find a way to do more races at Laguna Seca and Infineon (which are only about 90 minutes from home), and fewer at Thunderhill (which is about 3 hours from home.)

Only way to do that is to skip the SCCA races at Thunderhill, and instead, do some NASA races at Laguna and Sears. I’m a long-time SCCA guy (been a member for over 19 years!) and really consider the SCCA to be my club, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t partake a little bit in the competition.

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And some special acknowledgements to those who helped me have so much fun this season.

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I wonder how many blogs start with that title?

So I start this blog at the end of the 2007 season. It was a great year!

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Header photos by Chuck Koehler and Ben Sweet