2017 SCCA Runoffs T4

[jmark]

Oscar Jackson defending his T4 championship in his 86. The 86 platform is doing well!

https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1506365319

[jmark]

Day 2

https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1506453497

[jmark]

Day 3

https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1506532702

[jmark]

Day 4 Should be a great race on Sunday.

https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1506623045

[jmark]

Race day is Sunday afternoon.

Follow it here.

https://www.scca.com/events/1980940-...essions/latest

[Rampage]

Jackson won his 2nd National Championship in his FR-S/86.

[jmark]

Appears Oscar got a penalty for the early incident & dropped to 4th place....86 platform 1-2 & 4.

https://dk1xgl0d43mu1.cloudfront.net...pdf?1506911331

[rice_classic]

bumping thread.


Looking at the rules changes for 2018, it looks like the SCCA may have "over corrected" on balancing the 86's in T4. Fun fact - The 2 cars from Florida ran 15" wheels in Qual 4 and the race. I don't know what wheel/tire combo Jackson used.

• 2017 spec for T4 - 2925lbs, up to 17" wheel, no restrictor.
• 2018 spec for T4 - 2975lbs ('13-16), 17" wheel required, 55mm Flat plate restrictor.

I'm not sure what impact that 55mm plate will have but the difference in time between the winning FRS and everyone else wasn't huge. I tend to think it will be hard for the 86 to podium in the 2018 T4 runoffs.



SCCA did the same thing to all the Hondas in STL as well - they finished 1-5 so they all got hit pretty hard with restrictor plates this year. A



I personally have been toying with the idea of converting my FRS into a T4 or T3 car but I'm concerned about growth and continued popularity of the class.

[rice_classic]

I've been comparing Spec86 to SCCA Touring 4 and Touring 3 lately.


I've been toying with converting my FRS street car into a T4 or T3 race car because I've been racing the CRX in ITA for more than decade and doing something different in the coming years is a probability. Also, NASA is not in the PacNW (they tried but couldn't make it work).

The 86 can fit in SCCA T4/T3 as well as PTD/Spec86 to some degree. A FRS also finsihed 1-2 in T4 at the SCCA runoffs last year in a 40 car field which is very cool.

When it comes to allowing certain parts - pay attention to the money vs. the fun. In my opinion - if you allow a modification it's important to ask A) how much does it increase build and operational costs (barrier to entry) and B) how much does it increase the fun of the racing. If the answer to (B) isn't significant or if (A) does not reduce operational costs then it most likely shouldn't be allowed in a class that is budget-sensitive and wants broad or rapid adoption.

I could convert my FRS to a T4 car (race ready) with ~$10-15k depending on my standards. That's a pretty attractive value proposition, especially if there's a competitive class to run and a opportunity to race in national event. By comparison It would cost me that much or more to build my current ITA CRX from scratch and that's because the Improved Touring ruleset is a lot more open than Touring-4.

It is really appealing to me to have a relatively fast class like T4 that does not require me to mess with:

• Splitters/wings/aero
• Final Drives, gear ratios, differentials
• Big brake kits
• Spherical bearings or bushings
• Elaborate engine builds (porting/polishing/matching etc)
• Headers
• Adj Shocks/coil-overs.

The cost savings from eliminating that list is MASSIVE.

The things I like about Spec86 is the canned-tune which is a good equalizer, oil/brake cooling and durable tires like the RC-1.

The things I don't like about Spec86 are the lightweight pulleys, big brake kit, 9" wide wheels, Final drive and differential. Since it's a spec class - I don't follow the logic to allow FD/Differential changes because it does nothing but drive up costs and someone with a SCCA T4/T3 86 would be at a clear disadvantage in a straight line. The 9" wide wheels and 255 tire aren't necessarily bad but if they were in sync with Touring 3 (8" with 245max) they may see better cross pollination.

The Spec86 website may need to be updated as it currently says T4 could drop in with a just a tire change but in reality a T4 86 would be way off pace. I think a T3 86 spec would more closely align with Spec86.

If had to choose between Spec86 and Touring, I would say Touring has the better value proposition and lower barrier to entry.