Which means it won't happen :sigh:

My nats codriver is the chair of the STAC. We've had quite a bit of conversation about it. It doesn't mean the letter carries any more or less weight, but I feel like there is enough support for this one thing that it may actually move.

Ultimately it doesn't hurt the ND which I think is what makes it the most compelling fix.

STMiata makes a lot of sense. It should always be the car to have for multiple classes.

Just submitted one. Asked to bump them to STU, or create their own ST class and bring Fiata down with it, or Bump to STU and create a spec like like SSC for those that don't want a early twin.

Also asked for S2k to be brought back to the R mix. SST is just dumb unless they intentionally burred it due to cost/age/availability.

I don't understand why, but apparently (some) S2K wanted it. Or at least wider wheels.

They were buried in STR so it was pretty much "hey this is dumb, let us run wider wheels and run STU?"

but instead SST happened and nobody in an S2k cared. Every region local to me just lets S2ks run STR if they're still on 9" wide wheels

Pretty much the same thing happened for the local groups around me

I think I've been putting/leaving them in STR because I simply forgot about the change until I saw them in grid in SST at nats.

I’d be surprised if we get a new ST class, could combining STR also rans into STU work? Finally admit Stu is a hair slower then STR.

If the mk2 86, NC and S2k get bumped down to STX I think I’m out and it would tank the highest attended ST class at Nats this year. Question becomes lp-dsp or a new car… I’m kind of interested in the NC…

Thats why bumping the ND's up to STU could/should work. speeds up U to where it should be, U cars maybe will drive more to their potential, and R becomes a class with a mix of cars that can compete. Fiata is also in U already and those two shouldn't have been split for classing.

I personally have zero desire to get bumped to STU and then have to try and figure out how to get 285s under the car...

I'd just quit autocross entirely

Can't fight physics. The STU cars have never out paced STR and it wasn't because of lack of effort or talented drivers. The cars are simply too heavy and mostly strut cars (prone to understeer). Power doesn't help here.

The ND's would need to move to their own class with other sub 2300 lbs cars. Hell, i'd love to see what an ST Lotus could do against an ST ND MX5. Perhaps SST is where it should go but I don't want to see a new class get demolished before even starting.

Did my (probably) last event in STR yesterday, got oh so close to taking down Ken Roller (2023 D Street National Champion) for overall PAX. Five thousandths behind him with possibly the best autocross run I've ever driven. Maximum attack and FULL send with the gas light on for every run to save as much weight as possible.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTThHwyMxuQ

I think at this point my car is definitely the most developed STR second gen but it took a hero run and other folks to not nail their best runs for me to be competitive.

I think we're still ~4 or maybe 5 tenths off the ND per sixty seconds. I could make my car marginally faster with some weight loss, seats, battery, and exhaust, but all of that stuff makes the car worse at "literally everything else" so I didn't bother chasing that half a tenth... Maybe for next year if the STAC had gotten the STM proposal together this year instead of wasting months on the broken STX proposal.




XA beckons...


Huge thanks to Shaftworks USA for their shocks, setup advice, and for tuning my OS Giken. Thanks to Karcepts for the support on the swaybar, parts when I damaged said swaybar being dumb, and setup advice at events where we crossed paths.