What is a car?

[Mopar 151]

Revise 2.A.5 , which currently reads"Suspension to be in generally safe condition and suitable for high-speed
competition."
Change to: "Suspension to be fully operable, with adequate travel, and be in safe condition for competition on the event's course."

Add to 2.CC.1 "Wheels to be a minimum of 12" in diameter"

Add to 4.E.11 "Cockpit to be entirely contained within the wheelbase"

[sachilles]

.....my mini has 10 inch wheels. I swear it's a real car.

Course that would mean I'd have to finish it, in order to make it a real issue.

[DaveVT02S]

^^ yeah, was thinking about those...

[Mopar 151]

Well, it would only applied to Prepared cars under this proposal - and I've not seen a racing Mini, on slicks, on less than 13" rims

[sachilles]

I have slicks on 10" and 13" rims. It will be a P car. 10 inch slicks are very common for them.

[Mopar 151]

OK, I stand corrected. My problem is there are several mini or micro cars (and maybe Formula SAE, or SAE Mini-Baja) that run a 10" slick, some of which are very fast, but not the thing you want to tumble into the woods. And I'm not so sure that the tires meant for these things would stand the weight of a Mini under racing conditions. I'd be fine with exempting 1st generation Mini's somehow - we can work out language - but on your Vtec conversion, will 10" wheels clear the brakes?

[sachilles]

Vtec conversion's don't necessarily change the braking system.
as to 10 inch tires. Almost every street oriented tire in the 10 inch variety is non DOT, and therefore they automatically punt the car into prepared by our rules. The tires are identical to their bigger sizes, they just don't go to the trouble of going through the process of getting a DOT stamp on them. As to the concern of weight, there are several 10 slick varieties specifically designed for the classic mini. They are still one of the more popular cars in vintage racing, and as a result hoosier makes a slick along with a few others. You are correct in that there also 10 inch slicks for formula 500 cars out there as well, and those are designed for lighter cars.

As to whether I'll run 10 inch or not, I'm not sure yet. As you might imagine, a set of 10 inch rims and tires don't weigh very much, and that's a huge advantage for a relatively under powered fwd car. I do have a "big brake kit" for it that will use 13 inch rims. The big kit does more for brake fade than anything, as they both brake set ups can lock the wheels up without a ton of effort.

Perhaps "12 inch minimum diameter, exceptions on a case by case basis at the discretion of the chair"


Of course this is probably all moot, with the rate the mini project is going. I should just sell the rims and tires, and use the cash to have Joey put a cage in the subaru.