A couple of years ago I had played around with the thought of a new Stock Car racing series. The difference between this one and the others that proceeded it is the classes. In my series the cars would be classed according to their price and production numbers, not their HP/Lbs. ratio and handling prowess.

Here’s the basic idea. All cars would be Stock, except for safety equipment. The classes would pan out something like this.
Cars Under $25K and more than 30K built a year.
Cars Under $50K and more than 20K
Cars Under $75K and more than 10K built
Cars Over $75K and Over 1K Built a year.

I won’t care if was a coupe, sedan, station wagon in any of the classes. Let the Manufactures fight out on who really has the best cars for the money.

This would also keep the one off’s from winning a series when it doesn’t reflect any car in their line. The Manufacturers would have to install any winning parts on their production cars first before it shows up on the race version. It may get some builders off their but if their car gets beat every time.

So would anyone here watch this?

SCCA has this, its called Showroom Stock.....

Showroom stock is based off of hp/weight ratio's mostly

Some good stuff I got in replies:

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really Stock or Just “Stock”

Me -
All cars have to be stock except safety equipement and possible driver seat change.

Be Great to showcase manufactures cars and for privateers. And NO handy capping the winners. The other makers will have to just step up to compete. Also no Special edition parts or models that the public can not buy. All modifications must be available to the general public and the actual car competing will have to be priced as msrp. Any new items must first appear in production before it can get into the series cars. No BMW GTR V8 cars here (UMM, yeah...we're going to build a V8 M3....Someday).




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I believe that everyone would love a series like this... everyone except auto manufacturers. The first category would be one of the fiercest, and would also cause the most friction with the manufacturers. That they would be forced to actually compete with eachother based on production models would make quite a few marketing folks nervous (what if your cars end up sucking wind on the track, how do you sell them?). I think that's probably why it won't happen unless one of the big three gets behind it. The other problem is that the american auto makers would be forced to compete with the foreign ones, and we all know how much they don't like direct competition (see import duties on trucks). Disclaimer having been noted, if this series were to happen, and have something other than an oval track, (throw some left and right curves at them), I would start to watch auto racing religiously.



Me -
I think the key to make all the Makers happy and have more than one model winning is to mix up the types of tracks. Have the tight/twisty tracks so the lower HP foreign cars (and maybe domestic, you never know)can shine. Then have more open venues where the higher HP vehicles can stretch their legs. Think about a Camaro against a WRX. Each could easily win depending on the track.

One other point I thought about is to let cars compete up to 2 years after production dates. That way if a Maker stops builing a car (ie F-Bodies), the privateers can still run them for two years.


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Sounds good to me. I wouldn't mind seeing some real world racing. What would be cool is if they were required to use a real car. But they could strip the interior and install a cage and other safety equipment. Other than that they had to use the car as is...


Me -
No Stripping allowed, too much weight can be taken out that way. I think they can only replace the driver seat with a fia or sfi approved seat, and install safety equipment

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Not in the US Marty. People in the US buy cars based on how they look and how fast they accelerate. Nobody really cares how good a car is overall other than us autox and roadrace people. You know the ALMS is based on production numbers. I think World Challenge has some Production stipulations too. I do think it's a neat Idea, but after a season it'd be a one car series in each class. Besides that'd really screw up what car and driver does to tell you what the best car is. Putting a 0-60 time on the cover of a mag is all important to a cars performance you know.

Me-
I had always heard people bought cars on Price and perceived value in the US (or the often catch phrase - Bang for the Buck). Which is why the Camry and Accords are the #1 selling cars. As far as Performance images go, yes the mighty 0-60 and HP figures rule, which is funny to me because peak HP tells nothing about the total TQ curve.

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Those would be some pretty boring classes...

I like the idea, but the production numbers are a little on the high side.

Among the many cars not eligible...

Toyota MR2 Spyder (fewer than 10,000 per year, but the price is around $50,000)

Toyota Celica GTS
Toyota Celica GT (only the first year of a model ever meets those production numbers)

Toyota Supra

Acura NSX

Corvette Z06

Subaru WRX, STi

etc...

Set all production numbers at 1000 units (or lower) and keep the price divisions.

Why should the enthusiast be at the mercy of the "normal" population, obviously our shopping habits differ from the "norm."


Me-
They wouldn't be excluded, just moved up a class. The actual cut off numbers would need to be fined tuned.

As far as one model winning all the time, that would just show that it's a better car as far as this series goes. Maybe it would get the other Manufactures off their buts.

If the Z06 is whooping up on the $75K+ cars, then that shows how good the Z06 really is for $50K.

If you set the prod numbers as low as 1K, then the manufactures will design a ringer, sell 1K to their supported teams and certain privateers and nothing would be available to the general public.

There also needs to be a rule about a car can not compete until it goes on sale to the public. Otherwise you could also get Cars like the M3 GTR (hmm, yeah, we are going to sell a V8 M3....Someday).


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Your series would be a great answer to this if there were a variety of racing types for the cars. Unfortunally if the cars are actually close to stock there will be a car in each class that beats everything else and it won't be interesting to watch. To cure this you'd have to add weight or cut power on the top cars, which would then make crappy cars look better than they actually are, and then again you get the perceived image that something is better than it actually is.

Me -
I think the key to make all the Makers happy and have more than one model winning is to mix up the types of tracks. Have the tight/twisty tracks so the lower HP foreign cars (and maybe domestic, you never know)can shine. Then have more open venues where the higher HP vehicles can stretch their legs. Think about a Camaro against a WRX. Each could easily win depending on the track.

One other point I thought about is to let cars compete up to 2 years after production dates. That way if a Maker stops builing a car (ie F-Bodies), the privateers can still run them for two years.

Good work