
Originally Posted by
Howard Wood
Conrad,
I raised the time line of the YB/ FVA/ BDA series because those cars had been mentioned as examples of "Hot Rods" but you are absolutely correct with the parallel with the BMW S14/ M10/ M12/6 engines. An '02 with an S14 would not only be cheaper to build than one fitted with the correct M10 SOHC 2 litre engine but at 360hp would be making 125 more hp than the works injected cars made in period and a whopping 150 more hp than we currently manage on carbuettors.
Interestingly an '02 with the period correct M12/6 which made 295hp in enduro specs and 315hp in F2 spec in period would be fully sched K compliant AND would blow the dood handles off even most of the YB engined Escorts. Pity about the engine's 50,000 euro price tag and 1000km between full rebuilds!
Which brings us back to the issue here, it is both easier and cheaper to simply stuff later model gear into an old car rather than build and develop a sched K compliant period correct car. There are plenty of places to run such a hybrid, Ray's series and the BMW series being probably the best run and supported examples with pragmatic rules which suit their competitors. However surely there needs to be a place for the period correct cars as well and it seems to me that events such as the Festival which are promoted as "Historic" meetings are the appropriate place for this.
Whether these period correct classes prosper or die will depend on how well they are promoted, run and policed and how much support they get from the available competitors. Dale's HMC is an example which so far ticks all those boxes and seems to be going from strength to strength.