Preamble Over the last several years the sport has seen a consistent and ongoing decline in the participation in the Stock Classes. After months of deliberation, the SEB has concluded that the cause of the decline cannot be traced to a single factor, but rather is indicative of a category formula that is no longer meeting the needs of much of our membership. We believe that there needs to be a category that is easily accessible to newcomers to the sport, while also supporting a highly competitive environment for our most dedicated members. We also believe that for this environment to exist we must have a ruleset that is reflective of the needs of modern vehicles. Automobile manufacturing, government regulation, and advances in suspension design have created the safest, most comfortable vehicles the industry has ever seen, and we believe that the current ruleset is not reflective of that reality. We have been monitoring the situation for several seasons and have spent a considerable amount of time undertaking a major rewrite of the ruleset with the following tenets in mind:
The category ruleset must address our Core Values in the following ways:
1. The available allowances should create a diverse field of cars. The allowances should also reverse some of the built in limitations that prevent cars from performing on the autocross course.
2. Consumable items should have a cost per run that fits with the expectations of our members.
3. The ruleset should be forward looking so that vehicles produced during the coming years can compete in a manner that our membership expects.
We believe the underlying reason that members love this sport is that they want to have fun with cars! We want thisruleset to broaden the base of cars and people who can do this within the SCCAs Solo program.
With that in mind, we propose the following update to Section 13 of the Solo Rules. Highlights include the use of high performance street tires (140 treadwear in 2014, 200 treadwear in 2015), a reduction in the shock absorber allowance (2 adjustments, no remote reservoirs beginning in 2015), an opening of the camber allowance (additional camber allowed via camber plates, camber bolts, and slotted struts), an opening of the wheel allowance (OE diameter plus or minus 1), and an opening of the swaybar allowance (changes permitted to both bars). These changes are proposed as a way to make the category more relevant to todays cars and todays enthusiasts, while keeping the core concepts of vehicles that are easy to prepare and easy to live with in normal street usage. You will also notice that we changed the name from Stock to Street. This change reflects the fact that these cars arent actually as delivered off the showroom floor, something that has caused confusion in the past.
In addition to the proposed changes to Section 13, you will also find accompanying changes to Section 14 and Section 15. Section 14 changes are limited to housekeeping some allowances in Section 14 have been moved to Section 13, and thus removed from Section 14. Section 15 has similar housekeeping, but also a new rule 15.12, which allows for cars prepared to the Section 13 rules to run as Street Prepared Limited Prep with R-comp tires and remote-reservoir shocks. This is intended to give current Stock category competitors who have invested in higher end shocks and/or prefer driving on R-comp tires a place to keep running their car with no changes needed. Limited Prep car classifications will be included in an upcoming FasTrack.
With these rule changes, car classifications for Section 13 cars may also change in many cases. An updated version of Appendix A will be published for member comment in an upcoming FasTrack. In order to make sure we have the ability to correct any mistakes made in such a large reorganization, the entire affected sections of Appendix A will be considered new classifications and subject to the 12 month reclassification window listed in 3.2.
