Re: "Re: Q&A -- Body Parts
At the 48hrs of Sebring, 2 944Cup cars were using a single piece fiberglass nose (replacing bumper, splitter, headlight covers and header panel). I am looking at this myself. Legal?"

Reply from Bill Comat: "This issue was discussed at Sebring and made clear that these are not legal.

This is from the first post in this thread.

Question: Are fiberglass header panels and/or fiberglass headlite covers allowed in Stock and/or Prepared?
Answer: No except for the 924S and 944 lite in SC."


I would like to suggest that the single bumper/header panel/valence be made legal. Since the bumpers and valences are legal, the only difference is the header/headlight panel. A stock metal panel can be welded and filled to be aerodynamically equal to a fiberglass panel, the only difference being weight. Since the header panel weighs only 6 LBS (add a pound for the headlight covers) the difference in weight is not significant compared to the difference in weight for the already legal Bumper and valence. Finding front end body components in good shape and paying for shipping of bulky items is difficult and expensive. The single piece solution which has already been "adopted" by several SP2 cars, including one owned by the Florida 944Cup director. Another car ran with a single piece nose at the 944Cup/PCA Road Atlanta event this past weekend.

To make matters clear, I am not planning to use this solution myself, in the near future, but believe it should be legalized. I finally found a decent used valence.

Many 944turbo cars are using fiberglass header panels. I believe the same logic applies.

The inclusion of existing race cars into our series is how we grew. I think this rule change can help keep the series strong

Slippery slope.... what would be next? Hood, Fenders? all bulky/difficult to find because these are now officially old cars now. There are plenty of cars in the bone yards to pick these parts from still. Those of us that run SCCA specs would like to start limiting the seemingly endless mods the PCA cars already enjoy in the interest of keeping the playing field moderately level. By comparison, we must run the standard aluminum bumpers, header panel, headlight covers and even the headlights must be present. Since we run the same HP and base weight now with the PCA cars this allowance seems excessive. I think it is a matter of slightly inconveniencing 3 or 4 competitors so we dont inconvenience 100 more current 944 racers and hundreds more potential racers that are looking at car building costs now. I can still buy a complete parts car for what one of those fiberglass 1pc noses costs, so I don't buy in to the theory that the fiberglass saves money somehow. It was done to provide a competitive advantage. Greg F

Greg, since we can already do everything below the header and shape the steel header without seams, there is very little competitive advantage. Re: availability, it depends on where you live. There is nothing available in local junk yards. I finally found a valence in Atlanta 300 miles away. As I said I'm not planning on doing this, just trying to make it easier for those who have already done it.

Taken as a single item the competitive advantage would be small, taken as a whole with the bumper removal, headlights, headlight motor, header panel, parking lights, etc. the advantage would be easy to measure as a shift of CG to the rear of the car. A stock 944 is 50/50% weight split. After the typical race car gutting the balance moves as much as 2% to the front. Now you can delete all the heavy items in the front of the car and use ballast to move percentage rearward, which is a measurable advantage. The lower valance has not been available from Porsche for years, but there is an inexpensive fiberglass reproduction that is cheaper than the full nose and easier to put on. The header panels are easy to get no matter where you live, and it takes a pretty good wreck to destroy one beyond repair. The four competitors that have done it could just bolt a header panel back in either under the one piece nose or just cut out the nose to accept the header. Much easier than a hundred of us having to buy a one piece nose to stay competitive. Perhaps they would be ok with adding a 6lb weight to the top of the radiator tank? Greg

While we will continue to make rules clarifications, the time for rule schanges has passed for 2010.

John, your information regarding the front body parts for the cars at the 48 Hour race is incorrect...

Sorry Nick, I went back to my video and saw that it was a one piece Bumper/ Valence with a separate header panel. (sort of proves my point that there's little difference) Did I see a complete single unit in your shop? What's your view on whether the Singly header/bumper/valence shoulld be made legal next year?

John

John, I contacted several places in my attempt to find a legal header panel and headlight covers. The covers were easy to find, but only A Part Above had a header panel. All the other places I called said they were become quite hard to come by, and were among the first parts that disappear when they become available.
For that reason alone I see it as perhaps inevitable that we're going to have to start allowing alternative body panels at some point for certain parts of the car.
This does, however, beget the slippery slope alluded to elsewhere, and for that I have no easy answer. The header panel/light covers that were on the one car were fiberglass pieces, and the weight was similar to the stock pieces, so I don't think there was a performance gain there. Both cars were using the one piece bumper cover that is legal for the series, and I think that part is a good idea, not so much for performance, but because it allows us to kind of update and individualize the look of the cars on track. I can tell you from firsthand experience however, that it can become expensive to keep those noses on the car, and it is simply a choice that each racer needs to make.
You didn't see any single piece noses/header panel/light covers in my shop...

Quick clarification on dashes for ITS prepped cars.

I realize that dash boards are unrestricted for PCA cars but the rules, in the SCCA GCR, seem a little foggy about whether or not the dash can be replaced. It seems that you have to run a dash but it doesn't really specify whether it needs to be the factory dash.

i was hoping to build something simple out of sheet metal or fiberglass to make gauge mounting a bit easier and the car interior a bit cleaner. My dash is pretty hammered and i am really hoping i can just chuck it in the pile headed to the dump.

The 944 Cup rules permit cars prepped per SCCA: Removal of the car interior, passenger seat, A/C and heating system, head lamps and related parts are allowed. Accordingly u can replace the dash with any material or design u like.