Is Gen 3 too spec? No room for ingenuity?

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Seems too many rules and regs leave less room for ingenuity

That's not true for F1 as claimed IMO, but it's absolutely true for Supercars with these spec cars.

Is there a possibility to return to the days of the Larry bar, SBR with their custom bell-housing, non-adjustable v mechanical v hydraulic adjustable swaybars, and so on and so forth, and move away from the current "boltie" racing?

Larry Perkins discussion at TEGA: "There was talk of a control exhaust, but if a good workshop can't even make an exhaust, what have we come to?"
Gen 3: Exhausts are literally a control part...

While Group 3A rules were more restrictive than some of the engineering marvels in Super Touring, at least there were some engineering freedoms in Group 3A and Project Blueprint (and the carryover Blueprint front suspensions in COTF) unlike today.

Also: what was your favourite innovation of the Group 3A and Project Blueprint era?

[GTRMagic]

For a control category, there are many parts that seem to like to break and blow up..

[one five five]

It’s been too control for years

But it’s only going to get worse

[High_OCTANE_HSV]

The thing I liked most about innovating in the old Group 3A regs was the freedom in cage design, and how you could see roll cage design evolving over time - from the very simplistic designs of the early 90s all the way through to the very complex designs of the early to mid 2000s, and that brought with it things like the Larry bar and the Garry bar too (although that design didn't stick around for very long). It was just cool to see, and even within one team every car had a slightly different design. You can look at HRT 031 through to 034 and see gour cars with four different cage designs - very cool IMO.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

For a control category, there are many parts that seem to like to break and blow up..

BJR and Tickford love voting for the CHEAPEST component, not the lowest cost of operation component.

They've done it multiple times and Roland has no issue calling them out on it.

[v8supes]

There is plenty of room for ingenuity. For example. Steve uses 3 cable ties on the wiring to the front left headlight but Barry uses 2! Barry is saving more money, weight and time!

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by v8supes

There is plenty of room for ingenuity. For example. Steve uses 3 cable ties on the wiring to the front left headlight but Barry uses 2! Barry is saving more money, weight and time!

Are they control cable ties? Surely there is a category standard and official supplier opportunity to maintain...

[Gaz170]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Are they control cable ties? Surely there is a category standard and official supplier opportunity to maintain...

Steve gets his on Wish.com

[Gaz170]

I would like a return to in cockpit adjustments to items like stabiliser bars, perhaps brake bias (but ban the quick adjust lever they had at the end of Gen 2).

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by Gaz170

Steve gets his on Wish.com

Barry gets his from Temu. Given that his cars are largely devoid of proper commercial sponsors, Barry gives Temu both headlights, both wing mirrors, the front and rear windscreen banners, and both sides of the rear wing.

The difference between Steve and Barry's teams is that Barry uses about 1500 times the volume of cable ties that Steve does as he works to try and keep not only the cars together, but also the entire team.

His latest Temu order had a carton of race tape as well, largely so that he can try to silence a media hack called AVL

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Gaz170

I would like a return to in cockpit adjustments to items like stabiliser bars, perhaps brake bias (but ban the quick adjust lever they had at the end of Gen 2).

Do it at the same time as non-spool diffs so the adjustment is there to change the car on the move…

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Do it at the same time as non-spool diffs so the adjustment is there to change the car on the move…

Yeah if V8s need one thing it's a proper diff.

And bringing adjustable bars back would help in longer races too.