{"id":1605,"date":"2019-09-12T17:38:50","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T21:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=1605"},"modified":"2023-05-04T13:42:33","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T17:42:33","slug":"how-cost-controls-keep-ta2-racing-inexpensive-and-make-it-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2019\/09\/12\/how-cost-controls-keep-ta2-racing-inexpensive-and-make-it-better\/","title":{"rendered":"How cost controls keep TA2 racing inexpensive and make it better"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"complete-stroy\">\n<p>Orginal Story-<a href=\"https:\/\/racer.com\/2019\/09\/04\/how-cost-controls-keep-ta2-racing-inexpensive-and-make-it-better\/\">https:\/\/racer.com\/2019\/09\/04\/how-cost-controls-keep-ta2-racing-inexpensive-and-make-it-better\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>By:\u00a0<a title=\"Posts by Richard S. James\" href=\"https:\/\/racer.com\/author\/richard-s-james\/\" rel=\"author\">Richard S. James<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In nine races this far this season, the TA2 category of the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli has had five different winners. Five different drivers have started on pole and nine drivers have stood on the podium. It\u2019s gained a reputation as a series where a good driver can win on any given day, and that comes down to parity. There is not a lot to be gained in the development department, which keeps things pretty equal and cost-effective.<\/p>\n<p>But TA2 is not a spec series. Instead, the costs are tightly controlled in the areas of engines, bodies, chassis and shocks. And, of course, everyone is on the same Pirelli tires. Controlled costs, without runaway development, leads to parity. And parity leads to close racing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[TA2] is probably the lowest cost for the best performance level anywhere in sports car racing,\u201d says current points leader Marc Miller, who has raced a wide variety of sports cars and his currently racing the Prefix Dodge Challenger. \u201cIt\u2019s a really good cost-contained package and I think that helps draw a lot of people into it. More racers tends to make the competition better, closer and more fair. Usually if you have like 10 cars, there\u2019s one or two cars that are checking out, disappearing, and it leaves everybody to fend for themselves, This series, with so many cars, you have to kind of always be working at it.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<\/aside>\n<p>There is room for development, and options in the cars. There\u2019s a choice of brand \u2014 Ford Mustang, Dodge Challenger or Chevrolet Camaro, and racers can use the corresponding engine from the manufacturer or the new Choice engine from Prefix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe work pretty hard to get parity between the three different makes and models,\u201d explains Ricky Brooks, technical manager for the series. \u201cThat gets a little tricky because you\u2019ve got three different combinations. We\u2019ve got the new motor, the Choice motor, coming out. Eventually everybody will be running that motor, but it could be years down the road. We\u2019ve got parity between the three makes and models, and the Choice, so there\u2019s no advantage or disadvantage running the Choice motor or any other motor package. We\u2019re down to one body package with the three different makes and we\u2019re going to continue down that road.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-205177\" data-attachment-id=\"205177\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-205177\">Despite technical variety, Trans Am is able to keep a competitively balanced field.<\/p>\n<p>Brooks comes from the world of short track oval racing, where there are a legion of chassis builders. The fact that TA2 has only three \u2013 and most teams are running either of two \u2013 makes policing things much easier, and the chassis builders can\u2019t make any changes without the series\u2019 approval. For the other components, brakes and shocks, there are cost caps in place. That can get a little trickier, but Brooks has a pretty good system in place.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got pretty much every shock that anybody\u2019s running; we\u2019ve got a parts list of what it should be and what it shouldn\u2019t be. We can do the visual inspection on the outside and if we have any doubts we can pull them apart and make sure the pistons and everything that\u2019s inside the shock is supposed to be in the shock for that cost point. If it\u2019s different, and it drives the cost above what it\u2019s supposed to be, then it\u2019s wrong,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>Racers can custom valve the shocks using shim stacks, but high-dollar quadruple-adjustable shocks are out. The next area the series might take a look at is transmissions, but for the most part Brooks says things are under control. And it shows in the prices of TA2 cars, which can also be competitively raced in SCCA GT-2: complete new cars can be had for around $120,000; used cars with spares usually range from $70,000 to $100,000. That\u2019s a lot of race car for the money, especially when a team or driver won\u2019t have to pour a bunch more money into it to be competitive in a pro series.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-205178\" data-attachment-id=\"205178\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-meta=\"{\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-205178\">\u201cThe cars are so similar and you have to drive them in a certain way, so it really teaches good habits,\u201d says Marc Miller. \u201cIf you\u2019re an amateur driver, it forces you to do the right things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re still allowed to develop the cars, which is nice, because drivers who have a good engineering background can really make the cars better,\u201d says Miller. \u201cBut the cars are so similar and you have to drive them in a certain way, so it really teaches good habits. If you\u2019re an amateur driver, it forces you to do the right things in a car \u2014 the same sorts of things you\u2019d do if you went GT3 or GT4 racing, but there you have all those aids like ABS and traction control to get away with little mistakes. A TA2 car gives you immediate feedback that that\u2019s not what you\u2019re supposed to be doing!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Trans Am Series and TA2 resume racing this weekend at Watkins Glen International. TA2 has a healthy 28-car entry, showing that the class is definitely working and attracting drivers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Orginal Story-https:\/\/racer.com\/2019\/09\/04\/how-cost-controls-keep-ta2-racing-inexpensive-and-make-it-better\/ By:\u00a0Richard S. James In nine races this far this season, the TA2 category of the Trans Am Series Presented by Pirelli has had five<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1607,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1605\/revisions\/1607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}