Quote:
Originally Posted by Garissimo
It's a philosophical argument.
If you believe a published ring time should represent what a car driven off a dealer lot and onto the ring ( with no adjustments to suspension geometry or aerodynamics ) can run, then it's cheating.
If you believe a published ring time should represent the ultimate limit of the car, with a race team making suspension alterations on an iterative basis, and equipped with a $25,000 wheel & tire package only available in one country, then it's perfectly acceptable.
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Great summary/point of view ^. There is nothing wrong with tweaking and tweaking to achieve the best time - in RACING. But when you tweak and tweak it is simply not fairnor honest to claim "SHOWROOM STOCK". It is deceptive.
Also, just to be clear I do not agree fully with getting times with options as as been done with the M3. The PSC+ tires are really marginally cheating as well. The difference is that you can get those tires on a showroom stock car, but not in all countries. Like I said, that is sort of pushing the limit IMO. AFAIR the published M3 Ring time used PSC+ tires but did not use the optional, never factory installed BMW track brake pads. If I am wrong on this and they did use those pads then that is cheating, by the definition of "showroom stock". However, BMW has also never made that statement itself about Sportauto's times. Also it is only cheating by Sportauto not BMW since they did not orchestrate a huge factory run effort and publish a factory lap time. That is a HUGE difference. Sportauto has great standards but I expect even more from an OEM.