In the early years (1984-1996) many drivers used SR as a stepping stone to Indy, TransAm & IMSA. The ones I can recall: Brian Till, Dorsey Schroeder, Robbie Buehl, Scott Harrington, Jovey Marcelo, John Hollingsworth, Sam Schmidt, MIKE DAVIES, Scott Lagasse, Beau Barfield, Rich Hearn - I am sure there were more. Can someone tell me how many drivers used SRF as the same stepping stone since? I don't think very many. So we need to ask ourselves WHY? What dynamic changed - costs, lack of viable Pro Series, economy, perception, advertising, another better stepping stone class? And in the early days the SR was slower, less HP, had ugly VW looking steel wheels but was very cheap to race and be competitive with a very low budget and had huge entries everywhere one wanted to race. As others have mentioned here the class has morphed into a higher economic level and the drivers are graying fast - crap I'm 63, have 9 grandkids between Josie and myself, am not very competitive anymore but still love racing these particular cars when I can. I will add that the state of the class would be in very bad shape if not for the efforts of Erik & Mike (cheap kiss ass plug for future weight consideration!!!).

Would the engine longevity be increased if the new engine were detuned to our present HP range?
I find the existing HP range quite adequate for my fun zone.

jim flynn wrote:Would the engine longevity be increased if the new engine were detuned to our present HP range?
I find the existing HP range quite adequate for my fun zone.

My understanding (from the recent presentation) is that the engine will be rev-limited significantly below its designed redline; so much so that a blown 4-to-5 shift (4-to-3) may not be an over-rev of the engine. That, plus a real rev limiter, plus 10 more years of engine refinement, should make it more durable.

And apparently, you get all that and another 20 HP, and you lose 50 lbs. Of course, if you don't want to use that extra HP, you don't have to!

Greg,
Rev limiters don't help with missed shifts. They only cut the spark. When your rolling along at the top of 4th and stuff it into 3rd...your drive train momentum will spool the engine way over the rev limit...making for a an unhappy valve train.
Bob

bob gardner wrote:Greg,
Rev limiters don't help with missed shifts. They only cut the spark. When your rolling along at the top of 4th and stuff it into 3rd...your drive train momentum will spool the engine way over the rev limit...making for a an unhappy valve train.
Bob

I guess I wasn't clear. As you said, the rev limiter just stops you from an in-gear over-rev -- i.e. a late upshift.

But the gap between the engine's design redline (e.g. 7,000 RPM) and imposed limitation (e.g. 6,000 RPM), means you might be able to blow a shift (catch 3 instead of 5), and not send the revs much beyond the design redline. For example, you're at the limiter in fourth gear (6,000 RPM) and you jam it into third. You'll zing it over the limited RPMs but you have another 1,000 RPM to give before the engine is in any danger. I suspect most top end rebuilds are from over-revs.

Check out the Enterprise FB page for a photo! Neat!
tony