The principle behind stock car racing is that it's not about the cars; it a test of pure driving (and mechanical) skill because all the cars are required to be the same. But you know they don't really believe this, because the teams all bring their own cars.

For a *true* test of pure skill, have the racetrack supply truly identical cars, and then, just to be sure, match the drivers to the cars at random before the race.

Pit crews may be allowed or forbidden, depending on your preferences.
-- dominus, Jul 15 2000

Wikipedia: Int'l Race of Champions (IROC) http://en.wikipedia...l_Race_of_Champions
Single team of mechanics; since 1973. [jutta, Sep 02 2006]

...or use the team cars, but randomly reallocate them just before the race.
-- hippo, Jul 17 2000


Hmm.. seems to take at least some of the fun out of the sport.. I mean, sure, the driver's definitely part of it, but the cars are also a big part of the appeal of the whole event. Perhaps you'd want to do the "fair" version as a baseline so that you could comment on both the driver and the vehicle's performance relative to each other.
-- mcfrank, Jul 17 2000


sounds an awful lot like the International Race of Champions (IROC) series>
-- rooster, Sep 02 2000


Car racing is nearly as boring as golf. Only saving grace is that occasionally cars have accidents. Car races used to spur development of cars, because many of the different races required 'stock' cars, that one could buy from a dealership, and they had to make sure that normal people could drive them as well. Produced some interesting cars, like the Roadrunner...Now, every single <race>car IS pretty much the same; 'ford' or 'chevy' depends on what stickers they put on the body. Very little room for development after 100 years of working on them, now it's just refining down to the last little bits.
-- StarChaser, Sep 03 2000


I dunno. Most racing organizations seem to have pretty strict rules about what you can and can't do to your car. Otherwise, you'd probably see some interesting contraptions... what about those jet-cars that set the land speed record?
-- egnor, Sep 03 2000


Someone told me about an event where cars have a "value limit" of $20,000; if the sponsor of the event thinks someone's car is worth more than $20,000 they have the right to buy the car from the entrant for $20,000 precisely. Thus, someone who tries to enter a $50,000 car would stand to lose $30,000 if the sponsors decide to buy it.
-- supercat, Oct 28 2000


Saw a description of a street rod show/race <'street rod' means 'a car I drive normally, like for groceries'> once where just before the race, they announced that all the cars had to do a 20 MPH parade through town...Half the cars dropped out, and one melted...
-- StarChaser, Oct 28 2000


Hmmmmm, Identicaly prepared cars and drivers chosen at random......isn't that called I.R.O.C.?!?!?!? (international race of champions)
-- mike100, Feb 04 2002


Well, now it's called the A1 Grand Prix (or near enough) - the cars are identical, although each team keeps its car for the season. No [m-f-d] though, because the idea was posted well before the A1GP was launched.
-- david_scothern, Sep 02 2006


I won't MFD this becaue IROC is not widely known to exist outside of the world of racing fanatics and people watching ESPN at 3 PM on a July Tuesday.

But in IROC, drivers race identical cars in a series of races, and are given identical sets of tools to work with. Nothing about the equipment has any variance, as it's just about the drivers and the crews.
-- shapu, Sep 02 2006


IROC or Skip Barber racing both meet this idea.
-- jhomrighaus, Sep 02 2006



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