What class should the Festiva be in?

[Loren]

Yep, fenders are the ony thing that's "iffy", and that's just because of the "no cutting and welding" class philosophy statement. Everything else on the car has been bolt-on mods, or mods to bolt-on parts.

The results of this discussion will likely result in a slight rewording of that rule for next season. (probably changing it to read something about "structural or firewall", or excluding "external bodywork")

[Lava Speed 05]

One day I'll beat the Fastiva consistently, need to upgrade my suspension to one of those elite custom Kia suspensions. (I honestly can't remember what the donor car was)

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[Loren]

You know your car is crap when Kia Rio parts are an upgrade.

[jbrannon7]

Yep, fenders are the ony thing that's "iffy", and that's just because of the "no cutting and welding" class philosophy statement. Everything else on the car has been bolt-on mods, or mods to bolt-on parts.

The results of this discussion will likely result in a slight rewording of that rule for next season. (probably changing it to read something about "structural or firewall", or excluding "external bodywork")

I don't know if the car should be bumped a class or not, I am not competing with it so I haven't given it much thought. But, when you talk about rewriting a rule to fit your car into a class and you are the one that writes the rules then I would give it at least a second thought and maybe talk to your competitors at the next event. You could be opening a can of worms and stepping on your competitors toes and they don't want to speak up against the "Professor". I see there are only 4 votes, I don't think enough peopled have voiced their opinion.

Joe

[ImpostorDan]

I never got a PayPal email either.

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[Loren]

I agree, Joe. I'd like to see more people voting on this.

To clarify, I'm not at all talking about rewriting a rule to fit my car. I'm talking about clarifying the existing rule because, obviously, it's not clear enough or I wouldn't have to ask this question. If anyone asked ME if they could run their car with custom flared fenders in a Mod class, I'd say yeah, sure. But, technically, the way the "no cutting and welding" rule is stated, it's not that clear.

But, I'll go with the will of the masses here. If everybody thinks that we SHOULD draw the line on "body kit" items at those parts that can be "bolted on" without cutting and welding, then I'll adjust the rule the other way. Either way, the rule isn't clear enough and will probably see some rewording for next season.

[Jamie]

Yep, fenders are the ony thing that's "iffy", and that's just because of the "no cutting and welding" class philosophy statement. Everything else on the car has been bolt-on mods, or mods to bolt-on parts.

The results of this discussion will likely result in a slight rewording of that rule for next season. (probably changing it to read something about "structural or firewall", or excluding "external bodywork")

So unbolt the fenders, weld the flares on, and bolt the fenders back on. Or install your flares with pop rivets. Or JB Weld and duct tape (keeps with the philosophy of the FASTiva). You're overthinking this -- what you're trying to avoid with the rule are modifications that involve altering parts of the car that can't be readily removed and replaced with something else. The floor pan. The roof.

[Loren]

So unbolt the fenders, weld the flares on, and bolt the fenders back on.

Could do that in the front. (effectively, we sort of are... the front fenders could be unbolted and returned to stock at any time) But, the rear fenders are not bolt-on.

Or install your flares with pop rivets. Or JB Weld and duct tape (keeps with the philosophy of the FASTiva). You're overthinking this -- what you're trying to avoid with the rule are modifications that involve altering parts of the car that can't be readily removed and replaced with something else. The floor pan. The roof.

If they were cosmetic flares, sure, we could "paste" them on somehow. But, in this case, we need fender clearance, so even if we were "pasting" on some external flares, we'd still have to cut the underlying sheet metal. (or, I guess we could have opted to bash the hell out of it) Welding is only half of what the issue is. There is also cutting. But... none of it is structural, purely cosmetic, just like what we're doing in the front where the fenders happen to be bolt-on.

I guess we could run narrow tires in the rear.

[puncturina]

Need more votes? ok, I'm tossing another in the M4 bucket.

Definitely educational value to having it in M4. And the work being done doesn't give it any power or structural or aerodynamic ( ) advantage. In fact, it seems that you may be introducing more body flex. Just allowing for wider tires, and running in the appropriate class for the tire doesn't really warrant such a drastic bump. Seems like clarification of the rules might be in order.

We leave every event wondering if we got beat by the Festiva or by the Honda Insight...so sad for us

[twistedwankel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5KAiN1JHWM

Here is a real D Mod aka M0 Fastiva. I'd actually like to see the car reach this level of performance some day while maintaining a windscreen and roof for FL squall protection.

[Loren]

I don't know if we'll ever get that far, Doug... but, anything is possible.

[Loren]

Bumping for more discussion (if there is any) and votes.

[aw614]

I don't see any problem competing with it at the events I show up, just don't get the maxxis 245/40r15

[Loren]

I think the flares will barely accomodate a 225. No way will they fit a 245! (but 245 would bump us up to M3 where we'd get our ass handed to us by Joe Vance, anyway)

[Loren]

Oh, I forgot about this. The poll has ended. Only 8 votes, but they were unanimously in favor of leaving the car in M4. The discussion seemed to follow the same trend. Thanks for your time and interest!