Dear John--





Thank you for your recent letter to the SEB about national class status for

SM2. Because there has been some confusion about what is and is not

happening with SM2, I wanted to take this chance to give you an update on

where things currently stand.





The SEB is committed to the growth of Solo 2. SM and SM2 have been

phenomenonally successful parts of that growth in the last few years.

Certainly, both classes are clearly integral to the future of Solo. Because

they are so important, ensuring rule stability, clarity, and completeness is

crucial to address. As the number of technical bulletins, clarifications,

and rules proposals generated for SM this year testifies, this goal of

clear, stable, and complete rules for SM has not yet been met.





Both the Street Modified Advisory Committee and the Solo Events Board have

been working hard to identify and resolve areas of ambiguity and

incompleteness in the SM/SM2 rules. It is our hope to present the Board of

Directors a clarified set of rules that will become effective for SM2 upon

publication. The establishment of such rules will better protect

competitors' investments of time, effort, and money in preparing their cars

for competition by ensuring that a car prepared to the rules today will be

legal for competition throughout the year.





Because SM2 is currently a supplemental class, we have the flexibility to

address problems in the rules in a rapid manner. This means that any

identified areas of ambiguity or incompleteness can be remedied. As you

likely know, once a class receives national status such a process is not

possible. Proposed changes to rules for established national classes must

be published in Fastrack, undergo member comment, and be presented to the

Board of Directors for implementation the *following* year. This means that

the work on the SM rule set must progress along two parallel tracks. Areas

of incompleteness and ambiguity can be resolved before we present a proposal

for SM2 national status for the 2004 year to the BoD whereas such rule

changes for SM cannot be enacted until 2005, as the 2004 rules season ended

in August of this year.





Having said all this, let me be very clear that it is our hope and

expectation to forward a complete and clear rule set to the Board of

Directors later this month. The Board of Directors will ultimately make the

decision about whether or not to grant SM2 national class status for 2004.

Unfortunately, this proposal will reach them well after our August 2003

deadline for 2004 changes. Despite this, I am hopeful that they will give

the proposal to grant SM2 national status in 2004 their very careful

consideration. Regardless of their decision, I would like to say very

clearly that any rumor you may have heard about SM2 being discontinued is

untrue. SM2 will continue to be offered, either as a national class or as a

supplemental class, in 2004 and beyond.





Again, thank you very much for your input to the Solo Events Board. I hope

that I've answered your questions, but if I have missed something, please

let me know.





Mari Clements

SoPac Solo Events Board and

one of the liaisons to the

Street Modified Advisory Committee

 

What car do you plan on running in SM2?? I thought about running my TII in it if they decide to Ax BP. I would have to read all the rules again though I have read BP many times. Never really looked at SM2.

 

89 TII w/20B

 

sweet!