Craig, I do not have the numbers to compare restricted car to non restricted car, and I agree that I don not expect the cost increase to be very significant, but I do believe you will notice it. In terms of HP only, my understanding is that non restricted 99's will make around 13-15HP more and VVT's around 9-10HP more than there current restricted versions.
Trust me, I too like to go faster and for that I have now run my STL program for 3-1/2 years. On average I am going 5% faster in my STL car compared to my SM car in terms of lap times (4.5% for tracks with only one 5th gear straight and 5.5% faster for tracks with more than one 5th gear straight). For me this pleasure of running 5% faster has increased my costs by approx 2.5 times the cost of running SM.
I guess the mathematicians and engineers can extrapolate from this curve, and figure out the cost increase. But I have never seen tires or brake pads last longer when accelerating faster or decelerating quicker. And I suspect engine costs will also go up as the rush to find the heads and headers and intake manifolds that flow better will require more time on the dyno.
And sorry about the "Claude" - too much wine at lunch for me! Was channeling my inner Inspector Clouseau!
I'm with Claude on this one..
The only real opposition is the NA cars and the cost of flowing manifolds etc that I will be the first to admit I do not bother doing with the plates. I think the plates are keeping some builders close where is we opened it up, I think you would see a few builders clearly out perform the others. Further upsetting the apple cart. Could be done, but it make be some growing pains that we dont need.
Both VERY valid points, these points alone having me reconsidering
As far as your Stl comparison, That is completely unrelated to that topic. Your Stl car is like most a ticking time bomb and wound to the edge. Sm is basically a production car with no engine mods allowed. Also, few throw new tires at a race to set track records in a race they will win by 2 minutes