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"I've seen at Darlington that after 50 laps we were a second-and-a-half faster per lap with it on, than with it off," said one ETC manufacturer. "This was very thorough test, the tires were in better shape, and the tire temps were showing 20 to 30 degrees cooler." Certainly, ETC could help an inexperienced racer become more consistent with throttle application in a shorter amount of time than by learning it by feel. But experienced racers have seen benefits, too. According to one ETC maker who has tested with some of the best drivers in the country, the system promotes consistency. "These are the best guys out there," he stated. "We put it [ETC] on and they don't go any faster, but they stay faster. They don't lose as much. And I've had a guy, and we went to a track he's strong at, and he went three-tenths of a second faster the next lap. "I don't know of a series that I personally don't have units in. I'd like to see [sanctioning bodies] make a form of it legal," he continued. "It doesn't replace the driver; doesn't take that much away from the driver. You're not going to take a guy that can't drive and make him a racer with ETC. It is not a hero maker. It's not going to fix a bad race car, it may make a bad race car easier to drive, but it's going to be a slow race car at that point." Given the reasonable cost, effectiveness, and portable packaging of
current electronic traction control, it seems to me the amount of resources
and/or aggravation expended to find this "unfair advantage" is unreasonable.
ETC is just one of the many pieces of creative engineering going on
in racing, and it's become one of the most difficult, if not impossible,
aspects of racing to police. Legalize it and the price will come down,
and focus the tech inspection effort on finding other trick parts-I'll
drop a hint-start looking for titanium truck arms that a magnet will
stick to. But that's another article.
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