"I haven't heard one good argument against such a system if it was done properly."
There's no good argument against any system if it is done 'properly'. The trouble is that most systems don't get done 'properly' or that one person's definition of 'properly' is not someone else's.
The MSA regs are full of good rules that would solve many of our problems if only they could be enforced 'properly', but at the same time it is enforcing them properly that makes them unenforceable.
Equally, there shouldn't be all that trouble about championships either. Most of us know roughly where our standard takes us, so for most of us why bother about engines for SuperOne when we know that we are closer to the last 30 than the first 30. But we still have drivers paying over the odds for kit to raise their game above their ability.
As for controlling 'price', rather than difficult decisions about tyres, wouldn't it be easier just to stop people painting their helmets, saving thousands?
There are a few issues with pool engines, the key one being what advantage is there for the average driver? The championship organiser has to provide around 100 engines, around 50 to �100,000 of capital (2 for each of 30 competitors and spares for those that are in maintenance, get damaged, break or are subject to protest. The ordinary driver is going to have to have his own copies of the engines anyway for non-race practise because he won't have access to the pool engines. The additional cost of the pool is going to be recovered from the series. Either that means that the championship have to generate enough extra sales for the manufacturer to fund the engines, or sales for the championship or extra fees from the same size grid.
So, if the idea was to lower the price of karting by regulating engines, putting a �100k cost on as a starter seems a fairly oblique way of going about it.
Besides, this is a world where you can auction a �13.99 Xmas pudding from Waitrose for over �100. Do you really think that anyone like that is going to be put off by the idea that they cannot win the British champs with a named engine when it could mean winning the club champs.
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