jr02518 said: The software issue is going to be the "rabbit hole", it should be easy to spot when these cars come into grid pulling a generator to plug into between runs. At a nationals level event these will be the cars taking a "mechanical" between each run to juice up before they head back out. Does it count if your car calls into the factory all by it's self for an upgrade? Would that violate the "do not change/enhance your car" thing. You might have to post the last date of your current download and it's rev level on the car, next to your number and class letters. Just to cover disclosure.

I don't understand the thing about plugging in between runs being something to spot. The cars perform best when the battery is warm and full, so charging between runs is a logical thing to do if there's any noticeable drop in state of charge.

But the real rabbit hole is cars that evolve. That's the story here, not "SCCA hates EVs". This particular model has become faster with absolutely no input from the owner. The factory is increasing its performance, and these are not really optional upgrades. Because of this evolution, it's becoming more competitive and could legitimately belong in a different class at the end of the season than it does at the beginning. How does the SCCA deal with that?

It's interesting that Tesla has decided to push out at least some of the increased performance for free instead of holding it back to make the 2020s "new and improved!" over the 2019 or taking money for the upgrade. There may be technical reasons for this, that 5% power bump may be tied into improved battery management. It could also be that Tesla has a different way of looking at a vehicle than other manufacturers, something more akin to software than hardware. That's a totally different discussion. But the fact that it was delivered for free and it was difficult/impossible to avoid means that the owner really wasn't part of the decision to upgrade the car. It's not like bolting on a new set of shocks. The car self-modified.

The Model 3 Performance has shown that this sort of gradual performance increase is indeed a real thing and not just a theoretical possibility, and it just so happens it was class-competitive beforehand so it's really brought the issue to light. It will happen again and with more vehicles regardless of whether their fuel tanks contain flammable liquids or electrons. This is the most interesting thing, how to deal with these evolving cars from a classification standpoint.

Say the C8 Corvette development team comes up with improved software for the stability control system. Every automaker is constantly developing their cars, and this is usually updated with a model year release. But it turns out they can deliver this improved stability control to the C8 via OnStar. It's a slam-dunk upgrade in terms of performance and safety, so they do it. It turns out this new programming is worth a couple of seconds on an average autox course. What then?