I heard talk that it would be in B class with the BMW M3's.. they're thinking about that for the Evo as well.. I'm not positive though..

 

Can class vary from region to region? The reason I ask is that the sed of scca has been discussing both the sti and the evo as potential B class cars..

 

According to May 2003 Fastrack the Evo is officially in AS. According to June 2003 Fastrack the Evo in Street Prepared configuration is in ESP. We already know they are disallowed in STX. I think we can assume that they are eligible for SM.

The combination of AS, ESP, and SM is interesting, especially as ESP has a slightly better PAX than AS. It has me thinking about the possibility of street prepared next year (as compared to stock or SM). It would allow rear swaybar adjustments, any wheel size, replacement seat, springs/bushings/coilovers, camber plates, battery relocation, more freedom in intake / engine / exhaust. So basically we're pretty free to adjust the handling and do some fairly straightforward minor power adjustments (intake and exhaust), but no big power gains (no ECU, no playing with boost, etc.). Sounds like a good thing to start out with.

It will be interesting to see how they play out. Right now I'd guess it would go into the same class. Certainly they'd both go into SM when modified enough, but you can modify so much I bet it comes down to driver and how many and how good the modifications. I can hope the STi can keep up with the Evo on an autocross course. The Evo's steering and handling will certainly pull it ahead in raw stock, but the STi sounds like it might have more room for improvement by alignment and minor changes (i.e. SCCA stock). The extra power will help on a very few courses. The wider powerband will be a joy (did anyone else notice that the STi at 2200 rpm is equal to the peak torque of the WRX?).

 

I personally think the STi will be a little better than the EVO on an auto-x coarse only because of the initial torque with the larger motor.

As for what class? Definitely the same as the EVO for at least the first year. I'm sure next year they will have a much better idea as to where they will fall.

 

I suspect it will be a lot easier to drive, especially for people (like me) not used to turbos or left foot braking. It will be very nice if you slightly mess up a corner and come out a bit slow, or decide not to shift. However, the EVO is garnering a lot of praise for the handling and cornering, while the STi is getting some weird comments (lift throttle understeer, on-throttle oversteer). An extra mph or two through each corner would make a huge difference to the lap time.

I agree that this is the most likely scenario. Since I'm planning to get one, I hope they are fast.