Round 1 Escalation - short sighted rule allowing 120 4C along side of 60 2C (to allow diversity and at the time quiet mild sport 4Cs, without consideration for development of competition grade 4Cs). Result - Competition 4Cs were developed and made more power, cost more, and the 60 2C became obsolete.
Round 2 Escalation - Instead of limiting the 4C engine to a displacement that would result in similar power to the 60 2C, a 2nd short sighted rule was put in place to allow unlimited engines (again diversity; cheaper mildy tuned engines of larger displacement which could compete with existing competition 120 4Cs). Result - Specialized competition 2Cs and 4Cs were developed and made more power than the 120 4Cs and they cost more, all prior engines became obsolete, and the cheaper engines were never used in meaningful numbers.
Current day - weight has become the limiting factor.
Future escalation - increase the weight limit.
Regards,
Dave
ORIGINAL: TonyF
One more comment.
There has never been a weight increase in F3A and I assume AMA. It has always been 5kg. Why weight became important is when they removed the engine limitations, something I tried hard to get stopped. But it went through and now the cat is out of the bag. And with electric, it's an entirely new world.
So to say costs rose due to weight increases is really not correct.