The 16 valve Honda is the most economical to run period, 300-400 bucks for a decent motor and you can use from 88-2000, pretty wide spread considering the amount of them on road.
They are also the easiest to tech period. They have this reputation that started about 5 years ago when one or two came out and dominated on a couple of tracks and that is where the other tracks drew the line.
Barrie allowing them would be cool, doesn't mean I am jumping ship but it sure is nice to be invited to an event there, I watched a few Flamboro  mini's on the weekend that would give any 16 Valve Civic a good hard run.
The 240's Kill us when they are hooked up, I have seen a couple of civics run pretty hard against them but not many.

70% of Sunsets mini's are 16 Valve Honda's, such as Barrie was always predominantly Mustang...make one wonder why would you build anything else at either track?
I can understand these days the Mustangs are tougher to find good parts for, but for any entry level racer the Civic is the only way to go, it's cost effective, tonnes of parts that fit a spread of 10-12 years and it's easy to tech. The handle better than most and make for some good racing.

I'd like to think without looking at the top 4-5 cars at Autumn colors this year, everyone was fairly equal.  I think with the weight rules at ptbo are as good as you are going to get to try and equal the 16 valve cars with the 8 and 12 valve guys. 

  The top cars at the AC were all DOHC that only had to weigh #2500 lbs . I doubt many people think #100 lbs makes a DOHC car equal with a SOHC car . The minimum weight for 8 V / 12 V cars at Ptbo is # 2200 lbs which is 200 - 300 lbs more then the minimum weight these cars have to be at 90% of the tracks in Ontario .Ptbo should drop their minimum weight for small displacement 8 V / 12V cars and raise the weight for the DOHC if they want to level the field .

The 16 valve Honda is the most economical to run period

I watched a few Flamboro  mini's on the weekend that would give any 16 Valve Civic a good hard run.

The 240's Kill us when they are hooked up, I have seen a couple of civics run pretty hard against them but not many.

70% of Sunsets mini's are 16 Valve Honda's, such as Barrie was always predominantly Mustang...make one wonder why would you build anything else at either track?

  I would agree the Honda is the cheapest car to run and it has the most factory / after market performance parts readily available .

  Sorry slammer your dead wrong about Slamboros minis being able to run run with a 16 V Honda . Don't you remember last year when Pearsall came to Sunset with his car , you lapped him . Bailly might be able to stay on the same lap as you but you would eat the rest of them alive .

  The 240s sohc cars are very fast thats why they have to weigh # 2600 lbs at Barrie and i would say thats about right .

  Yes Sunset is about 70 % Honda's but Barrie is not and the drivers don't want their cars made obsolete by 16 V cars so what it really comes down to is at what weight do they let the Honda's in at ?

scott if you ban 16v hondas you eliminate a cheap, plentiful, and competitive option for a mini.  it would be a good way to solve the debate but that's about it...overall hurts the division.....there are probably more civics out there than any other vehicle used....

and holland landing there is alot of aftermarket stuff for hondas but the great thing about the hondas is u don't need aftermarket stuff...there may be alot of it but it isn't needed to go fast and you aren't allowed to use it anyway....that's why they're so good...you are right it all comes down to the weight.

racing1989 the reason barrie would benefit by switching the rules is because the track with the most of them isn't running points by the sounds of it so there may well be about 10 or so of them that would race there if not full time from time to time....more drivers = more competition= more hype = more fans = more money for the track through both gates and so on....by the sounds of it the # of minis in the A division is down I'm sure the the track could use more cars.....if you throw sunsets top minis in the mix at barrie you would have the most competitive mini stock division of all time....flamboro also didn't allow 16v this past weekend as well.....

bake82 i agree with you a 100lb penalty does not bring the DOHC to the SOHC's level......

Problem with weight is IMO is safety, my car is 2560 with me in it and no penalty weight and always has been. How far do you go with a car who factory curbside wieght is 2700 pounds?

I have been researching hardened hubs as we shear right fronts in half, fortuneatly that and cracked rotors are something you add to your weekly checkup.

Weight will only do so much, and once you get it sorted out you are no slower than you were before. they had me at 2800 lbs in 2007 midway through the year and it stuck untill the end. However this is when parts started breaking.

We ran with the barrie guys on their home turf and stayed with their front runners but we certainly did not go and dominate, it was actually really good racing, I had probably the best run ever with Glaze in his mustang at the Frosty last year, I think if you take the top 8 or so cars from both tracks you will find there is a pretty good mixture of 4 or 5 different makes and engines and its not all 16 valve hondas.

Penalizing the guys that have their schitt together because somebody in a rotted out old grocery getter complains that he can't stay on the lead lap in a 10 lap heat is not the answer. Yes it's an entry level class, yes it is supposed to be fun and economical however it's still racing.
Ben figured it out with his 240 and spanked the Hondas when he was on his game, others such as Doug Butler have done the same and will continue to do so.
The 16 valves are not magic, we have a number of guys running the same gear same motor that have yet to really get it sorted out but each year they get faster, ask more questions and start winning some races.
The Cuttings work damn hard on their Daytona really damn hard but it is what it is, you can only squeeze so much out of it before you max it out, he pulls me in the straights, but the single A arm front and straight axle rear suspension is only going to offer up so much handling in the corners where a Honda if set up properly can maintain a lot of it's speed.

I would be curious to see how the domestic dual cam cars would perform at BSW and SS, the GM Quad 4, the neon etc. obviously they would need to be weighted down a little, I don't think you want to open up import dual cam cars, although it would be fun as hell I guarantee you nobody would have nothing for a Civic, Integra etc with a DOHC that is set up to handle. They would spank some Thunder Cars at both tracks here.

Early season qualifying would be great, level out the playing field a little. If you want to run in the "A" division you must be able to turn say a consistant 17.5 sec lap. If you can't you run in in the "B".
If you are running a 17.0 flat adding some weight may be an answer to trim things up a little.