Originally Posted by
problemchild
No one has to spend anything.
If someone wants to win, then buy a newer car. It will come with a newer engine, that was allowed specifically to provide the same power but with less maintenance and more reliability. It is called progress. In a just world, the newer cars would be worth 5 times what an older car is worth. With the current marketplace, they are only worth double. That means that people can buy older cars and be reasonably competitive with the newer cars. If they want to win, then they need to spend a lot more money on their entire car, including engine. The class's strong point is that people can still have "budget' efforts with older cars with a reasonable level of competitiveness.
If I can buy a newer nicer house for $200K, and I choose to spend $250K to remodel my $50K older house into a $150K valued house, then I am doing it because I have a passion for my current house. That does not mean that the system is going to declare my house equal, or handicap the real estate market, so my house is of equal value. These things don't happen in the real world. But perhaps instead of remodeling my hose for $250K, I update it for $50k, and have a nice life living in the house I like.