Mike,
You snuck that in as I was typing. Yes, I'm probably being too defensive, but I can't sleep so why not bitch on the forum...
And thanks for reminding me that most teams probably don't have the same resources we have. Sorry if I make that assumption too often. Our closest neighbors in FSAE are at Western Washington Unviversity, home of the V8's and other monstrosities, and we used to have very few CNC'd parts on our car, so I guess I've always thought we were underdogs in the CNC department.
I do value the contributions of Z, and I agree it's good to talk about crazy ideas and to reevaluate our assumptions. But that doesn't mean he's untouchable... nobody is. Everything is open for debate