Byron Short <bshort@AFSinc.com>
> The groove you use for your perch heights on Koni shocks is a fairly
> common protest, with fairly predictable results. However, after
> serving on numerous PC's, I'm amazed how the clearest, most cut and
> dried, black and white case can suddenly go gray when protested. This > was
the case with Katie and Kevin.
> Kevin found that Katie's car was not using the same perch height that
> his car, and others, had needed to be legal.
> The PC concurred with Katie, stating that the amount the shock lacked > in
height was equal to or less than the amount of "squish" observed in > the lower
bushing, and further, they found the "squish" in the lower
> bushing legal.
OK, if I understand the geometry correctly (keeping in mind I've never actually
examined a Miata shock up close) what was going on was that Katie's car had a
deformed (from age/use, not malicious intent) suspension bushing, and she had
changed the spring perch height to either raise the car back to stock ride
height (assuming the deformed bushing lowered the car - so she was trying to be
fair) or to lower the car back to stock ride height (assuming the deformed
bushing raised the car - so she was trying to correct a defect)
Is this at all correct?
Because if it is, it sounds to me like perhaps the protest comittee made a
mistake. The spring perch height on aftermarket shock must be at the same
distance from the end of the shock (plus or minus any tolerences in the rules)
as on the stock shock. If Katie's spring perch was in fact in the "wrong"
groove, then the car should have been found illegal.
Now in this case, where it appears to me that the illegality was done with the
best of intentions (assuming she was attempting to restore a
lowered-via-an-old-bushing car to stock ride hight) perhaps the appropriate
penalty would have been a warning and instructions to fix the car for the next
event. I certainly don't see anything here worthy of disqualification or a time
penalty - but yet, if my facts are straight, it shouldn't have been ruled
"legal" either.
If protest comittees were able/more willing to make use of "technically illegal,
but of no performance concequence - protest upheld but no penalty assessed, fix
infraction before next event" rulings, perhaps we'd see the end of weenie
protests.
DG
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