Andrew writes:
Maybe the numbers of cars is significantly greater in North America, but
there still seems to be a steady input on the topic from people such as
BrianE, MylesK, SimonF, TedS, et al, which seems to indicate that there is a
desire from competitors in the US to have a chance of running at any and
every race meeting in the US - or have I misunderstood what people have been
saying
I think what most competitors would like is to be able to run with any
organization in the US and be running competitively within their
class...against cars that are prepared to a similar spec..
There is a group called VMC (Vintage Motor Racing Council)? in the US that
all or many of the vintage race orgs belong to. I'm not sure what power it
yields if any. The clubs I run with on the west coast belong to it and will
recognize a drivers license from another VMC club.....but let me qualify
this furthur......what they actually recognize is a medical card that
indicates you have a current medical form on file stating you have had a
physical within the last two years and you're physically capable of driving.
So, it's really more of a CYA (cover your ass) card for the race org you're
running with. This is handy in that you don't have to have a separate
medical exam for each club you might run with....however, it has nothing to
do with your suppposed ability to get a car around a circuit......That said,
VMC doesn't seem to have a body of class rules, rather, the individual clubs
formulate their own and here lies the rub....
I'm sure we have many more cars in the US than down under and I suspect
we're more spread out geographically. Regional Vintage race orgs seem to
have developed their individual rules based on the desires of their
individual members so cars in one region have been prepped to period spec
and the same cars in another region are prepped to another spec, usually
allowing more hp, bigger brakes, less weight, etc. Being prepared beyond
period spec always means prepped to make it go faster. This usually impacts
our Production classes rather than our Formula classes. Most of the formula
classes more or less police themselves it seems... but some orgs police the
formula cars closely if they have a lot of them running in the same class
and have some kind of championship(VARA FF's)......
I've run my production cars with 4 groups on the west coast and prepared my
car to a period spec. Two of the four groups, CSRG and HMSA prefer cars
prepped to period spec and seem to leave it up to drivers honor to be sure
their car is period correct. If something real obvious has been "updated"
they'll comment and ask you to change it to period correct for the next time
and note it in your log book. HMSA supposedly prefers cars with history but
quite a few of the production cars that run with them have been built very
recently. I bought my car specifically because it's a historied car.
The other two, VARA and SCCA Vintage allow production classes to prepare to
a broader spec and update go fast stuff....they seem to allow cars in under
the "Duck" rule. That goes something like this, "If it looks like a duck
and quacks like a duck....it must be a duck".....so, no flared bodywork or
huge slicks but as long as it looks period correct it's in...... In the
case of SCCA, they'll even ignore what it looks like and as long as it
passes a safety check it's in...
Checking my 1998 calendar I see that there are 4 CSRG events, 3 HMSA events,
1 SCCA events within my geography. There are a number of VARA events but
I'll probably pass on VARA this year, or if time permits, run one if it
looked particularly convenient. I'm waiting to get a look at the USRRC
Seniors schedule and see if there's an event or two there I can
catch.....this'll fill my vintage schedule for the year and I'll run the B/P
Vette and the FJr. I'll run a few Porsche Club Nat'l races that are
geographically acceptable and my plate is full...............
It would be great to have a common set of rules across the US and the basis
for that rule does exist....SCCA period specs......I think we're gradually
heading in this direction for economic reasons.....the HP race is too damned
expensive but we've got a long way to go......Perhaps after the holidaze
I'll put together a chart outline for US Vintage orgs and ask listmembers to
fill in the blanks so we can get a better idea of what the level of
prep/class and car acceptence is for various groups......
BTW, I caught the Touring Cars Enduro at Bathhurst(SP) in Australia on
Speedvision...looked like an awesome track. Where is that located down
under? Do you vintage types get to run there? The downhill esses looked
like a bobsled course.......Like to drive that one day!!......
Ted
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