You can tell the racing season is over "up North"...
The preparation guidelines we use in the Florida Regions Vintage Program state
that the car may
be prepared using any modifications that would have or could have been made
legally in the year
of manufacture. We use the SCCA PCS (production car specifications) to
determine legality.
However, if the car was actually raced during the period (pre '73) then it may
run in any of the
configurations actually run prior to 1973. Such configurations must be
substantiated with the
appropriate documentation.
In general, we don't have many problems in our group. The prize money sucks
but the people are
great! When there are questionable items, they are brought to the owner's
attention and, if
deemed inappropriate for our rules, they are given a reasonable amount of time
to correct the
item while they continue to participate in our events. Sometimes the
corrections are made and
other times the owner decides he/she wants to do more performance enhancements
and moves on to
events run by an organizer allowing this (I did NOT say HSR...)! There is
plenty of room for
all groups - you just have to decide who you want to run with...
Off my soapbox and hot on the trail of the Ryder trucks headed to Tallahassee...
*8o)
WSpohn4@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 01/12/00 9:42:46 AM Pacific Standard Time,
> S800Racer@aol.com writes:
>
> > The real problems that exist in vintage racing are the cars that
> > regularly compete in vintage events with a variety of non-period
> > performance
> > modifications. They are not hybrid BMC/Chevys but they are also not
> > faithful
> > to a set of rules from the appropriate period.
> >
> >
>
> The question is what the appropriate period is. You have actual race cars out
> there with long racing histories that started after the "appropriate period".
>
> My MGA, for instance, was turned into a race car by me in 1973. It was at
> that point about as old as my daily driver 1988 Fiero is today. For many
> years I was the only MGA racing in Canada (when I took it to the Canadian
> run-offs one year, they were astounded to see it).
>
> So - should I be able to race it as I could have done 'in period' back when I
> was 10 years old, or as it raced for 3 decades? Fortunately in my case, I
> never installed grotty great flared fenders or any such, so it really isn't
> an issue, but many cars were not hitting the track, except in the hands of
> the factory or the well-heeled, until a decade after they were built, and
> many had long and distinguished careers thereafter. They were developed to
> the rules that applied when they were raced, not when they were manufactured.
>
> Obviously you don't want a pack of vintage iron prepared to current SCCA
> spec, but my point is that there should be some period, ending later than the
> actual production date of the car in question, to which they would be allowed
> to prepare.
>
> Or alternatively, you COULD limit all the newly built race cars to the period
> of the car, and only cars that were actually prepared and raced before, say,
> 1980 or some such, with verifiable history, could use the later rules. That
> doesn't seem an entirely satisfactory answer either.
>
> Bill
|