For some reason this was sent to me rather than autox@autox.team.net.
Reply to author, not me.
mjb.
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Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 23:25:37 -0400
From: John Whitling <alliancemillsoft@worldnet.att.net>
Subject: clarifications to FM exhaust protest
Rocky commented on the exhaust pipe issue in Fmod pretty accurately but
incompletely. It is important to note a few details that were not
stated. Rocky probably isn't aware of them. BTW, a copy of Rocky's
posting is at the end of this email, as I only get the digest version
and was unable to thread his response to his original message.
Now onto the details ....
1. The exhaust issue was identical for both vehicles. Both cars have an
Aaen exhaust, which is the dominant exhaust used for F 500 cars. Aaen
makes it especially for Rotax powered F 500 cars in road racing.
2. Neither car had any extensions to the exhaust to lengthen the
exhaust. Nor were either car's pipes modified in any way for performance
reasons.
3. The only thing that extended the exhaust beyond the maximum spec was
that each car had a muffler, which is also made by Aaen, the pipe
manufacturer. Few other F 500 cars in the class had mufflers. I believe
there was only one other F 500 car that had one, and that pipe looked to
be derived from a snowmobile (where our engines come from). Our mufflers
were clamped in place and could have been removed within a minute or two.
4. The mufflers were attached due to local event noise concerns. Stu and
I never even thought of removing them for increased performance. Frankly
neither of us thought there would ever be an issue with having a muffler
on the cars. Most people appreciate them being on the cars. Two strokes
can be kind irritating, much like the squealing of street tires can be
irritating.
5. There was zero performance improvement from using mufflers, as you
might imagine. Mufflers are not required where there is no sound issue,
such as Topeka. Road racers don't use mufflers when they are not
required because they cost power.
6. My appeal was withdrawn because of the result of Stu's appeal. There
is no point to filing an appeal to get a 10 second penalty. The appeal
is essentially paying $50 to be able to run the north course. I sure
would have liked to have run that course though. It was my kind of course.
7. Honestly Stu and myself are at a loss to understand why our penalty
was so harsh. We were disqualified. We didn't get to run the north
course. Stu was in second place, only 1 thousandth out of first place.
Neither of us has ever been thru the protest process before. When they
first told us that they "felt the decision was wrong" and that "they
strongly urge that we appeal the decision", we felt that an appeal would
likely undo the penalty. After asking around, I now understand that they
tell that stuff to everyone.
I seriously doubt that Stu will ever be back for a National. He has told
me that he won't. He was quite insulted. I am also in doubt about coming
back. I cannot help but feel that someone targeted us (someone other
than the protestor). I know that if I go to an event and they complain
about noise, they will need a sound meter to have me go home, because I
will not be using a muffler again.
That muffler has cost me the respect of my peers that I had from 15
years of racing. It has cost me about a thousand dollars of wasted money
(about what it cost me to go to Nationals). It has cost me my only
vacation time when you include the Cen Div and other events we ran in
prep for nationals. It has cost me some anxious moments trying to
explain to friends, family, and my customers as to why I was
disqualified. I can tell that most people have a hard time believing it
could be such a simple thing. It casts a shadow on my only national
championship, from 2001. In short it's a painful experience that I'm
having considerable difficulty in understanding.
On the flip side, I know and respect everyone on the protest committee.
Graydon Obenour urged me to come to my very first autox, way back in
1985. I see Colin, Alan, Roger, Graydon, and Bruce many times during the
course of a season. They are all smart guys that have contributed well
to the sport. And I should also add that I have no reason to believe
that any other board member would be out to get us either. I guess I'll
never know why we were sent away from the event.
John Whitling (not officially speaking for Stu Phipps)
Rocky's original posting ...
[clip]
FM #1 - John Whitling protested on claim his exhaust length was longer than
the allowed 24 inches beyond centerline of rear axle. It was 26-5/8" He was
DQ, appealed, but withdrew the appeal.
FM #1a - Eric Heller took one run in the Whitling car. That run was DQ
(Originally Heller was assessed a 2-sec penalty on an officials' protest
from impound because he came in 2 lbs underweight, but that was before the
Whitling protest was concluded).
FM #2 - Stuart Phipps was also protested on the exhaust length item. His
measured 26-23/32". He was DQ and appealed, citing both the reason for the
mod was sound abatement requests by his local regions, the pipe was supplied
by the manufacturer of the vehicle, and that except for the pipe the
operative items of the exhaust system were all within the required package
length. His DQ was reversed and he was given a 10-second penalty on all runs
and a requirement to fix it for the second day (he was DNR the second day).
------- End of forwarded message -------
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