[Here's one that fell behind the back of my electronic desk about a month
or so ago. I apologise for the delay. mjb.]
This thread exposes the real problem in vintage racing and so called
"cheating". If you are to race a vehicle that is legal to it's category in the
year it was raced then you will have a severe handicap. As the years
progressed the rules became much more flexible and thus more expensive. One
year as example, spoilers were not allowed, the following year they were
legal, but this is the same car. So how do you prepare your vintage car
without taking advantage of ALL the changes. The 1969 TR-6 should be able to
use everything that was available for the 1976 version of the same cars
homologation.
In the beginning, locked rear ends by any means were NOT legal, oil coolers
were NOT LEGAL. Weber carbs? You are out of your mind. Close ratio gears not
legal one year and legal the next. So, what year do you use for your
reproduction of that vehicle?
At one time the California Sports Car Club allowed certain modifications, but
not options. The SCCA allowed options but not modifications. Racing in both
was a real hassle. Pull off the cooler and install the camshaft, change the
axle ratio but can't have the bigger core radiator. Silly stuff and of course
the poor competitor was bearing the brunt of this, just as now.
I was part of the small group that wrote the regulations, "you can take away
material but you cannot add". Now, I beat that rule by heating and bending &
flattening the teeth of the spider gears so that the rear end was locked, the
rule was changed to LOCKED REAR ENDS WERE NOT LEGAL. That put my clever mod in
the illegal category pretty darn quick after just one race and I had to
change. But the rule was CLEAR. So what year do you prepare to, '58 or '59?
The solution can only be when the organizations state that a certain list of
modifications is legal or open, such as alloy hubs, water radiators, Weber
carbs, or
(constant velocity carburetors equal to half the number of engine cylinders),
any type ignition including a little man with a cigarette lighter. There can
be no worse regulation than one that is not enforceable. (worse yet, is not
TRYING to enforce the rules)
The available technology presently is so vast that it cannot be ignored. You
can do more now as an average mechanic than ever before and everyone had
better recognize this. BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH.
You can't be a little cheater, either you are or you are not. Almost legal is
not legal. But who is doing the judging and against what set of regulations?
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