Mark J. Andy wrote:
> I actually agree with you there.
Well, that's the whole ball of wax for me. My SP car doesn't have a
"surge tank," doesn't need one, and I have no plans to install one. But
I hate to see the rules changed and in the process made more vague and
prone to interpretation. The use of words like "reasonable" in the prep
allowances invites all sorts of interpretation. Like it or not, we all
don't agree on what is reasonable.
> I don't think anyone is horribly well
> served by the change.
This is the most important point.
> Personally I think that just letting it be known that surge tanks were ok
> (i.e., uphold the protest and don't do anything else)
I'm guessing you meant "not ok." That would have been preferable to the
rewrite.
> or changing the
> rules to be something like "fueling systems are unrestricted up to the
> entry into the engine compartment provided these safety guidelines are
> met" would both have been better solutions.
Agreed.
> It seems to my fairly uneducated and non-historied eye that the rules
> makers tried to force people to change stuff they already had and think
> they have a right to.
If the rules don't allow something and there is no ambiguity, then I
have no problem with disqualifying a competitor who has done that. In
this case, there is apparently LOTS of ambiguity, as some folks, even
Nationals officials, have believed these devices to be legal, and others
have been unaware that they were even being used, let alone in winning
cars. Once they found out, these folks are certain that the rules do not
allow them. In that circumstance, a rewrite is in order, but before the
rewrite you've gotta decide up or down on the device and its function.
Since components normally present in any fuel-supply system DO
incidentally serve the same function as the outlawed device, any ruling
against the function HAS to be one of degree. When a little is OK, but
too much is not OK, you HAVE to specify exactly how much is too much, in
the same way that the Stock rules state that more than .25" deviation
from the original wheel offset is too much. If that rule said "offset
may vary from Stock by only a reasonable amount," do you honestly think
that you'd get a consensus as to the meaning of "reasonable?" Bingo.
In addition to the above, which all relates to the _intended
consequences_, you've gotta consider possible _unintended_ consequences
of a rules change. Here are a couple I see that maybe they didn't
intend:
1. It is now not possible in SP to legally fit a Bosch CIS fuel
injection system to a car that didn't come with one. This is a common
and inexpensive system, and you can find all sorts of junkyard cars for
donors. Any SP competitor who has installed such a system (I don't
personally know of any and I don't think it's very likely that there are
many) will have to remove it and fit some other induction system, as CIS
will not function without the fuel reservoir, which houses the main fuel
pump and contains an essential pressure accumulator (think Accusump for
a fuel system and you're not far off).
2. It will now be possible to file a legitimate protest for items that
are normally present on any car - fuel filters and fuel lines - over the
size and/or capacity of those items, yet there is no specific upper
limit on the capacity of those items in the rules. Interpretation will
be required to rule on legality, and folks can now get protested who
never set out to build in a "surge tank" just because they installed a
large fuel filter, or because there are a few inches of fuel line that
weren't absolutely required to connect the tank/filter/induction system.
I think this is the worst aspect of the whole rewrite.
3. The new rules do not effectively prevent a competitor from
accomplishing the same function. See my earlier post for one perfectly
legal way to do so. There are others: larger float bowls and larger fuel
rails with built-in pressure accumulators (for all I know there are EFI
systems out there now that already have these) come to mind.
The whole problem here, IMHO, is a failure to realize how little fuel is
actually required to do a complete run in autox. You don't NEED an extra
fuel tank to accomplish the function of the device. If you can get there
with a forrealhonesttoGod fuel filter that you bought at AutoZone and a
few feet of 1/2" i.d. fuel line, how is anyone gonna stop you?
Jay
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