> I see the current deal as having a few problems... By requiring the FSM
> and DSQ'ing people that don't have it at the time of the protest, you
> force someone to incur $2k (porche example) on the change they _might_ be
> protested. If, instead, you allow the PC to tell the protestee what
> documentation they need, the PC has the ability to tell the protestee that
> they need the factory spec width for the whozit#32 and the protestee can
> (in the case of those expensive manual folks) head down to the dealer and
> get the info from them instead of spending $2k on some docs, 99.9% of
> which will remain unused.
>
> Mark
>
Mark has made the same point I was trying to put across a couple days ago.
Why disqualify someone simply for not having a specific document (the FSM)
that likely doesn't include the information needed to prove legality in most
protests anyhow? Granted the FSM is a nice to have item if you need to know
how to remove a transmission or adjust your valves, I've been in the habit
of buying one for every car I've owned even before we started AX, but it has
virtually no information about how to determine if a part has been illegally
modified or changed. I think we've lost sight of what info the FSM typically
contains and the reason the FSM exists in the first place and are trying to
make it into something it's not.
I don't know the best answer on what to do, perhaps requiring competitors to
compile a set list of specific information with references as to where the
specs came from to allow them to be verified if necessary? For example I
would expect to be more likely to find the transmission gear ratios on the
manufacturer's website or in a sales brochure than in the FSM, that's not
information of much value to the dealer's service tech. In a perfect world I
could even see SCCA setting up a website where everyone could submit
specifications as they were researched either from documents or from actual
measurements done while working on a car for everyone including the PC to
access. Additionally there is a high probability that there is at least one
more of any car that is likely to be protested on site at nationals that
could be used as a reference.
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