hi rich, and all other land speed aficionados, i agree that this is how
this naca duct subject will probably be addressed in real life trackside
per some officials interperetation, BUT, it boils down to wether it is
legal or not, and not that it is a legal modification until the vehicle is
fast for its class or is about to break a record , or indeed does claim a
record, or if you do it a little its ok , but if you do it a little more
its not. first of all it has come to my attention after 2 years worth of
reading the scta rulebooks over and over and over and over and over and
over that there are so many ways to innocently interperet these rules that
one cannot figure out how to build a class legal competitive vehicle on the
first attempt. one "fault" of the scta rules is that sometimes
modifications are specifically stated as not allowed, while in other areas
there is no mention to wether modifications are allowed or not, there
should be for every class a list of what is allowed and what is not
allowed, because making no mention of some issues leaves the door wide open
to interpretation ( i do realize though that writing the rules is not an
easy task), but the way that the rules have been developed it appears that
the builder must interperet these vague areas to the best of his / her
ability and then be ready to justify and defend why it is legal by these
same rules. if these rules are interpreted as a lawyer would, then suddenly
many modifications become legal, for example , on the subject of utilizing
naca ducts on the hood or fenders for cooling
in 99 scta rules, if one goes to the index at the back of the book and you
will find on page 148
air dams......................1v-26a
air ducts........................1v-1
air intakes....................1v-26b
air vents........................1v-26c
section 1v-26 is streamlining definitions, but notice that 'air ducts' is
not in the streamlining section, it is just in the general definitions
(used by the scta contest board) section as follows: "1v-1 air duct :
aerodynamic pressure relief systems in which air is ducted from one point
to another." now, nowhere in the general modified requirements does it
mention "air ducts", or in the altered requirements, or in comp coupe
requirements, or even in gas coupe requirements. so, upon further review of
this subject, if we claim that the naca ducts are air "ducts" and not air
"vents" (which appear to be not legal, because they are a part of
streamling which is not listed as an allowed exception in altered), we
could legally riddle the entire vehicle with naca ducts. in our case,if we
claim we are "ducting" hot air from the engine compartment, not "venting"
hot air from the engine compartment, then these naca ducts are legal ,
period, irregardless of the cars performance, or the amount of naca ducts
utilized. now i realize that things can be taken to rediculous extremes,
but where does one draw the line-there is no line. i'm not trying to come
across as some jerk trying to cheat the rules, so please dont take my
approach that way, i'm just trying to justify how i see things required for
race car fabrication- if i call them a duct, they are legal, if i call them
a vent, then they appear not to be legal. other opinions are gladly
welcomed.
regards,
doug ferguson
black radon engineering
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