Brian was spot on with the rules and interpretation for VARAC. As I (and
lots of others have said before) the problems really don't seem to arise
with any one club's set of regs. i.e. Even if VARAC says that Bugeyes must
use a 948cc block - and Club 'x' says a 1275 is ok in the same
car...whether I think it's ok or not really doesn't, in retrospect, seem as
important as what' happened at almost every club across the board.
Displacement is an easy thing - set a club rule and you'll be able to tell
who's cheating by RADICALLY improved performance.
It's the little stuff that adds up to most clubs (ours included) really having
silhouette vintage cars - the outside shape is pretty recognizable, but what
goes on underneath ain't even close.
I had a long talk with a US vistor in an MGA this past weekend at
Shannonville and he was talking about how many electronic ignitions he
sees at VSCCA events, which in theory are illegal. I don't think I've seen
any of those in our club, but everyone is using Ribcase instead of
smoothcase boxes.
As I am fond of saying, " how many months pregnant you are isn't the issue,
it's existance of the condition". Is one type of rule bending worse than the
other? Beats me!
It's so hard to police and many ( and I do mean many) racers don't seem
very interested in authenticity as an issue unless another racer with the
same car suddenly goes faster - then all of a sudden he's cheating which
none were when they were all equally fast and equally in violation of the
rule book .
And don't ignore the legal yet philosophically challenging aspect of
originality. For instance..we have a racer with a Series 1 Lotus 7.
Everything is absolutley legal to the letter of the rule book (excepting
ribcase box) rightdown to 1 1/4" S.U.s and drum brakes. .. except the
carbs probably cost $1000.00 to get to work BETTER than the Weber on
the dyno and the front drums/shocks etc. are$2000.00 worth of aluminum
stuff made for Lotus 18 which weigh half of the stuff that came off.
It meets the rule book and you can't challenge it but... it's still not the
same
as the 'original equipment' and I'm not sure was even available when the
car was made - Dammed if I know .
Increasingly it's alot more satisfying to sit in my own garage and try to
figure out why my oil temp. is so high.
Mike
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