Dear Michael,
Thanks for your mail concerning the Australian system of registration for
historic cars.
-----Original Message-----
>Doesn't this 'lose' many cars? I can see in a isolated country like Oz if a
>bloke builds a car and runs it, it will be noted and probably recorded
>somewhere. In the UK and Amurika where there were thousands of onzie
twozies
>it is more of a problem. I have and can think of many 'specials' that I've
>seen that probably have no record. Just consider my Coffield Mk.III.
>anexamination of the car indicates that it has been modified many times by
a
>craftsman and I would guess was racing before roll over bars were mandated
>-since the bar is installed in a non-integral manner and of different
>material. This tells me that it probably had a long racing history. I've
found
>another picture of a Coffield and found where it was built but so far
nothing
>more. what would happen in Oz? Michael*
Funnily enough, Australia probably has more very limited production /
specials than certainly the UK and quite possibly even the USA on a per
capita basis as import duties prohibited most racers from importing cars.
However, you may have a point concerning the fact that in a relativley
unpopulous country it can be easier to document history - and certainly in
the USA, the sheer number of race circuits at different times can make
assessing historical specifications difficult. In the case of your car, the
CAMS documentation (as I understand it) would allow you to get papers for
the car in any of the evident specifications. There is some flexibility in
the system as far as I understand it - especially in the case of cars which
have been specials and modified over the years - provided they haven't grown
aeroquip hosing, and Magnesium wheels etc! The key issues the Australian
system prevents is everybody ending up with the same (largest possible)
engine for their class etc. just because one guy did it in period.
Ironically, the only area of car slippage I can find is with modified
production cars in period. If they were running in mixed races or handicaps
or something, there was not a tendency to apply rules to these cars as they
were really "Modsports" machines. Some of these cars are difficult to
incorporate in Australia because the rules do not mandate them. Furthermore,
Australia has some strange rules concerning the actual categories which are
raced - these tend to be fixed by the governing body which to somebody
nurtured under the RAC's system of "anybody can organise a race for anything
so long as they're scruiteenered for safety," this does seem a little
strange.
So, some cars are left behind - but only a tiny number overall (which
various people are trying to reintegrate at the moment) on account of their
modifications, while the vast majority can be included. Essentially,
regulation is unlikely to ever be perfect but at least with the Australian
system, the chances of buying a fake are much less than they are even with
the FIA system.
Regards,
Patrick
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