FIRST,
Let me say thanks to all of the volunteers and officials at the SCCA Major in Arizona this weekend. There were a LOT of snafus, most of which were out of their control, and they did the best they could to remedy. That being said, we once again saw what makes SM such a great class, we have a lot of classy people.
Random Tech (I won that prize Saturday, do I get free Hoosiers?)
- I was fortunate to be one of the top 6 who was randomly chosen for a bore and stroke test. I thought it was fine and just asked that they not drop anything down the spark plug hole
- Drivers went off to a drivers meeting, and I had no problem leaving my car in the hands of Bill and Ken (Both Tech Stewards I believe)
- While walking back from the meeting, Bill approached Ken and was asked if everything was good, and I overheard "We've got a problem".
- I know my motor builder (Mike HAAG), and know how clear I have made my "This better be legal" pitch, so I was a little lost and asked them what was going on. Bill said it was measuring out of spec, and would not pass (Something to that effect, no malice in it, just what he was reading)
- I asked for them to do the test in front of me so I could see it for myself. I also said that if it was failing that I would ask them to randomly choose another 99 to make sure their test was accurate (I'm not even sure if I could ask that ,but it seemed more than reasonable), and the guys said that seemed fine.
- While watching them perform the test (With a contraption I am not familiar with), it became apparent to me that there were some suspect accuracy issues because of unsteady hands. I asked for another person to perform the test and WALLA! I was at 83MM? Or whatever was the exact spec. The previous readings taken when I was at the drivers meeting were 85 and 86 (With some decimals).
- I don't know the name of the guy who was with Clement, but he not only pointed out that we had a MM of allowance, but kindly nudged me when I asked for someone else to measure. Somebody tell me his name, because he was a solid guy to help me out and deserves acknowledgment (Turned on my video camera Sunday too!)
- They never did check stroke:) Maybe it is a 2 liter after all:)
- All of the above being said, my car was legal, but had I not pushed the issue, they may have DQ'd me over inaccurate numbers.
- I tried to be graceful with Bill and Ken, and hope I was. It is hard to be accused of cheating when you are not, but since I was 99.99% sure, I had to push the issue.
- Bill and Ken were both professional, we all shook hands afterwards and I thanked them for their efforts.
REMEDY (Not the Black Crowes version).
- I LOVE! And appreciate that they are checking cars. The fact that I was down on power to everyone (We had to put a 77k mile street head on at Fontana:)) didn't factor in as it was random, and I'm cool with that too.
- However, as a non-mechanic, I would really like to have more confidence in the tech stewards knowing the process, procedure and legality issues a LOT better before implementing any tests.
- We had an email a while back and Sean (Miata Cage) brought up some good things to test. I'd really like to send all of the Tech Stewards that list, plus some random ideas, and see if they can pick a few and learn how to test them accurately (If possible) at the track.
- This reminds me of drug testing in "Le Tour". Drug testers get paid X to catch people, Drug makers get paid 100X to not get caught. I just think that we need to arm the techs with enough knowledge and expertise (Which we can only do in a few areas probably), that they can correctly tech the field.
- Maybe we will have more "Miata Expert Tech's" at upcoming Majors?
So, just my experience from this weekend, but as I try and make it to the runoffs and finish in the top half, I hope the level of tech can catch up with the level of "prep" we now have in our class. I want to compete as straight up as possible. Better drivers, fine. Better Prep, fine. Better Cheaters, not fine.
FYI, RJ Gordy was our chief steward for the weekend (And all West Coast Majors I think), and hats off to him for trying to manage the event. There were a lot of problems (Manmade, nature mad, completely random etc.), but I think he rallied the troops as best as he could.
Thank you SCCA Workers!
Rusty Dees