I have and continue to be one of the biggest proponents of tech, especially at the Runoffs.. but I think the unspoken downside of this is the amount of dollars wasted to prove our cars are running legitimate.
This past weekend.. I had to completely disassemble my engine with a spun rod bearing to maintain my 15th place starting position or start in the back and be labelled a cheater . Todd Buras had to completely disassemble his car to pieces for what amounts to a 4th place finish, not a single contingency dollar to offset what will certainly be a $6500-8500 reassemble bill. He didn't even get a $10.00 trophy for 4th place. He is basically paying to refresh a motor that has about 4 hours on it at this point. Complete trans rebuild and then all of this stuff needs to be reassembled.
Each time these heads are coming off at majors... the average cost to competitors is $1500-2500. We all were and are ready for compliance checks, at some point checking the same cars and the same people for the same things seems pretty silly and very costly. I would much rather go to an extra event or two with these funds than spend that money proving compliance. If someone feels a competitor is cheating, we have a system in place, let them spend their money to investigate. Or start back with the compliance fund if none of want to protest. If found compliant, the people torn down should be reimbursed for the expenses.
Some of my customers who have already proved themselves compliant are ready to start refusing to pull off parts in post race impound and take the DQ. It is less expensive and they know where they finished as do their competitors. We tried to hold off on the Buras tear down until the appeal of Goring was completed as we knew this was a possibility. We put it off until we were told start tearing it apart or we are bringing in 6th place. the end result was a huge tear down bill, no trophy, no contingency money. What is the upside here? Before we start sprouting off about the STR gate and last year, please remember ALL those cars past post race inspection, but failed the protest. The competitors are still the best tech inspectors in our class as we all know the cars better than tech ever will.
Tech and club have a tough job here. I think they did a great job all week if I am being honest. I just see the writing on the wall here.. This is becoming a problem. I have no answer, but there is definitely a problem. Someone other than the competitor should be responsible for the tear down bond here. If Mazda and or SCCA wants to scrutinize our class 25x more than any other class, than they should reimburse those that pass this inspection, it seems only fair to me. Asking someone to pay the costs to get to the runoffs, the ridiculous parking, the weeks time and then another 6-7000 to reassemble their car for the privilege of racing in the event seems absolutely ridiculous. We have just conditioned ourselves to accept this as the norm.
Jim