A wise man once said "A straw can break a camels back but cannot carry you through the desert."

To this day I haven't a clue of what he meant. Kind of like tech inspections.

Is correct classing really that important? Sure a guy shows up and everythings stock maybe some springs here and a strut bar there. ok. So its gotta swapped motor. Do the tech folks really need to put that driver in another class?

Sure do.

Cleaning my house, going to the dentist, arguing with the ex and protesting are just a few things I dont like doing when I go autoxing. Now granted anyone can let slide tech classing a car wrong, well not so much "let slide" but at least understand, to error is human.

Another wise man once told me "If you want something done right...do it yourself" A philosophy which left to abandonment leaves behind things like Enron employees,The Pinto and the reason why you always get screwed at the drive-thru.

I believe ultimately the responsibility is in the hands of tech but exactly to what extent? As drivers do we need to go around and police the enforcers?..or is protesting,(by the way the word alone sounds like confrontation) our only choice?

If all things being equal why sometimes is it not? Why wouldn't one disclose information on the car they built or just having the first hand knowledge of what they have?

I firmly believe traces of who we are is left in what we do and how we do them.

For anyone still reading...No Im not a whiner or at least haven't been as much of when since I was 8 or so.

Switching to sm class this year has been somewhat of a relief to me this season...whats to disclose at this point?

My first season in cst was tough...a little to tough for a 95 dx with coilovers and sporting the allmighty 102 hp motor. But life goes on and autox is all in fun. right?

Whats the point? Its that in some strange way I feel bad. Having to "protest" three cars yesterday...what sucks is this should have been tech's problem to solve and not my own or anyone else that was dropped off a "podium" spot.

Thinking back now the worst violator had to be a guy that in at least this season has really tried to be of help to the organization. A person someone wouldn't think twice of intentionally pulling the proverbial wool over the eyes. What makes a man cheat to win...I hope to never know the real answer to the question.

All in all the day finished well. I protected my first place overall finish and my bro (5thgenjon, and really good driving student) finished around fourth overall...maybe third and probably second in his class.

They say a "Dog is mans best friend" and Its probably true but he cant carry a clipboard and pop hoods. So for now Im gonna try and help however I can to assist the tech guys and the people they inspect.

Autox love it or leave it. I hope to be doing this for 20 more years.




Modified by RangerDan at 6:41 PM 9/29/2003

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RangerDan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So for now Im gonna try and help however I can to assist the tech guys and the people they inspect.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly.

 

Here is the problem with 'tech'. They, for the most part, are looking for safety violations. There isn't time to police every group. In order for the tech inspectors to police every class and/or group that shows up, they would have to have a though working knowledge of every class and/or groups rulebook. They would also have to know each & every rule change, etc that happened. This is in addition to the regular CCR/GCR, of course.

There just isn't enough time and/or volunteers to make that happen.

 

Agreed. I know at least one of the violaters was innocent...no one asked him a thing about his car.

Not trying to be difficult with the tech guys...they have alot to do in a little time. What I'm saying is, if you have the ability to help do so.

 

As far as I know it is not the responsibility of the Tech to make sure the car is properly classified. Classifying a car is the sole responsibility of the driver. Should the driver miss-class this/her car or do an illegal modification, then the driver is subject to protest.

On the local level I have found fellow competitors to have mods that are clearly illegal and I let them know it but I don't protest it. I might go home and bitch all day long on the phone to a friend but that's about it.

However, when it comes to National level events I have protested. I did lose my one and only protest argument but the rule book is now changed because of it .

 

Read Paragraph 4.5 Page 56 of your rule book. Drivers responsibility.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Geratol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As far as I know it is not the responsibility of the Tech to make sure the car is properly classified. Classifying a car is the sole responsibility of the driver. Should the driver miss-class this/her car or do an illegal modification, then the driver is subject to protest.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is my understanding as well. Tech is for safety, not classification. (Usually, Tech workers are happy to answer classing questions to the best of their ability and as time permits, but it is not their job to identify mis-classed cars.)

 

Yeah I read that last year. Funny thing is though every autox Ive gone to, tech has classed my car for me.

Its not just a local thing this year we autoxed in three different states with several organizations.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Geratol &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As far as I know it is not the responsibility of the Tech to make sure the car is properly classified. Classifying a car is the sole responsibility of the driver. Should the driver miss-class this/her car or do an illegal modification, then the driver is subject to protest.
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What he said...

We also help people class their car at the registration table.

Occasionnally, a noobie ends up in the wrong class and that's no biggie since most of the time they are the bottom of the standings. But somebody capable of winning a class mis-classing his/her car is just unacceptable... And you dont have to feel guilty for protesting a blatantly mis-classed car. The guilt should be on the driver being protested...

 

Locally it often falls on registration to assist in properly classing cars. I don't have much knowledge other than what can be done in stock and STS. So its the joke that if the person doesn't know or will not take the time to step out of line, find out the class, then return, I place them in the default class.......A MOD.

Fortunatly we have enough people that know the classes from memory so that usually does not happen.