While there are points to be made concerning ways for a dedicate person to
circumvent the 'event' gas and displacement rules, I for one trust in the
inherent goodwill of the majority of our competitors. This is after all an
amature sport. If one were to be caught, dare I say it? - cheating- the only
person hurt would be the indivual among his peers.
The gas tank 'tape seal' is an exercise of going through the motions. In my
experience I have had to ask entrants to leave the impound because of no tape
being in place, a case of not paying attention to the rules or asking
questions. At all the events there is a diaelectric tester in case of a
question about gasoline. At El Mirage every gas class record setter is checked
by using the test set. Because the 'event gas' rule is not in place at El
Mirage is why use the test set. I have had people request a test of a gas
product before the meet starts and in some cases said product does not pass
the test. The meter checks for the addition of additives which will increase
the burn qualities of the gasoline. This is very simple, using a baseline
sample taken from the ERC trailer we 'zero' the meter. We then place the meter
in the gas to be tested, if the meter shows greater than +/- 5 on the face
then the gas is considered illegal. In 90+% of cases the meter will peg to one
side or the other if the are any additives. The addition of oil for rotaries
or two strokes will not effect hte reading of the gas being tested.
Displacement is another matter where the methods which have been in place for
several years have worked fine. Within the last three years both the SCTA-BNI
& USFRA have purchased new P&G type displacement pumps. The rulebook calls for
a fudge factor of 3% in displacement before the pump can be used. Our
experience lately has shown the pumps to be very accurate in measuring engines
that are less than 3% off the class break. Standardizing calipers and mics is
simple, everything is 100 deg. out there! Of course to use the pump the valves
must be disabled so that the cylinder will seal. This applies to both OHV &
OHC engines.
Some things I have removed people from impound recently have been; qualifing
for a record in another class before paying the entry fees. qualifying for a
record but leaving all paperwork in the truck so that the vehicle shows as not
entered to the timing computer, entering in a class which does not exist and
similar stunts.
I am sure that even the traditionists will agree that things cannot remain the
same for ever. Changes in event operations come, although a bit slow, you can
be sure that some do indeed stand outside the box. They may still have one
hand on the box, but they are outside.
Dan W
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