by Stan Nicholson » Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:32 pm
I really hate to highjack Paul’s post any further than it has been already but, as usual, Steve B has let his bias show and I have to respond with some facts.
In fact there was a bike presented to tech with an undertail exhaust during Dave Hall’s time as Tech Chair many years ago and the rider was asked to change it to comply with the requirement that bikes have to have a period appropriate exhaust. It had nothing to do with performance advantage but with period appearance (just like the R1 bodywork). The rules for all 4 periods at the time only specified that exhausts must be of racing style in use during the period, with some additional restrictions on materials used for each period.
Following this a certain Ducati was presented to tech, during John Crossley’s bailiwick, with an underseat exhaust. When it was pointed out by Tech that the exhaust did not meet the existing rule of being a style in use during the period, the rider changed it for the next race, no hassles, no web posts complaining about stupid rules. That rider not only did not walk away from the VRRA but has gone on to spend years working for the club as a member of the Executive.
When the CB1 appeared at NB a knowledgeable, ex-tech guy approached me and asked me to take a look at the bike as there were a few things that would need to be changed to make it legal for our rules. I cannot remember now all the details but to say that Stu was not a happy camper when the problem areas were pointed out would be an understatement. Whether this was the sole reason for Stu not racing with us the following season I do not know, but somehow I thought there were other reasons as well.
So when, at the AGM that year, I was asked to clarify the rules to prevent the situation that “if it doesn’t say in the rules that I can’t do something, then it means I can”, this seemed like something that needed spelling out as Stu was the third rider who had been asked to change this style of exhaust by different tech chairs. Incidentally, these rule clarifications were worked on by the tech committee of the time before being incorporated in the rulebook as clarifications of the already existing period requirements.
As Dom said, his Dad started racing his Hawk when I was still tech chair and the exhaust was one of the items that he was asked to change to continue racing the bike in our events, while still being allowed to run it until the change was made.
It never ceases to amaze me the effort that some people take to justify why they should be allowed to run the bike they have, rather than make the changes that would make it fully compliant with our rule structure.
Finally, Francois, if there are all these bikes around with non-legal components that you are aware of, I am sure Jim Barton would like to know as tech people cannot be experts on every model and rely, to a certain extent, on those who are.
Stan
François Cartier #242, professionnal wildcard.
