How would you know any of this unless you were the person doing the protesting?
Hi Rob, there haven't been any protests - an eligibilty query maybe? Anyway, the sequence of events here is important - this is all back in April at the start of the season. Call people names by all means, but it's nothing to do with the facts and events we're discussing.
I know about it, because I spoke to Ron Hunt as a member of the public. I noted the glaring irony of your well-documented zero-tolerance, anti-cheating stance, & scorn poured on friends/contacts using/proposing to use 'cheater blocks', or otherwise (in your eyes) bending the rules to their advantage. Further, I noted it didn't appear to worry you when strong evidence suggested this very
problem may apply to yourself. Double standards?
Hunt appeared surprised and quite embarassed to have a marque expert unearth a car as being not what he thought it was, particularly one which had been participating in his well-regarded championship since 2007.
He was absolutely crystal clear that a car competing in Mod Prod needed to have an original production engine block, so yours needs to be from a Mk2
Seat Ibiza, in order to confirm with the 'externally identifiable' MSA Blue Book rule. So you need to be running an ADL, 2E, AGG or ABF block - and you've admitted to the MSA scrutineer that you aren't running any of those blocks.
Your engine block code has always been shrouded in secrecy, used now for how many seasons? Five? Or eight if you count the two previous blocks, the first one 100% a BRM 180 Passat 9A and the second believed the same as current (assumed 9A/6A). And secrecy for what reason? All it takes is a quick bit of elimination to work out that a short block 2 litre block isn't one of the above
Ibiza engines. There are 4 shortblock 2-litres in the world, and that's after looking in every nook and cranny, talking to people who know this stuff: 9A, 6A, ACE, and AAL -
none were fitted to a
Mk2 Ibiza.
As a result, Hunt confirmed "
I think he accepts he's going to be in Sports Libre next weekend" at Anglesey, losing all prior class awards / championship points altering to suit. You would compete, albeit on a losing wicket, with the Radicals, and would also have to fit a 6- point harness to comply with Sports Libre class rules.
As you've said previously, sprinting and hillcliming is a very precise sport, the runs are short and the need for absolute adherence to the rules is paramount for fair competition. In your words, "Time is hard to come by, it has to be earned. Dyed-in-the-wool racers know this. Pretenders don't. There's always folk out there who try and take the micky unfortunately." The timing of this statement was poor to say the least, as the MSA Eligibilty Scrutineer, Chris Mansley, was (unbeknown to you) waiting to quiz you the following day at Aintree.
Now what happened after this was that the Scrutineer gave this matter very careful consideration, and decided on balance not to reclassify you unless he received an official protest from a competitor. This is confirmed in this note I received from Ron Hunt:
There is no more I can do without an official protest from another competitor in the same class either on the day to the C of C or through a competitor in the same class to the championship stewards as the scrutineers have decided that this is the way and is the only fair and legal way.
So even though they were about to move you a class, and decided proper process was the only way to deal with it, you still say your car is 100% legal, with the same engine block in it? This is nigh-on impossible.
Or have you possibly come to an unofficial agreement with the officials and competitors-in-the-know to let it slide, knowing that it's not exactly what it should be, but in the interests of supporting Club competition, and saving potential embrassment for all, the organisers included, they're prepared to let it go? Perhaps just for this year?
Do all of your Division 2 competitors know transparently about this issue so that they can make an informed decision about whether it requires their attention? I'm virtually sure they don't.
I spoke to one of your previous competitors last night who agreed you've got to be as close to the rules as possible to be competitive, but definitely, unquestionably
not over them - which on the basis of the MSA Scrutineers findings and your admittance about the engine, you appear to be. There are also various in the know in non-competing Club circles, who also take a very dim view of this, and you can guess whom this may include.
There have been some quite interesting developments - people would be interested to read this to contextualise the thread, particularly as you are always the one backing openness, free speech and so forth.