Steve was trying to get the idea off the ground but from what I understand one of the other Mini places started looking at what they could build within the rules and that would have blown the doors off us all. Except maybe Steve and he was more into the spirit of it than the other guy who would be able to say my Mini is the best therefore buy stuff from me cos it's racetrack proven. Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.
I have looked at the regs (I've got a copy here somewhere) and money will win based on those rules. I've done a lot of sailing in my time and I prefered the strict one design rule classes where the skill of the sailor counts, not the size of his wallet. Same with cars. Everyone uses the same tyres. So what if they are cheap crap. Cheap is good cos more people can afford them and therefore more people can afford to compete and crap doesn't matter cos everyone has crap.
How do you check valve sizes ? Well, I guess we can't keep taking heads off after every race but I'm sure there would be some way of doing it. If someone is going to cheat they will cheat. Athletes use steroids, horses get electric prods, etc. With money you could have someone build a hidden NOS system. Only way you'd tell would be a puff of black smoke and the guy just pulled away a bit quicker thn you expected. Lightened flywheel. Looks the same from the outside. I don't know how these things work. The only scruteneering I've seen is pretty basic and along the lines of Do you have an approved helmet ? Are the seatbelts approved ? Are the headlights top winning 3 at the end of the season get stripped down for confirmation that everything's kosher. Pay a mechanic to do it. Say he wants $1000 to pull down and rebuild the 3 engines. If the owners want new bits put back in or something fixed it's their cost but the strip, check and rebuild would come out of the cost of entering the seies and getting your engine stripped,etc by a professoinal mechanic could be regarded as part of the prize. Maybe $1000 is way below the mark, I don't know. Maybe those that enter have to commit to at least getting the engine out of the car and putting it back in.....I know that saves quite a bit of cash.
I'm very keen on the basic idea but I would like to see very strict rules that keep costd down so a student with a part time job can go racing. I work, get a reasonable pay, but I wouldn't race against Minisport or Brickworx or Minitech or Royal Park or Blair Athol not becasue they are all better drivers than me or don' weigh nearly 120 kgs like me but because they have access to parts at a price that if allowed will never let me near them. So why bother. I have never competed in anything unless I felt I had a chance of winning....I haven't won much but I'm not there just to make up the numbers.
Mini1000 Racing, bring it on but with strict rules. One rule I remember said they were based on the 998 bock but were allowed a standard oversize bore. Can't remember what that actually was but the point is the guys with the money will bet the allowed oversize engine. Everything else being equal I will not beat him cos his engine is bigger than mine and I can't afford a rebore and new pistons and rings. And so on.
OK, maybe what I've said, thought about, come up with or whatever is rubbish. I'm fine with that as long as you tell me how to make it work, not why it won't work. I would start from scratch and say Rule Number 1. Car must be standard 998cc saloon. (Hmmm, what's standard ??) That will raise a few questions (round nose or sqare front, 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" carby ? Manual or automatic? 3 synchro box or 4 synchro ?) but they will bring answers. Get agreement and move on to the next question. I want affordable, LOW cost racing that means I have a chance without special parts or special machining. Anyone read Des Hamill's book on SU carbs ? Drive your car to the race track and in 10 minutes convert it to a racing carby. Change it back for the drive home.
I'm for it as long as it's CHEAP !!! (Oh yes, and safe)
smithy
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