Tech. inspections at every rally.........

4768 Views 27 Replies 17 Participants Last post by rallytaff, Jul 5, 2003

Brian Scott

Discussion Starter · Jul 3, 2003

On the topic of tech inspection:

- Why is a car completely gone through at EVERY rally?

Every rally I have my cage, seat mountings, fire extinguisher date's, etc. checked?

If NOTHING was written in the logbook from the previous event, why is everything checked at every event?

Just a question.

Road racers that I know get an annual tech at the beginning of the year and throughout the year they only take there logbook to registration. Unless SOMETHING is written in the logbook like "contact", out of date this or that, or fix this, the car isn't checked.

This would require the logbooks to be used correctly in my opinion.

I've thrown away one car after the crash and had some heavy impacts and NEVER had anything written in my logbook at an SCCA event....EVER.

After putting my car into a swamp in Canada, they wrote a detailed description of the damage in the book. In Canada you have to fill out your Event Comments form before you get your logbook back (they take them at registration).

Brian

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mayhem83

· #5 · Jul 3, 2003

>4) Some tech inspectors are very protective of their little
>"empires".

Unfortunately, while this is true only occasionally, it is true and quite annoying when it happens. I know at one event in particular, I leave something that is easy to fix but a bit of a challenge to see for the inspectors to "find" so they can feel they have done their job. Without that, they have been known to keep looking until the "find" something that they felt didn't meet the "intent" of the rule. I will say that this event was MUCH better the last time we ran it.

Mark Utecht

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mayhem83

· #17 · Jul 4, 2003

>>Sounds like a #4 to me.
>
>Spotless cars make it past #4 much quicker than dirty cars.
>If you didn't have time to clean the car, you didn't have
>time to check it over for safety issues...

Sorry, but you have made a huge and inappropriate assumption here.

>The amount of time spent in tech is usually in direct
>proportion to the amount of dirt found under the hood.

Trevor,

I have been victim of this many times. I spend my time where it needs to be spent. I do not waste my time making sure the engine compartment is sterile. These are the same people that when they see a woman in a short skirt and a tank top assume she is a pro. Both are unfair and inappropriate.

I have been called to task many times for the appearance of the engine compartment. I take pride in 4 years of active rallying with no mechanical DNFs. For a scrutineer to assume that I missed something important just because I didn't take a tooth brush to the valve cover sucks. If I have time, I will hit the engine with the pressure washer but it shouldn't make a damn bit of difference at tech.

Mark Utecht

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mayhem83

· #19 · Jul 4, 2003

>Sorry, I will clarify a tiny bit. I definately believe that
>many tech inspectors have this attitude. I bring my car in
>showroom condition, and most of the time I go through tech
>in seconds. When I first started, a little dirt under the
>hood could cost me 15 more minutes at tech. And a note in my
>logbook. The car was entirely presentable except under the
>hood I didn't take the time to get the hoses shiny.

Thanks, I understand what you were saying better now.

>I agree that you know how to prepare a car, and maintain it.
>I'm sure there are many tech inspectors that take that into
>account, but there are a few that are just trying to show
>that they have power. I go out of my way to not give the 2nd
>group anything to have a power trip over.

Very keen insight that many new competitors may want to heed. However, it still pisses me off that this happens.

Sorry for the rant and sorry it was directed at you Trevor. In my initial read, it seemed to me that you supported this corelation of clean car equals safe car. I now understand that you do this as a hassle avoidance technique. I guess the mad rush to reprep a car in nine days is getting to me! Then again, that's a whole new rant waiting to be sparked.

Mark

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