Historic Muscle Cars, April/May 2013 Latest E-mailout part 1
Our recent Legends of Speed meeting March 23/24th at Hampton was an excellent but low key event. As I’d mentioned in the past, there was just too much on that weekend so this didn’t help numbers. Still, 6 HMC legal cars took part along with similar numbers of small Historic saloons and the racing was fantastic.
HRC event organisers did a great job in the last handicap race, so smiles around after that one!! Here is some in-car footage from Ricky Cooper’s fantastic performing Datsun 240Z, a very quick car and Ricky drives it very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAg7f...ature=youtu.be
You will notice that although Ricky had the opportunity, he didn’t do the “inside dive bomb” on turns 2 and 4 when he could have, he waited and made his move when appropriate. I know a couple of pro drivers that could learn from this video, but more importantly Ricky is guy you can safely race door handle to door handle with!! So he didn’t WIN, he got second? “Whoop dee do” and "so what", this is Historic car racing and the finishing position doesn’t matter as it’s about clean driving and no incidents. Everyone finished happy, so for those planning to or intending to race in HMC take please note.
Our 15” tyre rule is now law and will be enforced, for those that don’t, can’t, or whatever excuse sorry that is the way it is. We in HMC mean to carry on as we have set out right from day one with strict adherence to the rules. The 15” tyre it is now considered the standard for HMC and the visual difference makes the cars look far better and "Historic". You’ve all had at least 18 month’s notice and I’ve constantly made it known that our DH Festival this year was the last HMC event for bigger wheels (though these can still be used as wets).
We’ve also limited the larger sizes tyres in both the Hoosier and Goodyear’s, so if you check the rules there is now a maximum large size for both “front” and “rears”. The objective is to keep a cost fairness and tyre consumption to a minimum and this will result in correct fender flaring for that “Historic Saloon” look. The most anyone can race on is the largest sizes per the rules. Enough of us have been racing on both the Hoosier HOT’s and Goodyear Blue Streaks to understand the performance characteristics, myself and Gimblett’s Camaro have done back to back testing and racing with no noticeable difference in performance, but the Hoosiers sure are cheaper. I’m getting what looks to be 4 meetings out of the Hoosier’s before a noticeable performance drop off, slower cars probably about 6 so based on that you could almost get a season out of a set, that’s pretty damn good. Tony Cardwell, Cardwells Racing supplies is the Hoosier importer and will stock our HMC size tyres, due to shipping delays and timing it pays get onto him early. Contact is 8@cardwells.co.nz or 0800-227-393.
COD’s for HMC Vehicles: HMC has been working alongside Crunch and the MSNZ Historic and Classic commission team about having all HMC vehicles with their own specific Certificate of Description, I’d like you all to print out and fill-out the required forms http://www.motorsport.org.nz/content...escription-cod (Form T009) as attached and send these in for your HMC/COD for compliance, even vehicles that have a current COD and have been bought up to HMC spec are asked to resubmit an application (Form T010) so the COD paperwork can be bought up to HMC/COD standard.
We are lucky enough to have acquired the services of Pukekohe based Keith Hargraves as our independent HMC/COD Auditor. Keith is a registered MSNZ Technical Officer with a Rally NZ background so has the ability to tech any HMC race car. Myself, Steve and Tony worked hard to obtain Keith’s services as he has no common ties to anyone racing in HMC and doesn’t race himself. Although he can handle safety, his main job is “Eligibility only”. There will be a small fee for his services.
He will be helped by David Graham from Hamilton. David has a huge motorsport background both here and overseas, his resume is impressive and he loves the concept of HMC. You can contact Keith Hargraves at keith.hargraves@clear.net.nz or 021-253-2399 or 09-238-8990 home and David Graham at drmgraham@xtra.co.nz Ph 07 560 2773 Home, Mob 027 560 8000
Next summer’s race dates: We are currently working on these and will keep you posted over winter. I can tell you that our first event will be the HRC Ice Breaker 14/15th September at Hampton so pencil that in(correct Chris). I’m also working with TACCOC to have one just before Christmas probably at Pukekohe but yet to be confirmed. Then it’s the Festival 2014 the last two weekends in January back at Hampton, for HMC this is our premier event. All HMC events will be run at meetings with a Historic theme; we are not about main stream modern racing.
HMC Australia Trip: The dust has settled and for those that have decided to go, deposits are paid, air fares organised, paperwork done, and it’s pretty much on our door step now. By the end of this month all eight vehicles will be loaded and off to Brisbane. So the confirmed HMC entries are Murray Brown 70 Z28 Camaro, Dale Mathers 69 Mustang, Steve Elliott 68 Camaro, Pete Stevenson 65 Mustang FB, Nigel MacDonald 67 Mustang FB, Dean Cameron 65 Mustang FB, Kevin Gimblett 67 Camaro and Craig Stacy 71 Javelin. For those that are interested to go as spectators the event dates are as follows, the Shannon 2 Days of Thunder, June 21/23 at QR and the 2nd is The Lakeside Classic, July 19/20 at Lakeside, both tracks are in the Brisbane area. It should be noted that these two events are very high profile Historic meetings for “correctly configured” classic race cars so you will see some very cool machinery in correct guise. It is our alignment with the Australian Trans Am’s that allows HMC to race at these two events and being on 15” wheels is a necessary requirement, also remember we are representing our own Auckland based Historic Racing Club(HRC) while over there (especially you Steve E).
There is a test session for the 8 HMC cars going to Aussie between 12.00 midday and 4.30pm on Friday 17th May. Other HMC cars and caged, log booked supporters cars are welcome at $150 per car for the afternoon. As HMC has rented the track, it will be a closed practice in 20 minute sessions
Historic Muscle Car April/May 2013 E-mailout Part 2
Many have asked, why the pre 12/78 cut off date, to what rules did a class like HMC race to back in the late 60’s and 70’s? Is this New Zealand only or for overseas countries? all great questions.
Firstly the December 1977 cut off date is what the FIA consider a worldwide change in technology across the motorsport time line. There are certain periods of time in which nothing seems to change for years and no one has a technical advantage over another and then all of a sudden in a short period technology leaps ahead. An example of this is that not many production type vehicles had "electronic" fuel injection(pre 12/77), most were mechanical or carburettored, fitting computers to a vehicle was a new idea and very limited. So when you look at this 12/77 date in time it’s easy to figure out why the FIA choose this date.
Also when the MSNZ Historic and Classic rules were penciled out some 30 years ago they wisely used this date. To race historic saloons together when one has a significant advantage due to technology improvements in Historic and Classic motorsport does not result in a level playing field. A good example is a 65 Falcon Sprint has lesser technical ability than say an early 80's Commodore considering suspension technology and car weight. Post 78 a lot of saloons had better handling and were of a lighter construction.
HMC is based around the Australian Improved Production, American Trans Am and New Zealand Saloon Car Championship rules, but not totally. The official NZ Saloon car Championship was contested from 1960 to 1977 officially (then Shell Sport took over from 78). These rules changed quite significantly during this time with the All-Comers pretty much having no rules up until 1967. In 1966 MSNZ introduced the FIA Group 2 rules as used in the British Saloon Car Championship for production based cars, this was when the first performance based Mustangs and Camaro's started coming into NZ.
Group 2 is also what the original SCCA American Trans Am rules were based on in 1966. In NZ Group 2 ran alongside the All-Comers class and both were phased out by 1967 when MSNZ adopted FIA Group 5 saloon car rules, which allowed more freedoms than group 2 did. The British Saloon car Championship had already switched over to group 5 in 1966 allowing cars up to 5 years old. Down here in NZ it was up to 10 years old and classes were based on engine capacity. These rules ran to about 1972/3ish when MSNZ started fiddling each year to adjust to the different vehicle technology coming along and the economic climate back then.
It is the 1967 to 1973ish era when the cars were still production based that we have chosen for HMC, many considered this the “heroic” era of saloon car racing when the “cars where the stars” and the driver “legends”. Also one of the main reasons is that the current T&C rules in the Historic and Classic Motorsport NZ manual represents this period the best. Also this was an era when most overseas countries raced saloon cars that still looked like a "standard series production" based saloons before the "Sports Sedan" era came along in NZ(and overseas) with the likes of the Nazer Victor and the Dekon Monza's.
Because we want to represent this 1967 to 1973ish NZ Saloon Car Championship period we needed a good set of core rules, so we adopted the MSNZ T&C regulations that allow "Standard Series Production" based Saloons from 1960 to 12/77, all very historic. But vehicles like the Hatchback Torana’s were basically Group A by the later 70's but one can still build this type of vehicle for HMC but must be to the HMC/T&C rules as set out. It can be quite confusing but I, Tony Roberts and Steve Holmes have quite a handle on this era and how the HMC's rules apply. All based around one theme, "Historic" racing. Of course the whole idea of this is that one can buy “today” a vehicle like say a 69 Monaro and build it as a Historic race car from this era without using modern technology by applying the “Historic Muscle Car” regulations and knowing that they will be on track racing against similar built vehicles. This is exactly what Historic and Classic Saloon car racing is about. Attached is a great Gary Simkin picture from the era, Dawson’s famous Mustang against the Escorts, Levin I believe. There are two vehicles in this picture racing in HMC today.
As with what i've written above I’m more than happy to talk to anyone about Historic and Classic racing and in particular the rules for HMC, most of the questions are usually about “modernising” your Classic racer rather than keeping it “Historic” but that’s OK. HMC is about keeping your classic race car as historic as possible and although we allow some newly made replacement parts like aftermarket engine blocks and heads they still must be of the same dimensions and material. Here is a great saying about classic cars: “If you make a 40 year old Classic into a modern one, they are no longer classic cars” HMC is about achieving the “Classic period of Motorsport”.
Whether one may agree or not, the object of any HMC rule is to have a level and fairer playing field that applies to everyone and at its best keep the cost to as minimum as possible while allowing replacement components that are readily available. Remember this isn’t “Modern” car racing, it’s about been Historic!!
When reading the rules and contemplating a replacement part think of the written item below (eg: Cheating/Philosophy), note the very strong wording "the spirit of sportsmanship" this is probably the 4 most important words to understand before you join and race with HMC.
CHEATING: Our rules are simple. They are not exact in many areas as “the spirit of sportsmanship” is the primary focus. The "Statement of Purpose" will take precedence in any rule dispute. If an entrant is found to have contravened the spirit of the rules he will risk disqualification from any further involvement with HMC. In other words, cheating is not something that will be taken lightly. READ THE RULES and ask questions.
Philosophy. Historic and Classic motorsport is that branch of the sport where vehicles from a past era are used in friendly rivalry to allow them to be exercised in a manner that the manufacturers intended. It is not a branch of the sport where series and trophies for winning races are held in higher regard than the sheer enjoyment of being involved.
Also check out the current Classic Car Magazine for articles and pictures about HMC and historic racing in general, Steve Holmes will have his monthly article and ramblings about HMC's goings on in these issues.
The latest British Classic and Sports Car magazine has a write up about Januarys Festival with a small mention about HMC, a cool picture of Mr Foggs mini leading an angry pack of V8’s. I also just heard that the American May/June Vintage Motorsport magazine has a major write up on the Festival and about HMC, we are truly a worldwide historic saloon group.
Articles like this help lift the profile of Historic Saloon car racing in New Zealand, it certainly attracts the type of person we want to see in HMC. Also in today’s high tech world it is a must to keep up with the play on the www.roaringseason.com with some fantastic Festival picture’s at http://www.theroaringseason.com/show...Cars-Under-HRC
Historic Muscle Car Tee Shirts are available for $20 each plus postage, E-mail me for size’s and colour.
That’s it from me again this month, any questions and queries don't hesitate to contact Tony or Steve, or myself. Remember if you are changing your car to suit HMC/MSNZ T&C Rules or building a new racer you will NOT be racing with other non compliant cars, it is a level playing field for all. Lets keep the "Classic and Historic" in Classic and Historic racing. And I know I don't need to remind you, but remember, "The Cars are the Stars" so that’s all from me for another month, feel free to contact me or anyone of the directors below.
To race and be apart of HMC you need to join HRC http://www.grandprix.org.nz/Contact_Us.wse their $50 membership deal is a bargain, and a requirement to race.
HMC WEBSITE: http://www.historicmusclecars.co.nz/
PLEASE NOTE: If you wish to be removed from this E-mailout please let me know, if you wish to add someone please do the same.
Take care and enjoy your Historic Motor sport
Dale Mathers dmathers@xtra.co.nz ,
Tony Roberts tony@hamptondowns.com ,
Steve Holmes enquiries@monsterracewear.co.nz
HRC Members/HMC Directors