Originally Posted by
ERC
Fair comments Habu and thanks for sticking your neck out.
Good that you have picked three Ford Escorts as for many people, they encapsulate classic/historic racing.
1) The Proctor Escort from my perspective fails not on looks (plenty of old classic saloons were butchered in period and some were downright ugly, but that gives them a point of difference) but on the choice of a far too modern engine - that is the primary fail in my opinion. Add to that, there are no links no matter how tenuous, to Ford or even the car's general country of origin. Launch control etc also too modern. Would we accept it in ERC - no way.
2) With Bruce Manon's Escort (and forgive me if I am totally incorrect - I have virtually no technical knowledge) fitted with a cylinder head that may not be historically correct as it runs a cylinder head not produced by the factory. Again, my opinion only, on those grounds you would also reject the aforementioned ex-Whitren Magnette, the late Jim Chrystall's Wolseley 1500/1950cc and the Amco Mini?
Would we accept those cars in ERC - yes, all three and all three have raced - and the YB powered Escorts are welcome too. YOU may know the heads are not factory, but the general spectators don't and do they really care?
3) The McCarthy Escort is built to the highest possible race car standards and the gearbox is 'wrong'. As a race car, it is not eligible for our own series, but does it belong at any classic/historic meeting? You betcha.
AMCO - the ex Whitren Magnette was run by Neil Goodwin in Classic trials but he has now given up competing. I have no idea whether or not the car is still in his possession.
Steve - and others with the same philosophy. Yes, some local (T & C) rules are in place but if you'd spent as much time studying them as I and others have, you'd be more aware of the areas where they don't work. HMC has chosen to run an even tighter set of rules, which is what our suggestions were, several years ago, when challenged by the commission to rewrite them. Our philosophy ("our" being the ERC series, plus two other established series) was that the published T & C rules should be an umbrella, under which ALL classic and historic saloons could and would run but the options would always be for series or event organisers to tighten them if required, not loosen them.
We already have FIA and local Appendix or Schedule K, so the whole point of having a looser set of rules, is because the majority of owners are happy enough NOT running 'K' cars - and that is a fact born out by the number of competitors who not only do not have 'K' documentation, but also by the numbers who do NOT have a CoD (65% plus) at all. If K, or even CoD's was made compulsory, classic racing locally would die. (We already know what happened locally to the number of entries when that was tried.)
This thread was started to take these and similar issues away from the Festival saloons thread, in an effort to get people to state their objections to the cars that we currently accept. I have suffered a lot of abuse both verbally and even in print, over the years, from those who choose to attack our stance and our pragmatism. Most seem totally unwilling to look a the bigger picture by pointing out that the "ERC Series is anything goes", "You have totally destroyed classic racing", "Nothing but a bunch of hotrods", "You are trying to rewrite the rules to suit your own car", "No CoD's, so shouldn't be allowed to run" and so on.
I have gone past the point of trying to get a 100% workable set of T & C rules in place and on the advice of other promoters "You are always welcome. We accept your series and your series rules and we will continue to invite you to our meetings. Don't worry about the T & C thing, just stick to your own rules, as they work".
The fact is that so far, only YB powered Escorts running in the ERC Series have been pointed out as "incorrect" and shouldn't be running at a classic meeting says a fair bit, but I suspect others are sitting on their hands, unwilling to state a view until someone else has named a car!
When it comes to repowers, T & C doesn't cover them at all, either as historic race saloons or cars built recently out of period components. "If no one built it in period, you can't build it now", which in a sentence stifles any individuality. You can build a single seater out of period bits, but not a saloon. If you put a Corvette engine in a Zephyr in period, that is fine, you can do it now. But if you mix and match 100% period components and build a saloon, either for road or track, you can't. So in a nutshell, there is a philosophical bias (however accidental) against saloons.
I want to see Graeme Parkes V8, rear engined Marina out again, more than any other car I have seen racing in NZ. But I'd also really love it if we had a grid of saloons that DIDN'T race in period, but use period parts, as I know deep down, that it would be a real crowd pleaser, something we'll need pretty soon unless we can drag a load more special saloons/sports sedans out of hiding.
Thanks for the contributions so far and I hope all regulars (or even infrequent posters) will be encouraged to contribute as these are issues that need bringing into the open. Its no use relying on the opinions of just one or two people.