ERC Race Series - Euro Saloons & Sports

[nzeder]

Interesting opinions - and if anyone watched Top Gear and the James Blunt interview full in the blanks. "Opinions are like.....everyone has one"

I am one of those you talk about Dale - not actually racing currently (have done in the past) so while my opinion might not count in some eyes I think given I am building a car (and many might say the incorrect car more on that) I have read the rules over and over to ensure I understand them. So my car will be compliant to Appendix 6 - be it Schedule K or T&C (and it will be built to fit under both aka standard series production body work which is a T&C requirement)

I am both lucky and unlucky with my car choice. I am a 70's child and spend my early years in an Asian country while Dad was posted OS and as such Japanese cars were the norm and when I returned to NZ again most cars on the road were Japanese, Australian and British - the Euro and Amercian cars were not so common. When I started to show an interest in NZ Motorsport it was during the ShellSport days when Dad, my brother and I would go town to Pukekohe to watch these and other grids.

I unlucky feel in love with the S30Z range of cars aka Datsun 240z to most for the following reasons.

1. It was very un Japanese in styling
2. It was a very successful race car in most countries (except NZ where it appears no one raced one - maybe due to class rules or cost of the cars who knows)
3. They were an affordable classic car to purchase when I got my first one at 20 years of age (still have that same car today some 22 years later)

The unlucky part is there is no girds for such a car. The Datsun 240z have had a very hard road to row here in NZ, for some reason which I don't know (other than it is Japanese), the last 240z track car I owned used to race in the NZ Production series in the late 80's early 90's but when I purchased the car from it shed the PO showed me video footage of it running in these girds but over the 10+ years he had it parked up he moved houses a few time and has lost the log book. So I got a new one, removed the now illegal alloy roll cage and did classic trial in the car.

With the new car I am building it was outside of T&C rules when I got it (1/2 completed Targa car project that due to devoice had to be moved on and I picked it up) at first I thought I would run in the Japanese Series that ran under the Auckland Car Club events (aka Club car stuff) but having supported another 240z that raced in that grid and looking at the driving standard I was not going to put a car that is difficult to find in today's market with body parts that are NLA new from the manufacture. So I started to talk to the guys I knew that raced in the ERC grid (which at the time said Datsun 240z were out as they had a grid to run in aka the Japanese series) to see if I could be accepted in that group. With a green light I then started to remove all the non T&C/Schedule K spec items from the car and moved those on. So now I have grid to run in when I finish the car. So I thank Ray and team of the ERC group for giving us a place to race.

I would love to run at an event like the festival but currently I have few issues with the grids as they relate to a Datsun 240z.

The Datsun 240z like a MG midget, is classed as a Sports and GT and therefore is placed in a grid with non standard series production cars aka Mallock U2, Lotus 7 replica and other purpose built race cars aka if someone was to turn up with a Ford GT40 or any other lemanns special they are Sports cars under the FIA definitions so how can a standard series production GT be in the same grid??? This did not happen in period so what should it happen today? The GT cars ran in period with other Production based cars - maybe in a different group/point based group but on the same grids as the Alfa's, Escorts, BMW's, Mustangs, Corvettes, Porsche's etc. But today they are not allowed on the same grids as they are not a Saloon???

That is my only grip with the Festival is the grids are not how cars completed in the day, sure in NZ there was no Datsun 240z running in a grid in 1971 but else where in the world they did and they were in the same production based grids. Sure keep out cars that are outside of the rules if that is what the event requires. That is the issue I personally have (aka my opinion and like an ..... I have one) with the Festival and the U3L Saloons - why block so many cars, MG's, Datsun 240z, Healey, TR4 that are under 3.0 ran in period with the same cars but that are not Saloons.

This is why I support the ERC grid at next years festival - cars (ideally pre 78 as that is the type of cars I like but understand time does not stand still for no man) as the grid will based on ERC grids and not limited to just Saloons we will see cars that raced on the same grids as they did in period, Escorts, Capri's, MG's, Jag's, Datsun 240z, Porsche's, Fiat's, Triumph's, Torana's ie Production based grids.

So why could a Datsun 240z race in the 80-90's in the NZ Production Series like the car I used to own but today it can't be on the same grid? How is that "as it was, as it should be"

So that is my unlucky bit liking the Datsun S30z series of cars as they might be too different to be on the track as the same time as other production based cars - and the same could be said if I like a Triumph TR4, 5, 6, 7 or TR8 all GT cars aka no back seat = epic fail in the eyes of some as production based race cars.

The lucky bit is the ERC group do want to see these cars running in grids like they did in period. And I only hope I will still have place to run when the car is finished and I don't have to go and play club car like I did in the 90's with my first Datsun 240z race car (it was not a lot of fun in grids with only V8 muscle cars (with 4x my 100HP at the wheels) as I had 2 cylinders too many for one grid and 2 cylinder short for the grid I was placed in while you are learning race craft - I guess I learnt to get out of the way and make space for the faster cars)