Originally Posted by
RacerT
Historic and Classic racing regulation is something the Australians do so much better than us in New Zealand, which is surprising for the offspring of prostitutes and murders. CAM's have a very strong will to preserve older vehicles as they were and to resist change very strongly - probably the strongest in the world in that regard. Is this correct course of action? You would have to think so, because this is the mandate given to their commission and to the NZ Historic and Classic Commission. In a pure sense the cars should be as they were. If it's an E Type Jag, then it is as original as it can be, taking into account some changes in tyre technology etc.
Taking Pauls account above of how much fun it would be to see an Imp beating a Porsche, if the imp was powered by Lotus Twin Cam and the Porsche by a Chev small block, would any of it have much relevance? Sure it would be exciting and may have been possible in period, but it is of novelty value only, as its not a Hilman Imp racing a Porsche.
Unlike Australia, the NZ scene especially up north is dominated by classic and historic race series. In Australia if your are an 'O' class sportscar, then that is what you race in all over Australia and you know that there are stringent rules that you will race under and every car will comply, be it Perth or Sydney. It is not possible to get NZ to line up with this thinking, so the different series will prevail.
We have a set of regulations in the MSNZ book for Historic and Classic racing that form a framework for H&C racing in NZ, along with the COD system to verify that competing vehicles do in fact meet these regulations. This is workable except for the number of series that spring up not quite adhering to the H&C rules. Just lately we have had the new MX5 series start up with its own set of rules that don't compley with the manual. Why? These cars could have just as easily adhered to the Historic and Classic racing existing rules and ensured an easy absorbtion in the future - now they won't. Same thing with the BMW E30 class, old enough for H&C,but misses out by running a single seat and allowing the glove box to be removed. Why are there four Muscle Car groups? Surely some common ground could be found?
Anyway, I digress from the thread. Ray, the possible modified in period cars could be run as a series if you could get enough of them, but would be outside the MSNZ rules. You would probaly find race meeting promoters that would run a grid of these cars for the novelty value. The concept does appeal to some people who dream of moving outside of the existing boundaries of what Historic and Classic racing is about, just as OSCA does in the South Island. The cars that were modified this way in period, with V8's in Escorts and Cortina's are real Sch K cars and another lot of modern 'recreations' could devalue the original cars.
Putting modern gear in old cars makes them a great club car, but it is not for Historic and Classic racing. Imagine the dissappointment of an old guy wondering up to an MG Magnette and saying to his grandson, "this were great old cars son. I remember taking your grandmother for her first date!" Then "Aaaaah what have they done to the engine, the whole cars wrong, oh my heart!"
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