Originally Posted by
Steve Holmes
To me this is a big part of the issue in NZ historic car racing. Why would the rules be built around the cars? Thats all back to front. Surely the cars should be built to the rules? There have been a set of Historic T&C regulations (for saloon cars) set out by Motorsport New Zealand for 30 years. Some people have chosen to build their classic race cars to these rules, some have chosen to do as they please. The trouble is, the rules have never been enforced, and so you've got a situation where, for the last 30 years, everyone has gone off in different directions.
However, with the advent of the internet, the world becoming a smaller place, those in New Zealand classic racing are looking more and more to what is happening overseas, and seeing perhaps there is a better way of doing things than just letting everyone do what they like. NZ classic racing is slowly organising itself, and event promoters are now beginning to require these T&C rules be enforced in an effort to get everyone on the same sheet of paper, doing the same thing. The annual MG Classic event at Manfield uses T&C rules for its various classic saloon classes, and breaks each group down to lap times, ie, Fast Classics, Slow Classics, etc. Then they have a special race for anything that doesn't fit these groups. It seems to work very well.
Surely its a case of simply building/preparing a car to T&C rules, and being accepted anywhere? Then there is no argument, and no need for debate.
I look to Australia and the Historic Appendix J/Group N rules that have been in place for 30 years. The big difference here is that the Australian governing body, CAMS, have dedicated their efforts to making sure cars that race at CAMS historic events are built to the rules, and stay within those rules. In NZ, Motorsport NZ has never enforced its T&C rules, even though they're a very good set of rules. If they had done, NZ would now be in the same situation as Australia, with everyone knowing exactly where they stand, what the rules are, and what rules they're building their car for. The Aussie situation isn't perfect, but in the last 30 years there have been over 1,000 cars logged with CAMS to their historic rules. To me, that is a massive success story. So this means, if a guy in Queensland builds and races an XU1 Torana, and decides he wants to travel down to NSW to compete at a historic event there, he'll be racing against cars built to the same set of rules. There is no arguing, no confusion, people just get on and race, and have fun.
Imagine if this had been done in NZ 30 years ago!