MSNZ Certificate of Description

[Kiwiboss]

This is just my quick take on all this!! We need to drop COD’s and T&C for modified Saloons, get rid of it completely. For anything that is a Saloon car it pretty much had a class or category to race in from 1960 upwards to 12/1977(FIA change in technology) in just about every country and mostly under FIA rules. Now different country’s ran their own class’s at the time, this mostly depended on their economies or import rules of each country!! after all from 1960 to 67 we had our fabulous All-Comers class then Group 2 FIA Saloons then group 5 and onwards and mostly they ran together as one class was phased out and the other bought in. For the real cars we need to recognise each of these, and the groups they ran in for “our own” country, not overseas as this is our own history! Remember im talking only the real cars here, EG: the real Fahey bread van Anglia should be recognised as the actual car and given the paperwork for the category it raced in at the time.

From here this is what we should do, all old original New Zealand race cars(not recent or other made up ones) no matter what should be categorized to the “actual” Motorsport NZ race series rules they ran in back in the day as I mention above, EG: A real “Shell Sport” Datsun that is rebuilt today should be restored accurately to that period and to those rules used with no modern parts fitted because after all “this is the real car”, now if someone built a Shell Sport car say 10 years later/or builds one today and fits modern parts then it is a “replica” and should not be recognised as real, it’s really just a club car. BUT, if he rebuilt it 100% to the old Shell Sport rules and is accurate in every way it should be categorized as a Schedule K car and carry the necessary paperwork to say so even though it isn’t a real car that raced in the day. The real cars should be Logbook to show that they are infact the REAL ones.

OK, that’s sort of covered the real and schedule K cars. For person wanting to build an old car today every single vehicle(mostly) needs its own rules and class to fit into as done overseas and should only be given a “logbook” to race when its passed tech inspection for each class its built for. Now, I know Ray(ERC)(god bless him) will come back to me and say what about a “Izetta thingame bob” that raced in Russia in 1961 because I want to build one, well I say sorry as there is enough makes and models or mainstream cars to satisfy most all and not every car can be catered for, it’s just the way life is. The aussies solved this by saying it must have raced in Australian only back in period, maybe we can use the same but as raced in NZ, Australia, USA, England period?

Now some of you will go holy shit but it is easy as the Aussies have done this for 30 years, Historic Saloons Group Na, Nb, Nc, SC(Sports cars) a & b and so on based on engine capacity and year, this way one can choose his weapon of choice, look up the rules(as the Aussies do on the CAMS historic and Classic website) go ahead and build an old race car using those rules, same as SVRA and VARA in the USA as Nezder has mentioned, and then you know you will be up against similar cars and not later built hot-rod type vehicles with modern components fitted and other cheater type cars because to start with they won’t get a category Logbook hence can’t race, problem solved.

Now this is just a broad prospective what I mention above and I could go on for ever and in great detail but I have to earn a living(don’t yar hate that) but this will require lots of behind the scenes work and won’t be perfect!! but we can learn by what the Aussies and other countries have done and make it better, why reinvent the wheel? EG: if one particular car you can’t get certain parts a rule can be made to as for its replacement for that “one” vehicle, can’t get original bumpers for a 1961 Mini we can allow fibreglass for instance). But if you all just want keep racing against over modified or cheater vehicles(EG: Escorts with YB engines or even just Forrest flares) then don’t whinge to the organisers or the commission if YOU won’t put your hand up and help or do something about it, put your ideas up here on the forum and lobby the shit out the H&C commission for instance(there you go Crunch, more work, LOL) and last of all none of this will work unless there are MSNZ H&C tech inspectors at events to keep check of the fleet, that’s important.

Also I don’t buy into the “I can’t afford this or that” as people will spend what they value to themselves so choose your weapon of choice, don’t choose an odd ball car that you can’t get parts for and turn around to the commission and argue for a rule change because you can’t get this or that or its too expensive, that’s only thinking about yourself. I’ve seen cars hand built from a “skid-mark” at untold expense because that’s what the owner wanted to do so anything can be done, evaluate your own financial position first and use common sense please.

Dale Mathers