Phew! I expected an attack. Not support!!! (The attacks will no doubt come later...) Whilst Howard's car and those similarly pure are a joy, I have never accepted that the field is ever going to be level, given that a pure 7 litre Ford Galaxie or even a pure 2 litre Escort (if there is such a thing) is going to thrash the bejesus out of a pure 998cc Mini Cooper. Updating is not necessarily to be more competitive, but like golf, it is about your own scores/laptimes and a pride in ownership and development.

As JAFA points out, some cars are constantly developed - and still well within the period rules (whatever they may be). Some may want the ultimate expression of a specific make and model, whilst others are content to keep them basically standard and spend a minimal amount on just running them. Parity is therefore never a real issue for those extolling the virtues of participation.

In 1996, Andy Turpin's XJS Jaguar appeared for the first time. 100% standard with auto gearbox. As posted in my pics thread, the car today (now owned by Derek Moore) looks and is totally different - and probably still 100% legal. Was Andy expected to cough up every month for an updated CoD as the car was develop?

Despite the barbed criticism of so called hot rods, few have ever stood up and named those cars and even then, the criticism may be aimed at just a couple of cars. Unless they are prepared to point the finger at specific cars, I'm happy to be blissfully unaware and let the drivers within a series decide if any car shouldn't be there. Why complicate matters with an excessive control and audit mechanism just to justify a stance?

Classic racing and historic racing is now just about 90% series based anyway, so there are places for the purists and places for the pragmatists, so I personally don't see a problem. For me, it is still about driving standards, camaraderie and variety and always will be.

Pragmatists just let people get on with enjoying their hobby sport whilst the purists seem hell bent on trying to change everyone's thinking to their own. Good luck with that.