Firstly I’ll say I’m not terribly up with the play with intricacies of COD’s etc, as they were just starting to come in when I stopped racing. My brother has one for his car though.

I did started applying for one, but they told me I couldn’t have this part and that part, and some other things would need changing before they would give me a COD because some parts weren’t available in the year of my car ( despite them being in the Factory racing parts book ! ). The guy I bought the car from had raced it this way for a number of seasons, and I had also raced it for a season in the same spec, so to be told all of a sudden I have to change this that and the other in order to get a piece of paper that half the organisers say is optional anyway, seemed to be to be a huge waste of time and money for me. I didn’t bother changing anything, didn’t get a COD, and continued racing for a year before I went overseas.

I can semi understand what it’s trying to achieve, but I also feel it is a local version of an FIA Certificate. An NZ COD wouldn’t be recognized outside of NZ, but an FIA certificate will get me into all sorts of events the world over if I wanted to go that route. So when I can race here without a COD, why would I bother getting one? My car is not to FIA spec, because FIA spec is virtually stock standard and renders the car a mobile chicane for NZ domestic H&C racing, but it is built in the spirit of H&C racing ( no sequential / EFI / Wilwoods etc ) using period available parts, so unless it becomes worth while ( ie I can’t race anywhere without it ) I won’t be getting a COD. The next thing is if I do get a COD and then want to change something, and lets face it who doesn’t tune and tweak their race car over the years, the COD will be void and I’ll have to cough up more dollars for a change / amendment etc.

The race orgainsers by and large have cars in the correct groups according to car spec, most people know and are open about how far they have “hot-rodded” their car and know which groups will and won’t accept them, and as it has nothing to do with safety ( it’s not a logbook to be signed off every 3 meetings ), to me it seems to be a lot of work and money for basically no benefit.

Nzeder makes a very good point about the process of building your car, then applying for a COD and getting turned down because it doesn’t meet the rules. I agree that there should be an easily accessible spec list for each car that you can build your car to, and know that if you build it to the letter you’ll get the COD, but if you stray from it expect problems. As I understand it FIA Homologation papers aren’t cheap ( from memory when I looked into it years ago ) so maybe something else needs to be organized to get the specs to people building cars, or it could be included in the cost of the COD. You pay a fee and get the COD application and build papers for XYZ car, then you build your car to the specs, get it signed off by a MNZ approved inspector as being to the spec, then the COD gets issued and away you go. If you don’t like the specs or want to build something better / faster / different, then do you take your chances that the race organisers will continue to say the COD is optional?

There are the standard 10 – 15 cars ( saloons and GT’s ) you would consider if you want to have a decent go at H&C racing – Escorts / Capris / Alfas / MGB’s / Mini’s / Jaguars / Mustangs / Camaros / Falcons / BMW/s you get the idea. As it stands, they are all built a little differently, yet they all achieve roughly the same lap times but they achieve it in different ways. If everybody is forced to build their cars to the letter in order to get a COD, then it’s going to get boring watching 15 identical Escorts circulating at the front, then 5 Capris, then a gap back to 10 Alfa’s, and finally 8 MGB’s bringing up the rear, where no one can out brake or out accelerate anyone because they’re all the same. It’ll be as much fun as watching HQ’s / Suzuki Swifts / you other favourite one make series.

Here’s another one for you to consider. This article has just popped up on a forum I frequent http://www.britishracecar.com/DavidR...lks-MG-MGB.htm This car has an FIA certificate because it has to in order to run in the Ecurie GTS series ( series is for pre 66 FIA cert’ed cars ). So it would be fair for one would assume it is to the letter of the FIA book 100% in order to get that FIA certificate, much the same as if a car has an NZ COD, you could pretty fairly expect it to conform 100% to that set of rules ie this is how it was / would have been built back in 1965 ( or whatever year ). Now look at the car, it is immaculate!!!!!! BUT, not correct. The car has an FIA certificate certifying it as a 1965 car, yet it has 1966 onwards doors / door handles / door locks and catches ( they are push button handles and antiburst catches, 1965 should have pull handle and no antiburst catches ), an alternator ( available October 1967 onwards, should have a generator ), electronic ignition ( electronic not available in MGB until mid – late 1970’s, should be points ), a 4 synchromesh gearbox ( available October 1967 onwards, should be 3 synchromesh and non synchro first gear gearbox ), spin-on oil filter ( available October 1967 onwards, should be a cartridge filter ), gear reduction starter motor ( never available on MGB ), silicon radiator and oil cooler hoses ( never available on MGB ), Parabolic leaf springs ( never available ), and the bodyshell is a BMH repro based on a 1974 model with an pre 1968 transmission tunnel grafted in which means the engine bay sheetmetal is wrong for a 1965 model.

FIA is supposed to be the strictest as far as car spec goes, they are the world governing body, an MGB ( for example ) with an FIA certificate will sell for a fair bit more than one without the certificate because the certificate means ( supposedly ) that you are getting something built to XYZ rules and passed as being true and correct, and you know you can take it to Classic Le Mans, Goodwood, Retromobile etc etc. Most of the mods on the car you could argue don't give it a performance advantage, but the whole idea of an FIA certificate ( and a COD as I understand it ) is that the car represents a particular period in time, and this car doesn't because it has later, and aftermarket, bits on it. If the Black MGB is what people are getting away with at high profile FIA events in the UK and Europe, please forgive me for thinking we’re not going to get far with COD’s here.

I’m an MGB anorak, so that was a very easy car for me to pick to bits, but I’m sure Dale can do it for Mustangs, and others can do it for cars they are familiar with.

For me, the classic scene in NZ ( Auckland at least anyway ) and the way the cars are built and run is not out of control or over the top. There is the odd car that I think shouldn’t be allowed to run at H&C meetings because it is nothing like a classic any more ( the Metalman Escort ), but overall I don’t see too much wrong with what we have, and I don’t really see how COD’s is going to improve the racing of the standard / quality / presentation of the cars. I’d rather see nice cars racing closely and fairly ( no bashing and barging ) and know that some of them are not 100% period, than see a grid of cars tootling around unable to pass anyone because they’re all identical but they all meet the rules 100%. When the grandstands are overflowing with spectators paying $50 a head to watch, then we can start getting a bit more picky about the spec of the cars, but until then we’re only racing for the fun of it, and the winner of the best series gets a chocolate fish!! Good on ‘ya Ray, keep up the good work!!

PS: I can’t wait to come back home for good and start racing again.