In reply to MrChaos:
A bunch of classes in NASA are power/weight classes. Part of winning is getting sent to the dyno and scales to make sure the car is legal. There were plenty of cars that dynoed higher than they ever had. Higher than legal, by quite a lot. It was a mess. People were DQ'd. The internet exploded. Dogs and cats sleeping together. End times.
ScreaminE wrote: I don't see how anyone affords to race Spec Miata. I do pretty well for myself but can't believe how much it costs to show up to the track.
I race SM. The cost to show up is no different than with any other race car...
Furthermore, I haven't had any body damage and drive clean. I'm not willing to spend the money to run up front but have a good frickin time driving with others with the same investment and skill level. Always somebody to race with in SM. 
moparman76_69 wrote: In reply to Keith Tanner: While that is true, it sort of bends what I consider a protest rule. Does the car submitting the protest also get a tear down? To me protesting another driver is saying "you're so much faster, I think its more than driving skill". Not "I know you're cheating because we all are, so I'll protest so I can finish better". Sorta like the Lance Armstrong debacle.
IIRC, you have to put money down to protest. It's not something you do just in case. This guy obviously had knowledge of what was going on, as I believe it was illegal heads that were specified, not just "they have too much power!"
If you can't protest the guys in front of you, then all you have to do is win the race and you're legal
Obviously, any rule is only as good as the enforcement. If NASA is going to use dynos to enforce power caps, then it's NASA's responsibility to provide an accurate dyno. I'll bet they do from now on.
I'm not arguing that the guys were illegal and deserved to get booted. The more I read about it the more it seems like a "all's fair in love and spec racing" situation.
The punishment MUST exceed the risk to take the gamble.......
simple???? you(driver/team) get caught cheating.... 5 year ban, engine builder gets 10 year ban. Not just in SM, or whatever division you race... but ALL of the SCCA.....
It'll limit cheating......
It is cheaper to get the dimensions on the impeller side of a turbocharger right than the rest of the engine... Spec every relevant dimension on the entire inlet side of the blower and do pressure checks on a USAC style blowoff valve.
Basil Exposition wrote: This does nothing to address the reason I stay out of Spec Miata and I have had several friends get out-- indiscriminate bashing on track.
I've heard that same complaint about Formula A, V, Super V, Ford, 440, and all the other successful spec racing classes I'm aware of. To my mind at least, that means the racing is pretty even. Isn't that what spec racing is supposed to be about? Close racing among racers with equal rides trying their hardest?
To my mind the problem with spec racing isn't that it's close racing or even the "bashing" that sometimes is a part of close racing. The problem with spec racing is when people cheat to keep it from being close racing. And in my opinion if anyone is caught cheating, everyone else in that race who didn't cheat should move up in the records above the known cheater's published finish. You get caught cheating, you finish last!
Edit: Sorry for accidental resurrection, wrongly posted in an ancient thread I had open somehow.
So now that its three years later, how did this all shake out? Was the majority of the competitors happy with the resolution?
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