Y'all wanted it this way, remember...

First, 17.1.4.D.5.c.1 doesn't say that added (or replaced) traction bars have to be on the driven end of the car.

Second, "...by acting in compression or tension" let's a traction bar resolve torque EITHER by compression or tension, giving it permission to do so under acceleration or braking. With the utmost in respect to the guy who makes sure that my ride stays in one piece, Cameron (and others) are applying the engine builders' definition of "torque," not the engineers' definition. There is NO question that braking creates a torque about the rotational axis of all of the wheels, that has to be resolved someplace. That someplace is in a traction bar. Don't for a minute let us kid ourselves that "Traction Bars" (capital T, capital B ) like my high school friends had on their 'stangs and Goats didn't get a load put on them under braking, too.

If the standard of law were defined by applying "commonly held" definitions of things, I'd still be a Rules NERD.

Chris is right that replacing a stock part is not allowed - right up to the point where a rule allows it.

Any "clarification" of the rule and definition in question is only going to layer more language onto a problem that's been created by the presence of too much language. Someone had to get all silly about writing a definition, rather than establishing case law through protest findings, and set this precedent. There's no procedure in place whereby someone can write the rule to say, "Roy can't do the thing he's proposed to do."

using the same logic, on a rear wheel drive car, the steering tie rod would then become free using this rules reading, ...right???[/b]
Because it has a ball on its outboard end, a tie rod can't control the same torque (braking or acceleration) so I don't think it meets that requirement of the definition. It gets put in tension or compression when the car is steered or torque loads are applied about the "virtual kingpin axis" of the steering.

K

PS - I really like this little guy, too! :026:

PPS to Roy - want to help me design the new Anti-Roll Bar (GCR, p. 109) to replace the one on the rear end of my Golf?